秦汉徒刑散论

Some Remarks on Criminal Punishment in the Qin and Han Dynasties

在秦汉徒刑序列中,城旦舂、鬼薪白粲为一个等级,隶臣妾、司寇则属另一个等级,它们与死刑一起共同构成了秦汉刑罚体系中的三个等级。三个等级的构成为加刑和附加刑等非正式刑名提供了存在的空间,也体现出秦汉刑罚由轻到重循序渐进的特征。就肉刑和徒刑的关系而言,秦及汉初正处于肉刑地位逐渐下降,徒刑地位逐渐上升的过渡时期,其具体表现是,秦及汉初刑罚以徒刑为主,以肉刑为辅;特别是汉初,更将肉刑的使用上移至城旦舂。到汉文帝时期,肉刑的废除终于水到渠成。

There were three levels of criminal punishment in the Qin and Han dynasties: the death penalty; cheng dan chong(城旦舂) and gui xin bai can(鬼薪白粲); li chen qie(隶臣妾) and si kou(司寇). Such a structure provided space for informal forms of punishment, such as an increase in the penalty and accessory punishments. It also shows the typical order of the scale of criminal punishment in the Qin and Han conviction system. In the Qin and the early Han dynasty, imprisonment became more frequently applied than corporal punishment. The latter was only applied with cheng dan chong in the early Han dynasty. By the time of Emperor Wen's reign in the Han dynasty, corporal punishment was finally banned.