Chongzhen revived the Ming Dynasty

Chapter 94 Trial and Law

"I intend to make the judicial institution independent. What does Yuan Qing think?"

Zhu Youjian was the first to speak.

When Yuan Keli heard this, he understood why the emperor kept him.

Judgment matters in the Ming Dynasty were under the Ministry of Punishment, and Dali Temple was responsible for review. The affairs of the Ministry of Punishment are divided into thirteen divisions, which correspond to the criminal matters of the thirteen local provinces.

Any adjustment of the Ministry of Punishment will involve local areas. What's more, the independence of judicial institutions is a major change related to the core functions of the Ministry of Criminal Justice.

Without the assistance of ministers like him who had served in the Three Law Departments and had local experience, the emperor would not dare to change the Ministry of Punishment without authorization.

He was very moved by the emperor's regard. Of course, Yuan Keli could not object directly. After thinking about it, he communicated with the emperor:
"How does Your Majesty plan to adjust?"

"Should we establish a new yamen, or establish an independent judicial institution within the Ministry of Criminal Justice?"

Zhu Youjian said:
"I definitely can't stay in the Ministry of Justice."

"Government agencies require subordinates to obey their superiors. If the judicial body remains in the Ministry of Criminal Justice, it cannot be said to be independent at all."

"I plan to establish a general administration of justice, which will be under the jurisdiction of the Right Shaoqing of Dali Temple."

"The original affairs of Dali Temple were under the jurisdiction of Zuo Shaoqing, and the General Administration of Punishment was established, which is still responsible for careful punishment."

"The two general administrations work independently, and the minister of Dali Temple is in charge of the general administration."

Yuan Keli asked:

"How to ensure independence in the trials of the General Adjudication Administration?"

Zhu Youjian said:
"The General Adjudication Administration is only responsible for overall guidance and case assignment, and has no authority to conduct trials."

“Courts at all levels under their jurisdiction try cases independently.”

"The trial in every court is the final result."

"Prisoners can appeal if they are not satisfied, or even go to Dali Temple to request a review."

"What does Yuan Qing think of such a judicial institution?"

This was a common practice in later generations. Of course, Yuan Keli could not point out any shortcomings. He felt that this was indeed better than the current Ministry of Punishment.

If this is the case, the powers of the Ministry of Punishment will be cut too much, and the establishment of the Thirteenth Department of the Ministry of Punishment is completely unnecessary.

"No wonder His Majesty only left one left minister of the Ministry of Justice, and neither the Minister of Justice nor the right minister of the Ministry of Justice were appointed."

"This is digging out the roots of the Ministry of Punishment. The Ministry of Punishment must be completely rebuilt."

Thinking about the emperor's words, Yuan Keli felt that if the emperor proposed such a big change in the court, he would definitely oppose it directly.

We definitely can’t communicate like that in private now. Once the emperor thinks that he cannot communicate, he may not discuss these matters with him in the future. So he could only advise tactfully:
"There are thirteen divisions in the Ministry of Punishment, each with its own lieutenant, outer lieutenant, and chief officer. How does Your Majesty plan to arrange these officials?"

"There are still matters submitted to the Ministry of Punishment. How should they be arranged?"

Zhu Youjian considered this issue and said:

"This review of the eunuch party will definitely require the removal of some officials."

"The Ministry of Criminal Justice has sentenced so many unjust cases, and many people must be held responsible. Even if they remain in office, they must be punished at a lower level."

"I plan to reduce the Thirteenth Department of the Ministry of Criminal Justice to the Thirteenth Department, and set up one person in charge of the sixth rank, and two people from the sixth rank to be responsible for the management of each department."

"If necessary, various affairs offices will be set up below to manage the affairs of the seventh-rank governor and the seventh-rank governor."

After talking about the arrangements for the officials of the Ministry of Justice, Zhu Youjian said again:

"This Thirteenth Hall belongs to the General Affairs Department, and is under the jurisdiction of the fifth-rank minister, the middle minister, and the fifth-rank minister, the outer minister."

"The 13th Office of the General Affairs Department is responsible for matters submitted by local governments to the Ministry of Criminal Justice."

“Trial cases are transferred to the General Adjudication Administration of Dali Temple, which assigns them to courts at all levels.”

"Other criminal matters are still the responsibility of the Criminal Department."

Yuan Keli understood now that the emperor was still relatively cautious in adjusting the Ministry of Punishment. Basically, he downgraded the Thirteenth Division and was still responsible for the original affairs. Except for the transfer of trial cases to Dali Temple, the other functions of the Ministry of Punishment have hardly changed. This is indeed a good way to prevent local officials from being overwhelmed and causing confusion in criminal matters.

The only problem is that there is only one General Affairs Department left in the Ministry of Justice, which is really miserable!

So after thinking about it, Yuan Keli said:

"This adjustment is indeed sound, but there is only one division left in the Criminal Department, which cannot support six departments."

"The Minister of Justice and the Minister of Justice cannot only manage one department."

Zhu Youjian had already considered this. He imitated the later Ministry of Justice and established various new institutions for the Ministry of Punishment. He told Yuan Keli:
"I think the Ministry of Punishment, in addition to handling criminal matters in various provinces, is more important than the general manager."

"Various rules should be established for criminal matters and be followed by local justices."

"The Ministry of Rites has a Ceremony Department, and the Ministry of Punishment should also have a Legal Department, which is responsible for the construction of the legal system."

"The Legal Affairs Department should standardize the level of laws and regulations, review whether there are any contradictions in various laws and regulations, whether they need to be modified, and how to deal with them during implementation."

"The functions of standardizing local regulations, folk rural covenants, and clan and family laws that I have previously added to the Department of Ceremony. Those related to law can be transferred to the Department of Legal Affairs, while those related to etiquette will still be left to the Department of Ceremony."

"Etiquette and law should be separated, and each should have its own responsibilities."

“Anything involving criminal sentencing shall fall under the jurisdiction of the Legal Affairs Department of the Ministry of Criminal Justice.”

"Anything involving etiquette and morality that does not require legal trial will still belong to the Ceremony Department of the Ministry of Etiquette."

This is a very important function. Yuan Keli feels that the Legal Affairs Department alone can appease the Criminal Department. What the emperor calls the general manager is indeed more important to the Ministry of Punishment.

That's not all, Zhu Youjian said again:
"In the future, the Department of Legal Affairs will cooperate with the Department of Ceremony to establish a research center on etiquette and law, which will specialize in studying issues in etiquette, law formulation and implementation, and draft legal drafts."

"The Ming Law must be refined and divided into specialized criminal law, civil law, official law, military law, economic law, labor law, procedural law and other laws to provide a basis for the judicial enforcement of the Sanfa Department and Weiwei Temple."

"This research center can invite officials from the Three Law Departments, the Ministry of Rites, the Hanlin Academy, and highly respected people in the private sector to participate, mainly on a part-time basis, with a director and chief writer."

This is even more important. Yuan Keli heard from the emperor's words that he wanted to sort out the laws and regulations, and hurriedly advised:
"Your Majesty, the laws of the Ming Dynasty are already very good. There is no need to split the laws."

Zhu Youjian shook his head and said:

"The Ming Law is certainly very good, but some of the laws enacted during the Taizu period can no longer be enforced."

"The imperial edicts issued by the previous emperors also modified the Ming Dynasty law."

"I plan to split it into specific laws, sort out the revisions of the past dynasties, and compile it into a formal law and legal interpretation to avoid any omissions during implementation."

This is a real problem. Yuan Keli had a deep understanding of it when he was a promotion official, so he could only deal with it silently. I heard the emperor say again:
"The level of laws and regulations I mentioned earlier is also related to this."

"The law separated from the Ming Law is the highest level law, has the highest validity, and belongs to the first level."

"Other laws are at the second level, imperial department regulations are at the third level, and local regulations are at the fourth level, divided according to local levels."

"Lower-level laws cannot conflict with higher-level laws. If there are contradictions in the same-level laws, they must be modified and explained."

"Various precedents must also be clarified to provide a basis for trials to handle similar cases."

"These all need to be standardized and need to be studied by the Etiquette Research Center."

　"History of Ming Dynasty":
　　In the winter of the sixth year of Hongwu (the sixth year of Hongwu), Liu Weiqian, the minister of the Ministry of Punishment, was ordered to formulate the "Da Ming Code" in detail.

　　The volume is thirty, and the strip is four hundred and sixty. One volume of "Mingli" contains forty-seven articles.

　　The second volume of "Emperor Code" contains fifteen articles on job systems and eighteen articles on formulas.

　　The seven volumes of "Household Code" include fifteen items on household service, eleven items on fields and houses, eighteen items on marriage, twenty-four items on warehouses, nineteen items on courses, three items on money and debts, and five items on market transactions.

　　The second volume of "Etiquette" contains six articles on sacrifices and twenty articles on ritual systems.

　　There are five volumes of the "Laws of War", including nineteen articles on palace guards, twenty articles on military administration, seven articles on Guanjin, eleven articles on stables and animal husbandry, and eighteen articles on post offices.

　　The eleven volumes of "Criminal Code" include twenty-eight articles for thieves, twenty articles for human life, twenty-two articles for fighting, eight articles for scolding, twelve articles for litigation, eleven articles for receiving stolen goods, and twelve articles for fraud. There are ten articles for committing adultery, eleven articles for miscellaneous criminals, eight articles for arrest and death, and twenty-nine articles for ending prisons.

　　The second volume of "Gong Lv" is called "Nine Buildings" and "Four River Defenses".

　　
　
(End of this chapter)