Handling of Murder Cases in Qin and Tang Dynasties

QIN DYNASTY VS. TANG DYNASTY (LAW)
Name
Institutional Affiliation
Qin Dynasty vs. Tang Dynasty (Law)
Introduction
For a long time China has been in the limelight as a game changer, and is focal on the eastern part of Asia. Being the third largest country in the world, there is much that could possibly be associated with it. It is so vast that it occupies about a fifth of the land around the globe. It is known to be the best world planter of rice that has passed through generations, as the best. The state of Qin has a lot to be remembered for, specifically the role of the unification of China that it played in 221 B.C. . During the Qin Dynasty that lasted between 221-206 BC, there was a magnificent leader by the name Ying Zheng who had one of the greatest visions. He is therefore responsible for the unification of China after a series of wars among states by then. He is significant for the unification, centralization as long as the Chinese history lives. By himself, he was called Qin Shi Hua Huang meaning, the first emperor of Qin. It is remembered for its strict laws and the use of unfree labor. The Tang dynasty is also one of the most remembered states that enacted laws that had zero-tolerance to corruption. All those people who renounced evil during this time were rewarded, but for the perpetrators of crime, they had to face harsh punishment. China is known to depend heavily on the rule of written law, for a long time. Although both dynasties had laws that governed their citizens, the magnitude in terms of strict conditions for perpetrators varied in scale. This paper argues that the Tang dynasty presented stricter laws than those of the Qin dynasty by comparing robbery, murder, and corruption laws.[Patricia, Buckley E, ed. Chinese civilization: A sourcebook, 2nd ed (New York: The Free Press, 1993), p116-119]
Handling of Murder Cases in Qin and Tang Dynasties
While the two dynasties had almost similar ways of handling murder cases, the Tang dynasty was much stricter. While Confucian was largely biased against the use of law in maintaining good behavior, the Chinese heavily depended on the written law to deal with murder cases. In this regard, the Tang legal code gave provisions on the steps that should be taken following any murder. The code specified that following any killing, “the sentence is decapitation.” On the other hand, the Qin state that united the entire China in 221 B.C. was perhaps remembered for its harsh laws, and it provided guidelines on what to be done following murder.The law under the Qin dynasty states that if one killed a child without being authorized, then the individual would be “made a convict laborer.” However, the law exempted this punishment for individuals killing deformed newborns under the Qin dynasty. If the killed child is normal and the reason for killing the normal child is to reduce population, then the charge amounts to murder. The law regarding protection of convicts murdered fails to sufficiently respect human rights under the Qin dynasty. The law claims that if an inmate, whose crime could be paid with a fine is murdered by an individual arresting him, then the murderer is only charged and punished as a convict laborer. In the Tang dynasty, injurin...