秦漢律における「不孝」罪

Abstract

In the Classic of Filial Piety 孝經 (Xiao-jing), a text used by many dynasties as representing the idea of rule of the State, it is written that "In the three thousand articles in Five-Punishments, there is no more serious offence than the lack of filial piety 不孝." Moreover, the texts of Shuihudi-Qinmu-zhu-jian 睡虎地秦墓竹簡 and the Zhangjiashan-Hanjian-zouyanshu 張家山漢簡奏讞書 record a crime referred to as "the lack of filial piety 不孝", and the assessment of the crime was death. From this it appears that the sentence in the Xiao-jing reflects the actual situation during the Warring-States period. It was basically succeeded to the Later-Han dynasty. However, the instances of application of this law decreased, especially after the reign of Xuan-di 宣帝. Also, in the Later-Han period the crime of lack of filial piety came to be considered as a much more minor offence. In this paper, I examine the background of this issue, and survey the course of change of this crime from the Qin-Han period through to its establishment as one of the "Shi-e 十悪" under the Tang Statutes 唐律 (Tang-lu).