Recently, the "joint sitting" has attracted widespread attention in society. Today, let's talk about what "sitting" is all about.
According to the CCTV news client on December 29, 2023, the report of the Legislative Affairs Committee of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress on the filing and review work in 2023 pointed out that the perpetrators of violations and crimes bear their own responsibility and cannot be connected or affected by others.
The reason for the above-mentioned opinions is that in the course of its review, the Legislative Affairs Commission found that in some places, not only punitive measures were taken against certain types of key criminals, but also restrictions were imposed on the rights of their spouses, children, parents, and other close relatives in areas such as education, employment, and social security.
In this regard, the Legislative Affairs Commission believes that the legal responsibility for any illegal and criminal acts should be borne by the perpetrators themselves, and cannot be connected or extended to others, which is a basic principle of modern rule of law. The relevant circulars restrict a number of rights of the close relatives of persons involved in crimes, which violates the principle of bearing responsibility for crimes and does not conform to the principle and spirit of the Constitution's provisions on "the basic rights and duties of citizens".
Figuratively speaking, this kind of situation of "one person involved in a crime, the whole family is punished" is a joint sitting. Joint sitting is a legal system in the period of ancient emperors in China, which refers to the system of joint punishment of people who have a certain relationship with the offender due to the crime of others. It is also known as sitting, sitting, sitting, and sitting. In ancient times, those who were implicated in the sins of others were not limited to relatives, but also included a certain range of neighbors.
Regarding the rationality of the joint sitting system, Han Feizi, a representative figure of Legalism during the Warring States Period, has a classic discussion in the article "Systematic Points", "It is the country where the old husband governs, and it is good to stop adultery." What is it?Its law is about human feelings, and it is also related to governance. But what about the way to go to the treacherous?Those who are in accordance with their orders are also in accordance with their circumstances. Then let the look at each otherHe said, "Gary just sat down." Those who are forbidden to connect with themselves should not be peeped at, lest they be unavoidable. Those who have treacherous intentions will not be forgotten, and there are many peepers. In this way, they will be cautious and peep into each other, and commit adultery. Those who accuse will be exempted from their sins and rewarded, and those who commit adultery will be punished with punishment. In this way, the adulterous ones will be committed. The treacherous is not allowed to be detailed, and it is okay to sue privately. ”
Translated into the vernacular, it basically means that the kind of country that governs best is good at focusing on the prohibition of adultery. This is because the law prohibiting adultery is closely related to human feelings and political principles. The key to getting rid of those treacherous acts that are not easy to detect is to make sure that the people can spy on each other's hidden feelings. As for how to motivate the public to spy on each other, the basic method is to sit and be punished for the guilty. Assuming that the ban is implicated in them, it stands to reason that they have to monitor each other for fear of implicating themselves. Those with treacherous intentions are not allowed to get the opportunity to hide, relying on the eyes of the four corners. In this way, the people themselves will carefully and carefully supervise others, and thus expose the secrets of the bad guys. Those who insist on forgiveness and reward for adultery are exempted from sin, and those who fail to report adultery must be punished jointly. If this is the case, all kinds of traitors will be exposed, and even small acts of adultery will not be allowed to occur, relying on the role played by secret informants and joint sitting.
Han Feizi's explanation can be said to expose the role of dividing and disintegrating the people and creating a system of "everyone is in danger, every household protects itself, and supervises each other". Because the system of joint sitting was strengthened, ignoring the essence of the people's rights, and incompatible with the development trend of legal modernization, the joint sitting as an institutional form was abolished in the legal reform movement at the end of the Qing Dynasty.
It is easy to abolish the system, but it is difficult to abolish the concept!In particular, those that are conducive to strengthening management may be used by some powerful people. The phenomenon denied by the Legislative Affairs Commission reflects that the thinking of the powerful in some places is still stuck in the first era, and it should arouse sufficient attention from everyone and society.