汉代官吏的“不胜任”与罢免问题

On the"Bu Sheng Ren"of Officials and Their Dismissal in the Han Dynasty

“不胜任”原指某物体不能承受其他事物,战国时逐渐成为评价官吏能力无法胜任职位要求的习惯用语。居延地区汉简、两汉传世文献常见官吏“不胜任”的记录,且所指范围进一步扩大,既包括个人能力不够,也包括不作为、健康状况欠佳、性格软弱、考课结果靠后等情况。汉代对不胜任者的处置首先是免职,然后根据具体情况,给予免除本职而改任他官、免除所有职务等处罚,以免除所有职务最为常见,另外还要对其上级或举荐者牵连问责。其中对软弱不胜任、边地官员不称职处罚较之其他情况严厉。两汉对官吏“不胜任”认定、处罚的细化和差异化,是古代官僚制度本身发展的结果,也是汉代开疆拓土、事功进取时代风貌的反映。

"Bu Sheng Ren(Incompetence)"originally meant that an object could not withstand other things.During the Warring States Period,it gradually became an idiom in evaluating the ability of an official as being disqualified for the position he held.There were a large number of records of"incompetent"officials in the Juyan Bamboo Slips of the Han Dynasty and other documents handed down to now from the Western Han and Eastern Han Dynasties.With its referential scope further expanded,the collocation"Bu Sheng Ren"began to include not only insufficient personal ability,but also such situations as dereliction of duty,poor physical condition,weak disposition,and low-ranking assessment results.The handling of incompetent people adopted by the Han Dynasty government was firstly dismissal,and then such penalties as removal from the original position for a change to another lower position or exemption of all the positions in accordance with specific conditions,with the latter as the most commonly seen.In addition,the superior or recommender of the incompetent official would also be held accountable for entanglement.The government's penalties for incompetent officials of weak dispositions and those in border areas were stricter as compared with the penalties for other circumstances.The elaboration and differentiation in identifying and punishing the incompetent officials in Western Han and Eastern Han Dynasties were the results from the development of the ancient bureaucratic system and also the reflection of the contemporary spirit of expanding the territory and making progress in antient times.