|
|
|
| The Construction of Merit Concept in the Han Dynasty and Its Development in the Judicial Field |
| Zhong Sheng |
| School of Law， Wuhan University， Wuhan 430072 |
|
|
|
|
Abstract The concept of Merit was the judicial idea that judicial officials in the Han Dynasty were keen to uphold in their trials， which claimed that fair trial could accumulate merit and obtain blessing. This concept took retribution for good and evil as its ideological core and constructed a set of selfconsistency explanatory logic. The concept of Merit was widely advocated and emulated due to the active practices of Yu Gong and his son Yu Dingguo in the Han Dynasty. It reshaped the judicial idea of the Han Dynasty， which could be regarded as a means by which the group of judicial officials controlled and restrained selfbehavior，and was helpful to correct the merciless officials’ abuse of penalty that prevailed since the midWestern Han Dynasty and ease the social crisis. However， the concept of Merit caused the judicial officials to associate their own interests with the judicial trial， and even perverted the course of justice.
|
|
Received: 08 April 2020
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
2020, Vol. 59 
