明初重刑辨析

Analysis on Harshness of Laws of Early Ming Dynasty

就刑法体系而言,《大明律》较《唐律》并非"轻其轻罪,重其重罪",且明初重典治吏失败的原因也不是由于其无视正常法制或像沈家本所说的"威竭而不振",而是缘于"明刑弼教"引出的君权的膨胀。由此带来的是自上而下的权力结构的扩张和恶化。权力的滥用将本来就制定的不科学的重典引向恶化,导致了重刑改革的失败。

Though there has been a long history in China of research on the legal situation of Ming Dynasty＇s early period, some questions remains to be answered. This essay explained that Da Ming Law didn＇t set lighter punishments on light crimes or set harsher punishments on felonies compared with Tang Dynasty＇s Law. And the failure of the early Ming Dynasty is the result of Zhu Yuanzhang＇s legal idea, which means ruling by virtue. It looks like that the law aims at the corruption, but it makes the emperor＇s power rising to the climax, which makes the power structure wider and worse, and deteriorates the law and fails the reform.