This Article Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Add to Saved Citations Download to citation manager Request Permissions Request Reprints Add to My Marked Citations Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Vankeerberghen, G. Search for Related Content Social Bookmarking                   What's this?

Family and Law in Former Han China (206 BCE–8 CE): Arguments Pro and Contra Punishing the Relatives of a Criminal

Fund for Scientific Research, Flanders (Belgium)

This paper examines the controversy surrounding two Han laws that concern the relatives of criminals. The one law ordered that, in certain cases, the relatives of a criminal should be tried and punished together with the criminal ('coadjudication'). The other stated that people who had hidden a criminal relative should no longer be punished. Those in Former Han who opposed coadjudication and favored hiding, drew their arguments from ancient philosophical literature. They believed that a person was innocent unless he was himself involved in criminal acts, they 'could not bear' (bu ren) to punish an innocent person; they also held that the law should respect the feelings of love existing within the family. The defenders of coadjudication argued that a group was collectively responsible for the crimes of one of its members; they also believed that co-punishing a criminal's relatives would deter crime and enhance law and order.

Key Words: coadjudication • family • Former Han • punishments • Yantielun (Yen t'ieh lun)

CiteULike    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    What's this?