昭昭千載——碑石上的法律(上)

Magnificent Thousands Years -The Law on Steles (Volume One)

法律碑刻的前世今生將禁令、規範、公文、契約和訟案等「鏤之金石」,即銘刻於青銅器或碑石上,公布彰顯,以備查考,以垂久遠,是中國古代法制文明的一個重要傳統。這一傳統由「銘金」和「刻石」組成。「銘金」是中國秦漢以前法制傳承的重要方式;「刻石」是在先秦、秦漢「銘金」基礎上對「鏤之金石」法律傳承方式的進一步發展,經歷了秦漢「銘功紀法」和「碑以明禮」、唐宋金元「碑以載政」、明清「碑以示禁」等幾個重要發展階段。銘刻載體從青銅到碑石,從早期偶見的與法律相關的刻石,到體系化、規範化的公文碑、私約碑、禁令碑、規章碑、訟案碑等,「刻石紀法」歷經上千年的發展和積澱。

History of Law Steles It was an important tradition of Chinese ancient legal civilization that the prohibition, regulations, official documents, contract and lawsuit were engraved on bronzes or stones for announcement, for reference and for far-reaching influence. This tradition consisted of "bronze carving" and "stone carving"."Bronze carving" was a significant way of inheriting laws before the Qin and Han dynasties."Stone carving" was the further development on the basis of “bronze carving” in the pre-Qin, Qin and Han dynasties, consisting of "bronze carving for recording achievements and laws" and "stele for recording rites" in the Qin and Han dynasties,"stele for announcing policies" in the Tang, Song, Jin and Yuan dynasties,"stele for announcing prohibitions" in the Ming and Qing dynasties, and also other important stages. It took thousands of years for the "law stele" to develop from the bronze to stone, from the early and occasionally related law stele inscription to the systematic and standardized official document stele, private contract stele, prohibition stele, regulation stele, legal case stele, etc.