Early Chinese law is the law of a fully developed archaic society. The ancient nobility of the predynastic period had long since disappeared; the marquises of the Ch'in-Han period had titles but no real fiefs, and consequently no power. The orders of honor which were conferred during the Ch'in and Han periods carried with them several privileges, including that of a reduction in punishment for crime; but the marquises, or nobles, enjoyed no special status other than that of holders of the highest orders. Early traditional China knew three types of punishment: the death penalty, the mutilating punishments, and hard labor. Redemption of punishment was common practice during both the Ch'in and the Han periods; the technical term, shu, is also used for slaves buying their freedom. The Han period saw the birth of several systems which were to continue throughout the imperial period: the entry into the civil service through recommendation, through examinations, and by title of birth.

The system of imperial government evolved during the Ch'in and Han periods was marked by the division of responsibilities, the duplication of some offices, and the organization of civil servants into hierarchies. The principal method of recruiting civil servants was by the recommendation of provincial officials or of senior ministers in the central government. The academy flourished in Later Han, admitting foreigners as well as Chinese. The importance of the secretariat was recognized as early as 46 BC in a telling remark made by the statesman Hsiao Wang-chih. The great majority of the inhabitants of the Ch'in and Han empires lived on the land in villages. Major decisions of state policy depended theoretically on the choice and authority of the emperor, or on that of the empress dowager The government of Ch'in and Han rested on principles enunciated by Shang Yang and Han Fei: that meritorious service must be encouraged by rewards, and infringement of the law must be punished.