An Investigation of the Legal System in the Early Yuan Period 元初 : with emphasis on the relationship with the Jin-system 金制

This paper treats the question of the historical background from which legislation was started during the early Yuan 元 period, while especially concentrating on the relationship with the Jin 金 dynasty. Initially the paper shows that the rules called "Shengzhi tiaohua 聖旨條畫" originated in the regulations tiaoli 條理 of the Jin, and demonstrates that they were provisional measures authorized by the emperor. Subsequently the paper introduces through the records of Wang Yun 王惲 in his "Zhongtang shiji 中堂事記", the details of the process whereby the decrees were established during the reign of Qubilai (Shizu 世組). This study clarifies the importance of the role played by the Yanjing xingsheng 燕京行省 in the legislation of the Yuan period. The officials of the Yanjing xingsheng (or the Yanjing xingzhongshusheng 燕京行中書省), who were summoned by Qubilai to Kaiping 開平 with Wang Wen-tong 王文統 as the chief official, drew up drafts of many laws for the unification of China. They cooperated with the Commissioner of Pacification (xuanfushi 宣撫使) in this effort, amidst a situation of confrontation with the officials of the Qiansheng 前省 (the Yanjing xingshangshusheng 燕京行尚書省 by the time of Mongke (Xianzong 憲宗)). They promulgated these laws having obtained the authorization of Qubilai. Thus the Yuan administration started, which frequently proclaimed these tiaohua (or tiaoze 條格). When we examine the list of officials and clerks of the Yanjing xingsheng, we see that many talented Chinese men were concentrated here. The Jin system was inherited during the Yuan due to the insistence on "Ruli jiantong 儒吏兼通" (being both a Confucianist and an administrator) as a principle of the concentration of gifted men, and due to the fact that many Jin law-officials participated and cooperated in this office. Finally, concerning the law itself, the paper comments on the discussions of Wang Yun, Hu Zhi-yu 胡祗遹 and Wei Chu 魏初 (all employed in the Yanjing xingsheng in the early reign of Qubilai) about the abolition of the Taihe law (Taihe luling 泰和律令) of the Jin in 1271. The study discusses the fact that since the Zhongtong 中統 period (from 1260 on) the adhocdecrees of the tiaohua, which were promulgated in close connection with the government, were accumulated in the library of the governmental offices together with the legal precedents. Also their editing work was carried out in response to a need for legal practice. The reason for the success of this conquest dynasty is their use and development of the knowledge and legal legacy of the Jin, the preceding conquest dynasty