During the Warring States period, many countries carried out political reforms and implemented the New Deal with the support of Wei and Wei. One of them is the formation of legal classics. The Code is the first systematic written code in the ancient history of China, which has become the blueprint of later codes.
There are six codes, namely, theft, thief, net (or prison), arrest, miscellaneous and preparation. Li Kui thought thieves and thieves were the biggest threats to the rule, so he put them at the forefront. A thief means to hurt people and rebel. Miscellaneous refers to various criminal acts except thieves and thieves. It is similar to the general part of modern criminal law and stipulates the principle of conviction and sentencing. The sixth "Ju Fa" plays the role of "addition and subtraction", which is equivalent to the general part of modern code. However, the existing contents of legal classics are only the provisions on mitigating punishment for minors under the age of 15 and elderly people over the age of 60.
After the establishment of the Han Dynasty, three articles were added to the six articles in the Law Classic, and the Nine Chapters Law was formulated as the basis of the laws of the Han Dynasty.
Confucianism pays attention to "benevolent government" and has the principle of "respecting the old and loving the young" as early as the Western Zhou Dynasty. In order to flaunt "benevolent government", the rulers of the Han Dynasty emphasized the implementation of this Confucian thought of kindness and punishment. In the third year of Emperor Jing of Han Dynasty (BC 14 1), "it was ordered that people over 80 years old and under 8 years old, as well as pregnant, unborn, teachers and dwarfs, should be attached with cymbals." ② The so-called dysprosium system means imprisonment; The so-called "ode system" means being lenient and not wearing instruments of torture. This order is to give preferential treatment to the elderly, the weak, the sick and the disabled, such as the elderly, the young, pregnant women, scholars and dwarfs, and not to wear torture devices during imprisonment. In the fourth year of Emperor Gaozu's Xuan Di Yuankang (62 BC), he also wrote: "From now on, no one over 80 years old can sit down unless he falsely accuses or kills someone." (3) Emperor Gaozu Hong Jiayuan (20 BC) ordered: "Anyone under the age of seven who fights and kills a thief and commits a capital crime, please ask Ting Wei to hear about it and the capital crime will be mitigated." (4) During the reign of Emperor Guangwu of the Eastern Han Dynasty, another imperial edict was issued: "Men and women over 80 years old and under 10 years old are not allowed to sit down, and the imperial edict is not allowed to arrest." (5) That is, the elderly, children and women sitting in a row are not allowed to be arrested and imprisoned except for crimes that are investigated according to the imperial edict. In the first year of Emperor Yuan of Hanping (A.D. 1 year), it was also stipulated: "The female disciples in the world have talked about it and have returned to their hometown, with Gu Shan and Yue Qian 300." It means that after a woman is convicted and sent home, she can pay 300 yuan a month for someone to serve on her behalf. The reason why the Han Dynasty gave preferential treatment to women and children, old and young, was that their criminal acts could not constitute serious harm to society, but also reflected the lenient thoughts of the ruling class.
The Law of the Tang Dynasty advocates that the punishment of the old and young who abandon the disease should be mitigated or exempted in three situations: First, those who abandon the disease and commit vagrancy should be redeemed if they are over 70 years old or under 15 years old. Second, those who are over 80 years old, or 10 years old, are sick and commit treason and murder, and should be sentenced to death; Theft and injury, redemption; The rest of the crimes were ignored. Third, although people over 90 years old or under 7 years old have committed capital crimes, they will not be given additional punishment (no criminal responsibility will be investigated).
According to the laws of the Tang Dynasty, prisoners, people over 80 years old 10 years old and people who are sick have no right to sue. Prisoners who enjoy legal privileges such as discussion, petition, commutation, etc., old people and young people over 70 years old and under 15 years old, pregnant women and disabled people are not allowed to be questioned. In this regard, more than three people are used as evidence to implement multi-card conviction.
In the Song Dynasty, the litigation rights of the elderly and the disabled were restricted. For example, it is stipulated that "disabled people over the age of 70 shall not give up their families and be ordered to be replaced by their families".