论先秦令书

On the Documents of Official Orders of Pre-Qin Period

先秦令书是先秦统治阶层发号施令时使用的一种公文书。有的先秦令书是由统治者直接下发的,而有的则是统治者以天、帝的名义发布,但无论何种形式下发的令书,如有违犯受到的惩罚都是相同的。殷商甲骨卜辞所载的令书为目前所见到的我国最早的令书实物。"令"与"命"是先秦令书的代字,不过令字的使用早于命字,而且,令字起初在殷商时只用于命令之意,至西周时才开始利用令书进行赏赐和册封。秦统一后改命为制、令为诏,先秦令书才完成其历史使命。

Documents of official orders in pre-Qin period were a type of official documents by which the ruling class issued orders. Some of such orders were issued in the name of the rulers, others are in the name of God or Heaven. Punishment for the violation of orders of all forms was the same. The ones found in the inscriptions on bones or tortoise shells of Shang Dynasty were the earliest documents of official orders in the History of China.'Ling' and 'ming' are two characters standing for documents of official orders. However, the first one was used much earlier than the second one. Besides, the first one meant only orders initially. The rulers began to grant rewards and confer titles by such documents in West Zhou Dynasty. When China was unified in Chin Dynasty, 'ming' became systemized and 'ling' turned into decree.