Datang Nongsheng

Chapter 398 On the Law
Xingfu Village has long made eyeglass frames, which are made of gold like the glasses in the Yu Mansion. After testing the lenses, they can be immediately mounted on the glasses. From then on, this thing has become Wei Zheng's daily necessities. After finishing the product, Han Shaowen directly made three spare glasses for him.

Taking advantage of the return trip before dark, Wei Zheng chatted with Sun Xiangfu about the Ministry of Justice again in the cabin.

"According to this old article, the first article requires that the laws and regulations must be written and promulgated in vulgar vernacular. Why?"

"Think about it, who is the law mainly about?"

"Take care of the people!"

"So, can common people understand classical Chinese?"

Wei Zheng understood immediately when he heard the words. Writing laws and regulations in classical Chinese, let alone reading them, even if you read them to the people according to the scriptures, they may not understand them. People don’t understand your laws, so how can they abide by your laws? , so this request seems unreasonable, but in fact, it is very reasonable.

This is the same as Sun Xiangfu's request that all the programs of the workers' cultural performances be filled with easy-to-understand folk songs. The singing is too advanced and literary, and the workers and peasants who cannot read the characters can't understand it at all.

From the first article, Sun Xiangfu introduced Wei Zheng from the perspective of ordinary people, so he can understand much more easily what is written later.

As they said in their question and answer just now, the law is mainly used to control the common people, and the real officials and dignitaries, the law is not so easy to control them.

However, social conflicts often arise between the powerful and ordinary people. Therefore, after that, Sun Xiangfu set a keynote for the laws of the Tang Dynasty, that is, all punishments are biased towards protecting the vulnerable groups.

In addition, for many small mistakes, ordinary people can be punished less, or even exempted from punishment. For example, if you pick up a brick from the imperial mausoleum, you will be sentenced to death or exile. In addition to the innocence of the perpetrator, the economic loss caused by the perpetrator is also one of the important bases for defining the size of the crime.

There are also previous laws such as etiquette and filial piety, all of which have to be overthrown and restarted.

Most of the common people have never read a book or seen anything in the world. It is normal for them not to understand etiquette. If you judge them according to this, it will be endless. In terms of etiquette, the powerful class can put countless big hats on the common people, turning them from being reasonable to being unreasonable.

The aspect of filial piety is more common.

The younger generation, when scolded by the elders, was wronged and retorted. During this period, they would be judged as unfilial. The imperial court punished unfilial people very severely, ranging from dozens of boards to exile Even the death penalty.

Moreover, the so-called elders do not necessarily have to be their parents. As long as they are in the same clan with the same surname, they are considered elders. People with different surnames can also be considered elders if they reach a certain age.

This kind of law is the breeding ground of patriarchal clan law and rural law, which allows the elders of the family to control the descendants of the clan excessively, and greatly weakens the imperial court's control over the people, so it should be revoked.

However, Wei Zheng can understand etiquette thoroughly, but he can't understand filial piety. He believes that people can't stand without filial piety, and the general rule of society is to put filial piety first.

After Sun Xiangfu pointed out this problem, he made a metaphor and said, "There was a young man whose father was a gambler and used all the money in the family to gamble. This young man worked hard to earn money. , it is not enough for his father to go to the casino to lose, but also to take his own life to pay for the gambling debt owed by his father. According to the current laws of Datang, this young man can only obey his father. Then, this family, will be ruined by it.

There was a young girl, her parents wanted to marry her to a 60-year-old man in order to covet money or cling to power..."

"Stop, stop, the situation you mentioned is only a minority. It would be wrong to shake the foundation of Datang's rule of filial piety because of this minority."

Naturally, Wei Zheng also knew that these situations that Sun Xiangfu mentioned must exist in society, and there were quite a few of them. However, compared with normal families that value filial piety and the father is kind and the son is filial, they must be in the minority. , and negates all.

"I never said that I should deny filial piety, but I think it should be a virtue that people should vigorously promote, not a law.

The law should be a red line erected on the correct core values ​​that no one can cross. If the father gambles wrongly, the children can have the right to object. Only in this way can there be more reason and less blind obedience in the world. "

"Let the world have more reason and less blind obedience..."

Wei Zheng repeated these words of Sun Xiangfu silently, and seemed to have a clear understanding in his heart.

The current law and order situation in Datang has improved countless times compared to the previous dynasty. However, now is not just the time to pursue good, but the time to pursue better. Correcting more unreasonable situations in society is the future. to do.

Sun Xiangfu's meaning is very simple. Filial piety and the law should be two different things. If filial piety is regarded as the foundation of the law, then if Lao Tzu tells his son to rebel, his son will also commit a crime and not break the law. This is wrong.

Parents' decisions may not necessarily be right. Children can selectively listen to what is right and reject what is wrong. As for what is right and wrong, the law should make a clear definition. This is what the Ministry of Justice should do matter of essence.

After reading the first few articles, Wei Zheng felt that he was under a lot of pressure, and he didn't know where Sun Xiangfu came up with so many ideas, but these ideas, when taken apart, were all so reasonable, but if you really want to I am afraid it will be very difficult to change it, because it somewhat subverts the general social cognition of this period.

The next item is something that Wei Zheng often does, but never dares to say.

"The prince broke the law and committed the same crime as the common people. '

In the feudal era, it was impossible to do this at all. First of all, you have to admit that imperial power is above everything else, otherwise it would be tantamount to rebellion.

Therefore, Sun Xiangfu only dared to say that "the prince broke the law and committed the same crime as the common people" instead of saying "the emperor broke the law and committed the same crime as the common people", which was tantamount to excluding the emperor himself from the law. But it has a certain restraint ability.

However, even if it is a 'prince', who dares to use the law to demand or deal with him?

A loyal and upright person like Wei Zheng could only be dealt with gently and gently by persuasion. If it is true that even people at the level of princes are governed by the law, then the Ministry of Justice will become all the nobles, and the princes The imperial daughter's mortal enemy, the officials of the entire Ministry of Justice system, will become lonely ministers, which requires great determination and perseverance.

Wei Zheng wisely chose to shelve the issue of legislative indecision. He could ask the emperor to make a decision on how to do it. If the emperor wanted them to be lonely ministers, they would have no choice.

Then, Wei Zheng raised his own doubts about the construction of the yamen under the Ministry of Justice and the old rules of the management system.

Sun Xiangfu suggested that the Ministry of Law set up the local yamen as three levels of province, state, county, and unified name as courts. The Ministry of Punishment will do all of the collection of evidence, arrests, and custody of prisoners.The trial, conviction, and punishment must go through the judges of the courts at all levels and pronounce the verdict in court.

Moreover, the plaintiff, the defendant, and any party dissatisfied with the judgment are allowed to appeal to the higher court. For current crimes or damage to public utilities, the government can also directly file a lawsuit as the plaintiff, and no appeal is allowed.

The Ministry of Justice Yamen in Chang'an will become the highest court in the country with the power of final arbitration. Wei Zheng thinks this series of settings are very reasonable. It's time for the judge to sit down.

"That's the reason. The county magistrate shouldn't sit in the yamen and drink tea to enjoy the happiness. As a local official, how can he manage the place? Go to the fields to see more about the needs of the people, urge production, go to the yamen, It is what he should do more inspections, supervision, and urging the staff to work hard in various departments."

"If this is the case, won't our Ministry of Justice manage thousands of officials in the future?"

"That's why Mingfa's success rate in this imperial examination is so high!"

Regarding this, Wei Zheng was also speechless. He had read the examination papers of the Mingfa Department, and they were basically choices, judgments, questions and answers, and analysis questions. It may not require a high level of education, but if you want to get a high score, you must have a sense and be fair. heart of.

In fact, if you have these two points, you have the basic conditions to become a judge in this period. As for how to judge and punish cases, it will be possible to actually operate it after a series of law amendments and training. Not short.

The next question is the jury system.

Wei Zheng didn't understand why the judge would not regularly invite people from multiple social and professional classes to serve as the jury during the trial of the case, and respect the opinions of the jury when making a verdict. There should be a clear definition of right and wrong in everything, so why invite these people?Wouldn't it be good to judge according to the law?
"Wei Shangshu, everyone has different occupations, different classes, and different perspectives on issues. Jurisprudence is nothing more than human feelings. The role of the jury is to let the judge see the world more clearly. They cannot change the outcome of a case. Its own nature, but after discussions from different angles, it can give judges more reasonable suggestions on sentencing in accordance with the sophistication of society."

"Okay! This article is reasonable, but your last suggestion is to let the Ministry of Justice supervise the various ministries of the court and implement various regulations according to law. Doesn't this mean that the Ministry of Justice has the power to manage all court departments? If it weren't for you Coming from a farming family, this old man suspects that you are going to revive the Legalist family."

"This, at the moment, is just a statement, just like the former Taiwan officials who can sue all officials for their illegal deeds, for example, whether the officials of the household department have collected taxes according to the tax rate set by the imperial court, and they have collected more taxes without authorization. Shouldn't the Ministry of Law be in charge? Did the officials of the Ministry of War follow the rules formulated by the court to distribute money, food, military salaries, and pensions? They withheld soldiers' military salaries and pensions. Shouldn't the Ministry of Law be in charge? Officials of the Ministry of Finance, a corrupt country For the money and food, the officials of the Ministry of Commerce, should the Ministry of Law take care of the merchants’ food and cards?…”

Sun Xiangfu wanted to continue talking, but he was stopped by Wei Zheng. He now understands Sun Xiangfu's vision for the Ministry of Justice. This is a department that manages all society and even the order of the court. , The direct model, no longer everything is brought to the court for a verbal battle like before, but direct evidence collection, investigation, trial, and judgment.

For such power, Wei Zheng is both excited and worried.

Because, once these old rules are implemented, his rights will be independent of all courtiers, even greater than the prime minister.

But regardless of the issue of authority, it will make all production and life in society orderly, and it is very beneficial to society. However, this thing will touch the interests of too many people and put him in the middle of right and wrong. There is no end to it.

(End of this chapter)