“八议”源流与腹边文化互动

Origin and Development of Eight Deliberations and Cultural Interaction Between the Central Plains Regime and Frontier Ethnic Regimes

"八议"律条自曹魏入律以后,经晋唐以迄明清,成为中国固有法律的鲜明特征之一;但近世西学东渐以来,亦曾饱受訾议。"八议"语源出自《周礼》"八辟",或许在某种抽象意义上反映了两周时代的礼制精神。申言之,"八辟"可能是出自君臣之礼,或君臣之礼的某一环节,以示君主对臣下的体恤和优抚。从两周时代的国体、政体和君臣关系考察,这种君臣之礼的存在也是可能的。本文进而比较了中原王朝与边疆诸族政权在君臣关系和政治伦理等领域的差异,指出前者是尊卑关系,后者是主奴关系,伦理亦然。源于八辟的八议律条是中原政权的独特创造,有赖于农耕文化的支撑;在以游牧、渔猎文化为主导的边疆政权入主之时,便难免会发生种种变异。

The legal articles of Eight Deliberations were incorporated into law in the Wei Dynasty and,after the development through the Jin and Tang dynasties to the Ming and Qing dynasties,had become one of the distinctive features of Chinese inherent laws.However,with the spread of Western culture to the East,the Eight Deliberations have also been subjected to severe criticism.This article argues that the Eight Deliberations etymologically originated from the Ba Pi(Eight Regulations)in the Rites of Zhou,and they might in an abstract sense reflect the spirit of etiquette in the Western and Eastern Zhou dynasties.Specifically,the Eight Regulations probably came from the etiquette between monarchs and ministers,or certain aspects of the monarch-minister etiquette,to show the monarch’s compassion and special care for his ministers.An investigation into the state system,the regime as well as the monarch-minister relationship in the Western and Eastern Zhou dynasties also shows that it is possible that such a monarch-minister etiquette had existed.Moreover,this article compares the monarch-minister relation and political ethics between the Central Plains Regime and that of frontier ethnic regimes and points out that the former is a kind of superiority-inferiority relationship and the latter is a kind of master-slave relationship.The legal articles of Eight Deliberations,which originated from the Eight Regulations in the Rites of Zhou,were the unique creation of the Central Plains Regime and depended on the support of farming culture.When the frontier ethnic regimes dominated by nomadic,fishing and hunting culture came into power,all sorts of variations would inevitably take place.