试论唐中后期法制的废弛——以“宫市”为视角

The Relaxation of Legal System in the Later Half of Tang Dynasty——On "Court Purchasing"

唐中后期,法制逐渐废弛,"宫市"的产生、发展从一个侧面反映了这个问题。其表现有三:首先,大量使职(包括宫市使)的设立使相关国家机构虚置,使职又难于监督,因此,破坏了原有官制。其次,宦官在宫市活动中,假借君主制敕、违反市场管理制度及交易规范、挟势乞索,公然违反法律,却没有受到应有制裁,使相关法律成为空文。最后,君主制敕地位不断提高,干扰了法律的施行;且常常代替律文,成为定罪量刑的依据。

In the later half of Tang Dynasty, the legal system became lax gradually. This problem was partly reflected in the developing of court purchasing. There are three reasons as follows. Firstly, the mass accredited officials, including Court Purchasing Emissary, destroyed the original official system, which made some state institutions useless. At the same time, it was very difficult to supervise those officials. Secondly, when the eunuchs carried out court purchasing, they fabricated the monarchical edicts, disobeyed the business rules, and extorted businessmen because of their power and influence. Although they disregarded law openly, they did not be punished. Thus some legal provisions were merely nominal. Finally, with the advancement of the monarchical edict, it was taken for the basis to proportionate punishments to crimes instead of law, which disturbed the legal execution.