秦汉时期民众的法律意识

People's Legal Consciousness in the Qin and Han Dynasties

秦汉时代,民众对法律知识有着广泛的了解,已经形成了尊重法律、敬畏法律的意识,即便是在复仇风俗的影响下,不少人出于"私义"走上复仇之路,但是在完成复仇行为之后,许多复仇者主动选择就"公法",向官府投案自首,接受国家刑律的制裁;民众熟知许多与自身利益相关的法律规定,普遍懂得利用法律手段、诉诸官府来解决纠纷,维护自身利益;与此同时,民众也有较强的法律参与意识,他们通过对执法官吏的毁誉评价、对重大案件的关注论议、集体或个人诣阙告诉、为人"讼冤"等各种途径表达自身对法律的诉求和执法官吏的期待。

In the Qin and Han Dynasties, people had a full understanding of law and formed the consciousness of respecting and revering law as the following. First, even though a few people took revenge for the sake of personal interest due to the custom of revenge, they would like to surrender themselves to the government to accept legal punishment after revenge. Second, people were familiar with the legal regulations relating to their own interest so that they tended to resort to legal means and government to solve dispute to protect their own interest. At the same time, they also had strong consciousness of participating in law to express their legal pursuit and their expectation of the law enforcement officials by the means of assessing officials, discussing important cases, conducting collective or personal lawsuit or assisting others＇ lawsuit.