清代官员的鬼神信仰及其司法实践——从汪辉祖“刘开扬案”和蓝鼎元“幽魂对质案”的比较出发

Supernatural Beliefs and Legal Practices of Judicial Officials of Qing Dynasty: A Comparative Study of the Cases of Liu Kaiyang and Lan Dingyuan

清代官员在一些司法实践中,有时会采用到"动用鬼神"的方法。通过比较两名清代著名官员蓝鼎元和汪辉祖的动用鬼神的司法实践及他们关于鬼神的思想观念,可以发现,这种"动用鬼神"的司法实践虽然表面相似,但其背后的理念可能并不一致:蓝鼎元纯粹是在"利用鬼神",而汪辉祖则相信鬼神介入司法的力量,希望得到鬼神的帮助。实际上,清代官员的司法实践,或多或少都会受到其鬼神信仰的影响。

Occasionally, supernatural beings would be utilized by judicial officials of Qing Dynasty when they were dealing with their cases. By comparing of the thoughts and legal practices of Lan Dingyuan and Wang Huizu, we can see that though seemingly they were similar cases, the ideas behind them were quite different. While Lan Dingyuan was using supernatural beings as tools, Wang Huizu sincerely believed in supernatural be- ings＇ mystic powers and tried to ask them for help. In fact, the legal practices of judicial officials of Qing Dynasty were influenced by their beliefs of supernatural beings more or less.