秦漢時代における「執法」官の設置と『商君書』定分篇

Abstract

The establishment of judicial officer called zhifa in the Qin-Han period was based on the early Chinese Legalists' concept, “Officials are established for the enforcement of a law”, which was intensively reflected in the chapter “Dingfen” of Shangjunshu. This chapter, written in the period from the end of the Qin to the beginning of the Han, includes many thoughts of Han Fei 韓非 and Li Si 李斯. According to the Qin bamboo strips from the Yuelu 嶽麓 academy collection, zhifa was a judicial officer subordinated to yushi 御史 (imperial prosecutor), and divided into two types, that is, zhongzhifa and junzhifa. Zhongzhifa 中執法 (zhifa of the capital), corresponding to one of “three judicial officers of the Son of Heaven” in the chapter “Dingfen”, had jurisdiction over the prefectures belonging to the capital area. On the other hand, junzhifa 郡執法 (zhifa in the commandery) had jurisdiction over the prefectures in each commandery. They were responsible for proclaiming and interpreting the law, supervising its execution, and they discharged their duties mainly by annually reporting accounts and merits, and reviewing legal cases. There were only a zhifa and his deputy in each office of zhifa, so their practical work was carried out by zushi 卒史, the clerks of the governor of the capital area and the commanderies. The official rank of zhifa was located between six hundred and one thousand picul class. In the reign of Emperor Wu, the system of judicial officers underwent great changes.