However, in the feudal era of China, "torture" was allowed by the imperial court and was a trial method written into the written law. It first appeared in the decrees of the Qin Dynasty:
"If you are extremely arrogant, you can't accept it. The law should treat (robbed) people, not (robbed) people. The necessary book for treating (forgiving) (plundering) is: book: speak with a certain number, don't (don't) explain the text, and treat (forgive) the news. " -"Bamboo slips of Qin Tomb in Sleeping Tiger Land, sealed for diagnosis"
According to the bamboo slips of Qin Tomb in Shuihudi, in the Qin Dynasty, if the prisoner changed his confession many times and refused to plead guilty during the trial, the judicial officer could torture the prisoner according to law. Of course, when interrogating prisoners, the presiding officer should ask people to write down the record of "being tortured because someone changed his confession many times to facilitate the inquiry of relevant officials"
Ancient torture
However, although the Qin Dynasty allowed the use of torture, it was cautious about it. This can be seen from the Qin law that "the law should be plunderer", that is, only qualified prisoners can be tortured by judicial personnel to extract confessions, and when can they be legally tortured to extract confessions? The Bamboo Slips of Qin Tomb in Sleeping Tiger Land also gives this point:
"Anyone who smells a prison must first listen to his words and write a book, each showing his words. Although he is wise (knowing) his appearance, he does not have to admire it. His words were written without explanation, so they were despised by those who despised them. Listen to all the explanations in the book, and then look at the other ones that don't (or don't) explain "-Bamboo Slips of Qin Tomb in Sleeping Tiger Land
When interrogating a case, the magistrate must first listen to the confessions of the plaintiff and the defendant and record them, so that the interrogated person can freely state his "grievances". In the course of the statement, even if the magistrate knows that he is lying, he can't refute it immediately, but should let him continue. After that, when they finish, the magistrate needs to check his confession again to see if there are any unclear questions. If so, he will continue the interrogation, then take a statement and see if there are any unclear questions. If so, he will continue interrogation until the prisoner is poor.
At this time, if the prisoner with poor speech fails to explain the problem clearly, or changes his confession many times, the judicial personnel can use torture according to the law.
As can be seen from the above, the use of "torture" in the Qin Dynasty was very cautious and would not be used easily. As "Bamboo Slips of Qin Tomb in Sleeping Tiger Land" said: "To rule a prison, you can follow the book and get human feelings without plundering. If you plunder it, you may be defeated. " When trying a case, judicial personnel can make a judgment according to the prisoner's situation. It is precisely because of this attitude that the judicial personnel in the Qin Dynasty were cautious about the use of "torture".
Since the Qin dynasty, the trial of cases in successive dynasties has continued the basic practice of the Qin dynasty, that is, allowing "torture", but using "torture" with great caution. For example, during the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties, the rulers of Wei, Jin and other dynasties put forward the idea of torture according to law, which not only strictly restricted the use of torture, but also made strict regulations on the instruments and specifications of torture. At the same time, during the Northern Wei Dynasty, the rulers of the Northern Wei Dynasty also stipulated that it was forbidden to torture people over the age of 50, and the infirm people could reduce their sentences as appropriate, which was a great progress compared with the practice of "no grades of punishment" in the Qin and Han Dynasties.
Of course, the "torture" system was truly legalized in the Tang Dynasty. In the Tang Dynasty, there were clear regulations on when to torture, how to torture, how to supervise torture, the object of torture and the decider of torture.
Conditions of torture
In the Tang Dynasty, according to the Law of the Tang Dynasty, torture can only be used if "the matter is unknown and cannot be decided" (the case is unknown and cannot be decided). Of course, it does not mean that judicial personnel can use torture immediately when the case is unknown. "The Law of the Tang Dynasty" stipulates: "We must first examine the reason with emotion and refer to it repeatedly; If it is still undecided and needs to be interrogated, it should be filed with the same judgment and interrogated again. " That is, before deciding to extort a confession by torture, judicial personnel must undergo strict examination, and then make it clear that there are criminal facts and the defendant is suspected of committing a major crime, but he does not admit it, before extorting a confession by torture can be implemented.
Ancient court
At the same time, according to "A Brief Introduction to the Law of the Tang Dynasty", if interrogation is needed, a case should be filed, and the presiding judge should be seen together, and then the interrogation should be copied. If there is no official to try, you have to wear handcuffs. That is to say, if you want to torture the defendant, in addition to finding out the criminal facts and suspects, if there are more than two officials participating in the trial, you need to be present at the same time and all agree to torture. If only one official participates in the trial, you can decide whether to torture.
The object of torture
In the Tang Dynasty, there were a wide range of people who could be tortured, including not only defendants, but also plaintiffs, witnesses and all those related to finding out the facts of the case. "Tang Law" stipulates: "When the time limit for handcuffing prisoners has expired, those who do not take the lead will sue others. The accusers of families and relatives who were killed or stolen will not be copied. That is, if the defendant refuses to admit his crime after copying, the judge also thinks that the case is suspicious, he can copy the plaintiff and extort a confession from the plaintiff by torture if necessary. However, this provision is an exception for plaintiffs and relatives of families killed, stolen and destroyed by fire and water. For such a plaintiff, the judge cannot copy it.
Ancient court
Obviously, the Tang law allows the plaintiff to countersign and even torture to prevent the occurrence of false accusations. However, in fact, this provision can not curb the occurrence of false accusations, because the Law of the Tang Dynasty also stipulates that "the plaintiff has not copied all of them, and he is released on bail pending trial", that is, he does not admit his false accusation, but can only "merge on bail" with the defendant, and this case is here. Therefore, in fact, anti-plagiarism plaintiff can not completely prevent the occurrence of false accusations.
In addition, the Law of the Tang Dynasty also stipulates: "Those who falsely accuse people of abortion are not raped by their predecessors, but those who falsely accuse people of misleading are reduced by one level. If their predecessors have been copied, they will not be reduced, that is, witnesses will also be copied. " In other words, if the plaintiff is suspected of false accusation, the judicial personnel can cross-examine the witness. It can be seen from this provision that witnesses were also allowed to be tortured in the Tang Dynasty.
Supervise torture
In the Tang Dynasty, although Tang Ting allowed judicial personnel to torture defendants, even plaintiffs and witnesses in order to obtain case evidence, it was easy for prisoners to extract confessions through torture. Therefore, while allowing torture, Tang Ting has also formulated a series of systems to supervise the implementation of torture, so as to avoid the problem of extorting confessions by torture.
Ancient trial
First of all, in the Tang Dynasty, there were strict regulations on the implementation of torture. To carry out torture, judicial personnel must meet various conditions, such as "preparing five hearings first, then checking all the evidence, and then robbing", that is, judicial personnel must listen to five hearings first (the so-called five hearings mean "listening to words, colors, gas, ears and eyes"), and judicial personnel should pay attention to the plaintiff when trying cases. Whether the spirit is in a trance or not, and whether the eyes are divine, then the magistrate can judge whether their statements are true or not according to these, so as to make a basic judgment on the case.
Then the judicial personnel need to analyze the contents of their confessions and verify them repeatedly. If the judicial personnel still think that there is a problem and the defendant always denies the crime, the judicial personnel may conduct an interrogation. Of course, before torture, the case must be filed and other officials involved in the trial must agree to torture. Of course, if only one person participates in the trial of the case, he can decide whether to torture or not.
In addition, the Tang Law stipulates that bureaucrats and nobles, people over 70 years old 15 years old, disabled people and pregnant women can be exempted from torture. In other words, for these people, whether they are guilty or not, judicial personnel can't extort confessions by torture. "Proceedings of the Tang Law" states: "Anyone who is over 70 years old and under 15 years old and has a disability will be convicted according to the evidence without trial, and the offenders will die.
Qing dynasty trial cases
At the same time, the Law of the Tang Dynasty also stipulates that "if the crime has been pardoned, it is not advisable to copy it", that is, if the crime committed by the prisoner has been pardoned by the emperor, the judicial officer cannot torture it.
Secondly, the instruments of torture that can be used by torture were also clearly defined in the Tang Dynasty. "On the Law of the Tang Dynasty" said: "To cuckold a prisoner outside the staff, or to hang him with a rope, or to torture him with a staff, but if you walk outside the staff, you should know that it is another way." In other words, the legal instrument of torture in the Tang Dynasty was the staff. Regarding the specifications of the staff, Tang Ting also made it very clear: "The staff is three feet and five inches long, so cut the program. Information officer, the diameter of the big head is 3.2 cm and the diameter of the small head is 2.2 cm. Always walk with a stick, with the big head divided into two points and seven centimeters and the small head divided into seven centimeters. With crutches, the big head is divided into two points and the small head is divided into one point. "
In order not to cause the tortured person to die as a result of torture, Tang Ting has also strictly stipulated the punishment place. The prison officer's order reads: "The back, legs and buttocks should be calculated separately for those who decide on sticks;" The same is true for interrogators, that is, judicial personnel can only hit the victim on the legs, buttocks and back when they are tortured. At the same time, in order to prevent prisoners from being tortured to extract confessions, Tang Ting also stipulated that "the interval between interrogations should be 20 days", "the number of prisoners for kidnapping crime should not exceed three degrees, the total number should not exceed 200, and the number of crimes below the crime of beating with sticks should not exceed 20 days", that is, each torture must be 20 days apart, the number of times of torturing the criminal should not exceed three, and the number of times of beating with sticks should not exceed 200.
If a judicial officer violates this provision, he will bear legal responsibility. If the number of sticks exceeds, the prisoner will be handcuffed to death. The Tang law stipulates: "If there are a hundred sticks, those who count them will sit and lick them; Because of this, the deceased was sentenced to two years in prison ",that is, the number of strokes exceeded, and the excess was borne by the official who tried the case. If it was fatal, it was sentenced to two years in prison; If the patient suffers from unhealed sores, he will be fined "100 sticks, 50 sticks, and one and a half years in prison if he dies", that is, if the patient suffers from unhealed sores, the presiding officer will be fined 50 and the death will be sentenced to one and a half years.
To sum up, the use of "torture" in the Tang Dynasty was indeed very cautious. The courts in the Tang Dynasty did not allow judicial officials to torture prisoners unless absolutely necessary. Because the Tang Dynasty practiced the "combination of etiquette and law" in law, it also attached great importance to maintaining humanitarian ethics in torture. According to the Tang law, the elderly over 70 years old,/kloc-children under 0/5 years old, disabled people and patients are not allowed to be tortured. In violation of this law, judicial officials should bear legal responsibility. From this point, we can see that the "torture" in the Tang Dynasty was merciful, and it paid special attention to the special protection of the elderly, children, the disabled and the weak, which fully reflected the forgiveness and kindness of the rulers in the Tang Dynasty and the humanitarian ethics of protecting the weak.
flogging as a punishment
Generally speaking, although torture was allowed in the Tang Dynasty, its rulers had a clear understanding of the disadvantages of torture, so they did not encourage it, and they also intended to restrict the use of torture by judicial personnel through systems and laws. Even if judicial personnel can legally use torture, he is subject to many restrictions. According to the law of the Tang Dynasty, only one staff can be used, and torture cannot exceed three times. The total number of blows with the staff should not exceed 300, and the parts that are hit can only be legs, hips and back, which can effectively avoid the problem of prisoners being beaten to extract confessions. At the same time, in order to curb the abuse of torture by judicial personnel, Tang Ting not only limited the number and tools of torture, but also formulated a series of laws aimed at judicial personnel. If the prisoner dies due to excessive torture, the judicial personnel will be sentenced to two years' imprisonment if they are alive and not sick, otherwise, they will be sentenced to one and a half years' imprisonment.