中国古代废除死刑论的得与失

Gains and Losses of Abolitionism in Imperial China

反对死刑的人士常常将唐玄宗747年发布的敕令视为中国历史上废除死刑的最早记载。但不幸的是,全面的历史考察发现,尽管绞刑和枭首两种主要的死刑方式曾被暂时废除,但死刑仍旧通过其他方式得以延续。尽管在今天主张废除死刑的人们看来,公元747年敕令并不是废除死刑的先驱,但该敕令仍值得关注,因为它本身反映了很早就产生的,具有原生性和典型中国特色的死刑废除论。汉武帝在公元前167年曾做出过一系列法律改革,终于在经历了几百年的进步、倒退与重复之后彻底废除了肉刑。中华文明实际上是最早根据人道主义原则来评价刑罚的正当性的,并决定那些被视为残酷的惩罚应当由国家加以废除。欧洲是在启蒙时期出现了宏大的法律改革并于18世纪晚期获得了成功,而中国在此很早之前就已经经历了法律进步主义的各种挑战。

Campaigners against death penalty commonly present an edict issued by Em- peror Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty in 747 as the first abolition of capital punishment in history. Sadly, a thorough examination shows that, although strangulation and decapitation, the two legal forms of death penalties, were temporarily suppressed, executions went on through other means such as bastinadoes with bamboo. If it was not the forerunner that present-day abolitionists would expect, the 747 edict deserves interest as a belated expression of a deeply original and typically Chinese abolitionism. Launched by Emperor Wu of the Han in 167 BC, a series of legal changes resulted in the complete suppression of mutilating punishments （肉刑） after tenturies of move forwards, reversals, and restarts. Indeed the Chinese civilization was the first to assess the legitimacy of legal penalties on the criteria of humanitarian principles, and to decide that punishments deemed ＂cruel＂ （酷） should be renouncod by the State. China thus experienced all the challenges of legal progressivism long before Enlightened Europe launch the great reforms that won the day from the late 18th century on.