History can't bear to look at the complete collection

Chapter 96 Cruel Punishment 7
Ancient Death Penalty Review

Due to the severity and irreversibility of the death penalty, all legal and civilized countries are extremely cautious about the application of the death penalty.In China today, unless the death penalty is decided by the Supreme People's Court according to law, it must be reported to the Supreme People's Court for review.So many people mistakenly believe that the death penalty review system is a new thing that only appeared in modern times.

In fact, my country already had a very serious death penalty review system in ancient times.Human life is at stake. In ancient times, murder was not done casually like in film and television dramas. Many plots in TV dramas are actually unreal.For example, in the Jiangzhou case in "Detective Di Renjie II", there is such a storyline: Di Gong was ordered to serve in Jiangzhou. He was very angry, so he ordered the execution of this evil slave who committed crimes on the spot.In ancient times, Di Renjie did not have the right to execute the evil slave Du Er on the spot.Killing a person is not that simple, and it has to go through the death penalty review, and the emperor personally reviews it.

The ancient death penalty review system includes the death penalty review and the death penalty review.The review of death penalty refers to the review of the proposed death penalty case by the relevant state departments, and then report to the emperor for ruling before the final sentence.The death penalty replay refers to the case where the death penalty has been sentenced, and the emperor must be approved again before the execution.

Since at least the Han Dynasty, death sentences must be approved by the emperor before they can be executed, which is the so-called "reporting prisoners".During the Three Kingdoms period, Emperor Wei Ming stipulated that, except for treason and homicide, other death penalty cases must be reported to the emperor.Emperor Wu of the Song Dynasty in the Southern Dynasties issued an edict: "Those whose crimes should be reprosecuted must be reported first as before, and the officials will strictly listen to them, and the offenders will be punished as murder." The emperor personally intervened, and it could only be executed when there was no doubt or grievance.The establishment of the death penalty replay system strengthened the emperor's control over judicial trials and reflected the traditional spirit of "cautious punishment".

During the Sui Dynasty, the death penalty was treated more cautiously. "Sui Shu?"Criminal Law Records" contains: "The Fifteenth System of the Founding Emperor: Those who commit capital crimes shall be sentenced after three memorials." That is, the emperor can decide whether to be sentenced to death after three memorials, also known as "three repeated memorials."

Later, in order to avoid killing people by mistake, Emperor Taizong changed the "three replays" before execution to "five replays", that is, the prisoner had to replay twice to the emperor the day before execution, and three times on the day of execution.However, due to the underdeveloped transportation in ancient times and the distance between places and the capital, it was not realistic to implement the quintuple. Therefore, Tang Taizong had to stipulate that the quintuple should be used in all places, and the capital should implement the quintuple. "Tang Liudian?According to the "Ministry of Punishments", for those who are about to be executed, the replay will be repeated twice the day before the execution, and once again on the day of the execution, so as to avoid killing innocent people by mistake.If the executive officer executes the sentence without repeating the emperor, he will be punished criminally.However, for sinners who commit heinous crimes that are unforgivable, such as beating and murdering grandparents and parents, killing aunts, brothers and sisters, maternal grandparents, husbands, grandparents of husbands, and people above parents, as well as untouchables and slaves who kill their masters, it is only necessary to implement a single punishment. After the performance, the death penalty can be used.Since the death penalty review system in the Tang Dynasty was perfect, it has been used in successive dynasties.

In the Ming and Qing Dynasties, all death-row prisoners should be "judged" by the emperor, and then the Ministry of Punishment will issue a document to the place where the criminal is held, and the local government should execute the document within three days after it arrives.The death penalty in the Ming and Qing Dynasties was divided into two forms: Li Jue and Qiu Hou Jue, that is, immediate execution and autumn later execution.The Qing law called the former "Zhan Li Jue" and "Hang Li Jue", and the latter "Zhan Jian Hou" and "Hang Jian Hou".For particularly serious death-row criminals, such as treason, treason, treason, and homicide, a verdict will be imposed, while ordinary death-row criminals will be executed after the fall.

Death Li Jue and Qiu Hou Wen Zhan must be reviewed and approved by the emperor.For cases of death and judgment, it usually needs to be approved by the Ministry of Punishment first, and the Metropolitan Procuratorate participates in the review, and then it is sent to Dali Temple for trial and approval, and finally the Sanju Juehui will ask the emperor for final approval.For the death penalty case of Qiu Houwen's beheading, the Ming Dynasty implemented the court trial system.The court trial was issued in the second year of Tianshun, and it began to be implemented in the third year of Tianshun. From then on, it has been "perpetually established", implemented "every year after the fall of frost", and "observed in all dynasties".

On the basis of the Ming Dynasty, the Qing Dynasty implemented two re-examination systems, the autumn trial and the court trial. All cases of beheading and hanging prisons had to go through the autumn trial and the court trial.The autumn trial is to review the prison cases sentenced by the local provinces, and the court trial is to review the prison cases sentenced by the Ministry of Punishment.

It can be seen from this that killing in ancient times was not as frivolous as imagined, and people cannot be resurrected after death. In ancient my country, there was already a death penalty review system, and it was relatively perfect.

(End of this chapter)