Legal History Review
Online ISSN : 1883-5562
Print ISSN : 0441-2508
ISSN-L : 0441-2508
On the Origin of Ren Qing (_??__??_), Human Sentiment, as Chinese Judicial Norm
Haruhito SADATE
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JOURNAL FREE ACCESS

1995 Volume 1995 Issue 45 Pages 73-106,en5

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Abstract

We find the word Ren Qing (_??__??_), human sentiment, as a judicial norm in decisions given by district courts of Imperial China. It is argued by a seer of this study, Dr. Shiga Syuzo, that Ren Qing seems to be the king of rules in the Qing Dynasty. But in "Ming-Kuang-Shu-Pan-Qing-Ming-Chi"(_??__??__??__??__??__??__??_), a collection of cases decided by provincial officials during the Southern Sung period, the word Ren Qing is found out only with quotation of the statute law. Namely, Ren Qing was dependent on written law. Then we must reconsider the relation between Ren Qing and law. For this purpose, it is appropriate to trace the origin of Ren Qing as a judicial norm. The earliest Ren Qing is discovered in the speech of Liu Yi Qing (_??__??__??_), a member of the imperial family of the Sung Dynasty in 5th century, and this Ren Qing was mentioned to make up for a lack of law. Ren Qing with the statute law was originally used by Yan Shi Gu (_??__??__??_) in his annotated edition for Han Shu (_??__??_) in 7th century, though this Ren Qing was nothing but a rhetorical term. Finally, there remains a question about the origin of Ren Qing applied to a case in opposition to the statute law.

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