During the reign of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, he convened many celebrities to discuss the overall situation of the court, among which Dong Zhongshu answered the questions of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty fluently, and was favored by Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty and adopted his political ideas. Dong Zhongshu's proposition continued Confucius's proposition, because he admired Confucius very much, so he believed that to govern the country, it was necessary to adopt benevolent and moral governance, pay attention to ethics and morality, and in addition, suppress other non-Confucian doctrines, which is the well-known proposition of "overthrowing a hundred schools of thought and respecting Confucianism alone". After Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty adopted this idea, he actively implemented it in various places, and Confucianism soon became the orthodoxy of the society at that time.
When Dong Zhongshu was an official, if he encountered a problem, he would look for a solution from Confucius's "Spring and Autumn". Of the cases he has decided, these four are classics.
The first is the issue of a woman remarrying after her husband has died. Once, a woman's husband drowned while riding a ferry, but his body was never recovered. Later, the woman wanted to remarry, but the law of the time did not allow the woman to remarry before her husband was buried, so the woman was sentenced to death. After Dong Zhongshu learned what happened, he put forward a different view on this matter, and he thought that such a punishment was too heavy. He then quoted a case from the Spring and Autumn Period to explain the case, because the woman only obeyed the orders of her parents, and did not marry herself, so she could not be convicted.
The second is the problem of the son accidentally injuring his father. A father and son clashed with others, and the two gangs began to fight each other. One party took out a knife to kill his father, and the son was anxious when he saw this, so he took a stick to stop him, but in the chaos, the stick that the son took accidentally hit his father, and the father was injured because of it, and the son was convicted of unfilial piety and had to be punished heavily.
After Dong Zhongshu learned the truth of this incident, he borrowed a classic example from "Spring and Autumn" to explain the situation at that time. He believes that the son only wants to help his father, and has no motive to hurt his father, so this is a mistake and should not be sentenced to such a heavy sentence.
The third case concerns the ownership of a thousand-mile horse. At that time, there was a merchant who owned a thousand-mile horse, but he was unable to go to the market in person because of the long distance**. So, he commissioned a servant to ** the horse. However, the servant sold the horse to another merchant on the way. When the merchant learned of this, he asked the court lieutenant Dong Zhongshu for help. Dong Zhongshu judged that the servant's behavior violated the principle of good faith and should be returned to the original owner according to the principle of "no success in the quality of the agent, and the destruction of faith is unjust" in the "Spring and Autumn Period". Eventually, the servant was forced to return Maxima to the merchant.
The fourth case concerned the issue of a juvenile being accused**. At that time, the boy's father was a well-known scholar, but for some reason, he was charged**. The juvenile himself was also accused of being an accomplice. When Dong Zhongshu tried the case, he found that the evidence was not sufficient, and there were contradictions in the testimony of witnesses. So, he decided to convince the teenager and his family to confess their guilt and take responsibility for their actions from a moral and ethical point of view. Eventually, the juvenile and his family agreed to plead guilty and were punished accordingly.
The successful resolution of these four cases was due to Dong Zhongshu's adherence to the values of integrity, justice, and morality emphasized in the Confucian classics when adjudicating the cases. His way of adjudicating cases not only solved the case, but also served as an education and warning, which had a positive impact on the judicial system and social customs of the time.
Dong Zhongshu believes that only etiquette can convince people and deter people's hearts. Although punishment can restrict the behavior of the people, it cannot completely eliminate the thoughts in the hearts of the people. After the implementation of etiquette, people can realize that sin is a shameful thing, and they will resist sin from the heart.
Dong Zhongshu's ideas were very beneficial to the ruling class at the time, so Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty adopted his ideas. Later, when there were problems in the country, some people went to Dong Zhongshu to seek solutions.