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| A Study of the Compilation of the Kechang Tiaoli in the Qing Dynasty |
| Jia Anqi, Nie Xin |
| School of Law, Tsinghua University, Beijing100084, China |
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Abstract The evolution of civilization and the development of a country often exhibit diverse paths and characteristics. Based on special cultural traditions and national conditions, ancient Chinese law has formed a unique development context and system structure that are different from those of the Western countries, which cannot be imagined and restored by Western legal frameworks. The process of the formation and evolution of the Kechang Tiaoli (《科场条例》) showcases the unique evolution mechanism of ancient Chinese law.The compilation of Kechang Tiaoli of the Qing Dynasty began in the second year of the Shunzhi (1645). As a direct product of the “institutional inheritance of Qing from Ming”, the Kechang Tiaoli which was published in 1645 largely focused on reforming the Ming system, but did not make much innovation in the content of the system. With the continuous conduction of the imperial exams, the Kechang Tiaoli gradually broke away from the legislative tradition of “deleting and revising the Ming Dynasty regulations”, and “new regulations of the Qing Dynasty” were constantly formulated to meet practical needs. The Qing government integrated new and old regulations by compiling promulgated legal norms into existing legal texts, thus forming a continuous tradition of compiling and revising the Kechang Tiaoli. With the continuous improvement of the imperial exams system and the improvement of legislative techniques during the Qianlong Period, the Qing government made many adjustments to the compilation and revision method and structure of the Kechang Tiaoli. During this process, a parallel mode of the enactment of the Kechang Tiaoli and the Xuzeng Kechang Tiaoli (《续增科场条例》) was gradually established, a specialized legislative body was established, and a compilation system of classifying cases into various departments and consolidating regulations and cases was established. After the 44th year of the Qianlong reign (1779), although the Qing government continuously revised the Kechang Tiaoli, they basically followed the volume classification and article arrangement modality established in the Qianlong 44 year edition. In the mid-to-late Qing Dynasty, with the increase of fixed regulations and the improvement of the legal status of the guiding cases, how to handle the relationship between regulations and guiding cases became an unavoidable important issue in the process of the legal compilation and application. The rulers of the Qing Dynasty taking “compiling regulations as the root of eliminating drawbacks” as principle, made targeted adjustments to the strategy of revising regulations. By clarifying the selection criteria for compiling and revising personnel, abolishing the limitation of revising regulations, and reviewing the backlog of cases, the Qing government aimed at refining the legal system and eliminating the divergence of regulations and guiding cases. Although the issue of “regulations and guiding cases divergence” was not completely resolved until the downfall of the Qing Dynasty, the Qing government’s century long legal clean-up movement promoted the refinement of the types of regulation articles, simplification of contents of regulation articles, and improvement of institutional content in the Kechang Tiaoli, which to some extent enhanced the systematization of the Kechang Tiaoli. The legislative experience formed in the design of the structure and legal clearance of the Kechang Tiaoli still has reference value for the compilation of contemporary Chinese legal codes.Compared with existing researches, the innovation of this study can be listed in the following three aspects. Firstly, the editing history of the Kechang Tiaoli is systematically sorted out through making full use of the collections of the Kechang Tiaoli and related archives and historical materials in domestic and foreign libraries. Secondly, this study puts the compilation and revision of the Kechang Tiaoli into the perspective of the legal system construction of the Qing Dynasty, and analyses the stage characteristics and systematic development features presented by the Kechang Tiaoli in the light of the changes in the contents of the Kechang Tiaoli. Thirdly, this study provides a reference with Chinese experience and characteristics for today’s codification.
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Received: 06 February 2024
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2024, Vol. 54 
