综论中国古代司法文明

On Ancient Chinese Judicial Civilization

中国古代司法文明是法制文明的重要组成部分,有深厚而又优秀的法文化为基础。中国古代司法文明是中华民族政治智慧和法律智慧的结晶,在世界司法文明史上达到了极高的水准。中国古代司法文明的先进性和典型性体现在皋陶作士造律、人本思想与明德慎罚的司法原则、坚持“五听”、限制刑讯的司法程序、律法断罪、罪刑法定、法理情三者统一的司法考量等方面。中国古代的司法文明留给我们的文化遗产和历史借鉴,对当代司法文明建设以及推进国家治理体系和治理能力的现代化,都具有弥足珍贵的史鉴价值。

Ancient Chinese judicial civilization is an important part of legal civilization,which is based on profound and excellent legal culture.Ancient Chinese judicial civilization is the crystallization of the political and legal wisdom of the Chinese nation,and has reached a high level in the history of world judicial civilization.The progressiveness and typicality of ancient Chinese judicial civilization are reflected in Gao Yao’s appointment as a judicial officer and the enactment of certain laws,the judicial principles related to humanism and advocating moral governance and prudent use of punishment,the judicial trial procedure adhered to the "five observations" interrogation method and restricted the extortion of confessions by torture,the legal system of trial and punishment for a specified crime according to law,and the judicial consideration of the unity of natural principles,national laws and human relations.The cultural inheritance and historical reference left by ancient Chinese judicial civilization are of great historical value for the construction of contemporary judicial civilization and the modernization of the country’s governance system and capacity.