Law, Resources and Time-Space Constructing

This book studies the judicial evolution of the Qing Dynasty. It sums up the changes from six major aspects: 1. Banfangemerged in the late Qianlong period; 2. The opening of capital appealsearly in Jiaqings reign; 3. The consular jurisdiction was established during Daoguangs reign; 4. The execution on the spot was started in Daoguang and Xianfeng periods; 5. The introduction of fashenju (a interrogatory court) happened during Tongzhis reign; 6. Late in Guangxus reign, banishment was abolished, and reforms were made for prisons. In the past, people did not have a comprehensive understanding of these big changes. From the perspective of legal culture, scholars often criticize traditional Chinese law focuses on criminal law while ignores civil law in terms of legal culture, but this situation can be explained in part by the inadequate allocation of resources and authoritarian resources in traditional societies. Using a large number of archives and precious materials such as private notes that were not noticed by academics in the past, this book adopts the research path of new historical jurisprudence to explore the inner logic of judicial evolution in the Qing Dynasty, focusing on the triangular connection between legal rules, resources, and temporal and spatial constructions, which is an important contribution to the study of traditional Chinese law.