西汉初期黄老思想的法制实践

Legal Practice of Huang-Lao thoughts in the Early Western Han Dynasty

西汉初期的六十余年,以黄老思想治国。黄老思想主张无为而治、与民休息,文武并用、德刑兼行,刑不厌轻、罚不患薄。西汉初的统治者在黄老思想的指导下,刑新邦用轻典,在法制实践上采用废除苛法、因循成法、公正执法、减赋节用保民等措施,宽缓治国治民,使国力得以恢复,民富而国强。

In the early sixty years of the Western Han Dynasty, the country was ruled under the guidance of HuangLao thoughts. Huang-Lao thoughts advocates to govern by doing nothing that goes against nature, loosen the control over common people, combine force with non-violence and punishment with morality, and prefer to light punishment and penalty when it comes to criminals. Under the guidance of Huang-Lao thoughts, governors in the early Western Han Dynasty ruled the new state with light punishment. At the aspect of legal practice, the governors carried out methods like abolishing draconian laws, laying down the law according to previous experience, enforcing the law in a justice way, reducing taxes and cutting expenditures to stabilize the people and so on. With theses methods, the new state became stronger and the people got wealthier.