The Autumn Queen asked about the origin of the beheading, and why the ancient executions were carried out in autumn and not in other seasons
Autumn Chop", also known as:"Autumn punishment"It refers to the death penalty in ancient times, except for crimes such as rebellion and rebellion, which were mostly carried out in autumn and winter. Actually,"Autumn Chop"It began to appear as early as the Western Zhou Dynasty, and this system was established in the Western Han Dynasty, and was later used by all dynasties. Why, then, did the aborigines choose to execute the prisoners after the beginning of autumn? In fact, this is closely related to the ideology of the ancients, the labor law and the death penalty authorization system.
Thought: Out of fear of the Divine, the idea of defending the divine right of kings.
Antiquity"Autumn"The origin of the system stems from the ancient people's reverence for heaven, believing that human behavior, including political activities, should conform to the time of heaven. Even before the Qin Dynasty, due to the needs of the rulers of the past dynasties, people worshiped the heavens and maintained the idea of divine authority of the monarch, believing that the Son of Heaven was the Son of Heaven sent by God to govern the world, and his behavior should naturally conform to the time of heaven.
The aborigines believe that spring and summer are the seasons of growth for all things, representing new life and growth; Autumn and winter, on the other hand, are the seasons when plants and trees wither, representing death. Therefore, the aborigines believed that prisoners would be executed in the autumn and winter. From the Book of Rites - The Order of the Month"The cold wind and white dew, the cold cicadas chirp, sacrifice the eagle and the bird, and kill it"It can be seen that the custom of executing prisoners in autumn began in the Western Zhou Dynasty.
During the period of Emperor Wu of the Western Han Dynasty, Dong Zhongshu founded"Heaven and man are one"doctrines, combined with Confucianism"Heaven and man are one"Thoughts, further clarified"The Emperor of Heaven and the Queen of Earth"concept. At the same time, Dong Zhongshu believes"There are four times in the sky, and the king has four governments; Celebration, reward, punishment, and responsibility correspond to spring, summer, autumn and winter", so the emperor must be rewarded in spring and summer, and punished in autumn and winter, because of autumn and winter"Heaven and earth are the beginning", the murderous aura has arrived, and then"Severe punishment of 100 punishments"to show the so-called"Execution in accordance with the heavens"。
Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty"Depose the hundred schools of thought and respect Confucianism"At the time, this idea was widely accepted and associated with Neo-Confucianism"The right of the king is divinely granted"The ideas were adopted by later dynasties and contributed to the reign of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty. The system of autumn and winter was continued in later dynasties.
In the second year of the founding of Emperor Zhang of the Eastern Han Dynasty, the imperial court reaffirmed"It is advisable to remember the season of life and death of kings. Law: No prison reports in November and December", in addition to rebellion,"Never wait for the time"Executions are generally carried out after the frost falls in autumn and before the winter solstice. Since then,"Autumn and winter executions"enshrined in law and institutionalized.
Later"Autumn and winter", taking the Tang and Song dynasties as an example, is from the beginning of spring to the autumn equinox, in the crime of treason (i.e"Ten evils") is added to the crimes of treason, treason, treason, treason, treason, treason, treason, and treason (ie"Ten evils"in the first four sins). Treason, treason, treason, treason, treason, treason, treason, treason,"Ten evils"), as well as institutionalized crimes such as murder of their masters by ministers and slaves, no other crimes were punishable by death in the spring. The Qing Dynasty also stipulated that prisoners executed after a court trial should be executed in the autumn.
Working mode: Autumn and winter are relatively free, which is conducive to stimulating activities.
In addition to autumn and winter, they are also intrinsically linked to the ancient laws of agricultural production, depending on the implementation of the seasons. China has been a big agricultural country since ancient times, and agricultural production can be said to be the most important economic pillar of the dynasties, which directly affects the stability of the dynasty, so many systems in ancient times are directly subject to the laws of agricultural production.
Agricultural production in the pre-Qin period was typical of slavery. In"Shiqing Shilu system"The aristocracy at all levels firmly held the dominant position, that is, they were the de facto landowners and the ** responsible for the administration of the people. However, due to the relative backwardness of agricultural production in the pre-Qin period, even at the administrative level, these nobles had to work occasionally, and only had time to participate in political affairs in their leisure time.
Before the development of the Yangtze River Basin, especially in the pre-Qin period, indigenous activities were mainly concentrated in the Yellow River Basin. Xunzi - The Imperial System:"Spring ploughing, summer ploughing, autumn harvest, and winter storage are not lost, the grain is not lost season, and the people have surplus grain"。At that time, the agricultural production law of the Yellow River Basin mainly stipulated spring and summer ploughing, but did not stipulate autumn and winter ploughing. At that time, the agricultural production method in the Yellow River basin was mainly busy in spring and summer, and useless in autumn and winter. Therefore, the nobles had time to deal with political affairs, and only in the autumn and winter were free to try and execute prisoners.
In addition, in ancient times, executions were often carried out not only in public, but also in crowded places such as vegetable markets, one of the important reasons is to allow the public to observe executions and give full play to the warning effect. This not only ensures public respect for the criminal law, is conducive to the relative stability of the local area, but also demonstrates the prestige of the imperial court.
Therefore, if the date of execution is chosen in autumn and winter, the busy agricultural season, it is of course more convenient for people**. After all, during the busy farming season, everyone is busy with farm work, and even if they want to see it, the time is inconvenient. If you choose winter, the weather is very cold and people are reluctant to go out.
Therefore, an important reason why the date of autumn punishment is completely in line with the laws of agricultural production in ancient times is:"Autumn Judgment"The system was able to continue until the Tang and Song dynasties.
Verification system: In the past, the verification of death sentences took a long time due to the imperfect transportation system.
During the Han and Wei dynasties, unless it was a major case or the culprit was more than 2,000 stones, in general cases, local officials had the ultimate power to directly execute it, and did not have to report it to the imperial court for approval. However, in the period of the Northern and Southern Dynasties, in order to strengthen the centralization of power, the imperial court began to strengthen its control over death penalty cases, requiring that all death penalty cases must go through before execution"Death penalty review"with"Death penalty review"Procedure.
Death penalty review means that after the trial is completed, the case in which the death penalty is imposed must be reported to the imperial court, which will review the judgment and report to the emperor for approval and consent. Wei Shu - Criminal Law Chronicles:'Including death, the trial of the case. Death can't be resurrected, I'm afraid that the boss can't be straight, the boss will be imprisoned, the emperor personally interrogated, and there was no disagreement with the appeal, so it was over. ""The dead cannot be resurrected, the fear of prison students cannot speak out, the upper play is in prison, the emperor personally interrogated, there is no complaint of different opinions, and this is the end"。The major event of the founding of the country is the first to promote the judicial game and implement it"。The Sui and Tang dynasties began to formally remand the final verdict of death penalty cases back to the imperial court, and later dynasties followed this practice, with the only difference being that the yamen reviewed it differently. During the Sui and Tang dynasties, the Yamen of Dali Temple was mainly responsible for reviewing the case, and then reported to the Criminal Department for review; During the Song and Yuan dynasties, the Sentencing Department and the Governor Yamen were responsible for reviewing cases.
During the Ming and Qing dynasties, ** began to divide the death penalty into"i.e. chop"with"Autumn Chop"There are two kinds of punishments, but both punishments are reviewed by the ** yamen and reported to the emperor for approval. The Ming Dynasty was still responsible for the review by the Dali Temple and the Criminal Department, and the Ming Yingzong Dynasty added the imperial court review system, and the Criminal Department, Dali Temple, and the Metropolitan Procuratorate jointly reviewed the death penalty cases near the capital with more than three products, and the review time was ten days after the frost fell; The Qing Dynasty added an autumn trial system to the Ming Dynasty system, and in mid-August each year, the governors of various ministries reviewed the death penalty cases reported by the provinces.
The so-called repetition of the death penalty refers to a situation in which the emperor is asked for authorization before the execution of the death penalty, also known as"Nailed", only criminals crucified by the emperor could be sentenced to death. Wei Criminal Rule:"Those who have established great countries can only be executed after reporting to the emperor for review. "The Sui Dynasty believed that before the execution, it was necessary to play a game called"Triple game"The emperor had to approve the game three times. Except"Triple repeated"In addition, the Tang Dynasty also provided for the death penalty"Five", rebellion and other capital offenses"Repeatedly"。
The Song Dynasty was briefly restored"Three continued"Later, in order to prevent the delay in the date of execution, it was also stipulated"A continuation"It only applies to deaths in the capital area, and deaths at the local level do not need to be renewed. Until the Ming Dynasty,"Three continued"The regulations have been used to this day, regardless of local and capital. From the tenth year of Shunzhi (1653) of the Qing Dynasty, it was stipulated"Three continued"It is applicable to imperial court cases, and cases heard in the autumn do not need to be executed"Three continued"。However, from the second year of Yongzheng (1724), the autumn trial case was prescribed to be used"Triple repetition", Emperor Qianlong suspected that death penalty cases were too repetitive, and ordered that the cases tried in the 14th year of Qianlong (1749) should be tried in three times, and the cases tried in autumn were changed to"One again""。.
As mentioned above, in local death penalty cases, the case must be reviewed and approved by the Goshidai and the Emperor before the death penalty can be concluded and carried out, and due to the large backlog of cases in the old days, it often took a long time for the cases reported by the municipalities to be reviewed and then remanded to the local courts. While"Autumn duel"The system undoubtedly solves this problem, not only because the local government has enough time to prepare, but also because it is convenient for the Imperial Historical Observatory to deal with cases in a centralized manner.
In short,"Autumn Review"The system is rooted in the reverence of the ancients for heaven, because it conforms to the laws of agricultural production in ancient times, and can enable the continuation of imperial rule, so it is different from the later"Death penalty commuted"、"Death penalty"and other systems, so that this system can be continued throughout the feudal dynasty"。As a result, the autumn review system was able to survive throughout the feudal dynasty.