传统中国“慎刑”意蕴的法律表达——以死刑复奏制度为视角

The Legal Expression of Traditional Chinese Cautiously-applied Punishment:From the Perspective of the Sovereign’s Warrant about Reviewing Death Penalty

“慎刑”是传统中国的有机法律伦理体系,亦是君权主导的统治策略,统治者据此做出预期统治效果最佳的刑事政策、立法技术、司法取向的选择。作为将君权至上视域中“慎刑”伦理表达得较为成熟的制度,死刑复奏存在于死刑执行程序中,是传统中国死刑适用的终端救济程序,其有关“慎刑”刑事政策的表达机制,反映了传统中国礼法融合的治理路径,体现了君主威权主导的令行禁止对传统人治生态的作用。无论是“慎刑”承载的法文化与法思想,还是死刑复奏制度反映的程式化秩序,均可为我国死刑核准与执行政策之完善、制度之革新提供历史传统与法律意蕴的借鉴。

Cautiously-applied Punishment,as an organic legal and ethical system in traditional China,is a ruling strategy dominated by monarchical power.According to it,the ruler makes the choice of the criminal policy,the legislative technique and the judicial orientation which is expected to have the best ruling effect.As a mature system that expresses the“Cautiously-applied Punishment”ethics in the perspective of the supremacy of monarchical power,the system of sovereign’s warrant about reviewing death penalty exists in the execution procedure of death penalty.The expression mechanism of the implication of“Cautiously-applied Punishment”reflects the governance path of the integration of the traditional Chinese etiquette and law.It reflects the effect of the decree-line prohibition dominated by the Monarchical Authority on the traditional man-ruling Ecology.It can provide the enlightenment of historical tradition and system construction for the rule of law.