CLI - China COPY Flashcards
What’s Li? What is at stake?
Proper observance of certain rites (“Li” = good form) maintains the proper order of the universe and can facilitate a return to virtue amid a time of chaos
How should you lead people a2 Confucius?
“Lead the people by laws and regulate them by penalties, and the people will try to keep out of jail, but will have no sense of shame. Lead the people by virtue and restrain them by the rules of decorum, and the people will have a sense of shame. and moreover become good”
What did Confucius think about human nature?
Confucius teachings were not just for the upper class, he believed that all men could become gentlemen (chun-tzu) through learning
Not punishment oriented - people can become good
How are people defined in Confucian society?
HIERARCHY
- People are defined by the social relationships they are in
- Each relationship comes with rules: reciprocal duties
- All relationships are hierarchical except friend-friend
- “let the prince be the prince, the minister be minister, the father father and son son…[otherwise the country will be ruined]
Who should lead society a2 Confucius? How should they govern?
Kings were to be sages; highest calling is to be a statesman
“To govern is to set things right. If you begin by setting yourself right, who will dare to deviate from the right?”
What are the five crucial relationships in Confucianism?
- (1) Emperor and subject
- (2) Friend and friend
- (3) Father and son
- (4) Husband and wife
- (5) Elder brother and younger brother
What was the first written law in China?
Originally, written law was primarily penal and codified ethical norms rarely invoked unless less-punitive measures had failed
What was penal law called?
Hsing (literally, “knife”) became used as a term for “penal law”
What, besides law, governed Confucian society?
- Violations of social order constituted violations of cosmic order because spheres of man and nature were inextricably interwoven
- Generally informal customs regulated society
- Proverb: “win your lawsuit, lose all your money”
Who brought cases in Chinese society?
- Individuals did not lodge complaints against one another—state decided to prosecute
Who administrated law in China?
- Administration of law done by hsien (township or local) magistrate as one of their functions
- No formal legal training; took roles of prosecutor, judge, detective
- Legal secretary [BJP1] did most of the legal work and had specialized knowledge
[BJP1]I think there might be an analog to the lay judges in muslim society and the scholars who made the law and were sometimes gone to for advice
What concept prescribed behaviors in ancient China?
- Confucians – believed Li and Li alone should govern society
- Distrustful of written law because “knowing in advance what the law is permits people the opportunity to circumvent it and will rest on their sophistical arguments on the letter rather than the spirit”
- Feared that laws would crowd out social norms
- Li denotes the correct performance of all sorts of rituals and social relationships
- Li reified hierarchical differences by prescribing different behaviors on account of class, age, rank in family, etc.
Why were people suspicious of law in ancient China?
Confucians – believed Li and Li alone should govern society
Distrustful of written law because “knowing in advance what the law is permits people the opportunity to circumvent it and will rest on their sophistical arguments on the letter rather than the spirit”
Feared that laws would crowd out social norms
What was positive law called in ancient China?
- Fa is the generic term for positive written law as an abstraction
- Initially law was greeted was overt hostility, believing it violated cosmic order
- Feudal Chou dynasty promulgated “books of punishment” in 536 BC
- Initially law was greeted was overt hostility, believing it violated cosmic order
Who were the legalists in ancient China and what was their goal?
- Fa Chia – Legalist school of thought
- Goal: create a political and military apparatus powerful enough to suppress feudal privilege at home and expand the state’s territories
Why did legalists think law was necessary in ancient China?
- Saw law was essential for effectively controlling the growing populations under their jurisdiction to promote peace, unity, and a single morality
- Pessimistic view on human nature and the efficacy of custom alone
- Harsh punishments mean that you will rarely need to punish
- Legalists won out in the end and unified China