A Study of Construction on Qiushen (秋審) Decision in the Qing Dynasty

Restructuring the System of Evaluation of Crimes

Abstract

The Qing dynasty, in the Code (Lüli 律例), classified capital punishment into different means e. g. decapitation (Zhan 斬) and strangulation (Jiao 絞). Furthermore, they divided the seasons of the execution into Lijue (立決) and Jianhou (監候). In the case of Lijue, the death penalty is always executed immediately after the emperor's sentence. On the other hand, in the case of Jianhou, a procedure for a retrial is always required and held once a year after the emperor's sentence；this procedure of the retrial is called the Autumn Assize (Qiushen 秋審). In Qiushen, there are three treatments for the prisoner of Jianhou. The first one is Qingshi (情実), which is equal to the death penalty. The second one is Huanjue (緩決), which is to postpone the decision whether to execute or not until the next year's Qiushen. And the final one is Kejin (可矜), which is to reduce the penalty.
These treatments in Qiushen are decided under the consideration of criminal circumstances；the same circumstances are already considered in the former judgment, in which the prisoner was sentenced to death e. g. Zhan and Jiao by the emperor. If that is the case, what kind of relation does the standards of Qiushen decision have with the standards of Lüli when evaluating the criminal circumstances and handing down the sentence? And what kind of function does Qiushen have in the legal system of the Qing dynasty? In order to consider these issues, my purpose of this paper is to clarify the construction of the decision in Qiushen, and for this, I analyze what the officials of the Ministry of Justice (Xingbu) focus on, and how they reach the decision in Qiushen. Lüli provides criminal types as actus reus, and it also includes assessable factors which influences the sentence. It also provides every criminal type with a particular punishment by assessing those factors. There is a system of evaluation of crimes in Lüli. However, since it is not necessary that all assessable factors are taken into consideration for all criminal types, there are factors that are not fully considered and left when deciding a case under Luli. But, when a particular case is decided in Qiushen, every assessable factor is reconsidered. This includes not only the factor of the particular criminal type, which functioned as the standard on deciding the former emperor's sentence. It also includes different factors provided in different criminal types in Lüli as well.
The officials take various processes on reaching a decision in Qiushen, but in order to reach for a decision, they generally compare it with assessable factors which exist in other criminal types. Therefore,their decision is made by balancing several different criminal types. Various criminal types of death penalty as Jianhou are reevaluated in this balancing process in Qiushen. In the legal system of the Qing dynasty, Qiushen adds various treatments as penalties to subdivide the penalty system in Lüli which only provides limited types of penalties；simultaneously, Qiushen is an opportunity to restructure the system of evaluation of crimes.