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Rethinking the Chinese Legal Tradition: Ideological Formations and Their Disputed Legacy
Chen, Li
Chen, Li
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36.4.3 Li Final.pdf
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Abstract
In a Confucian society like Qing China (1644–1911 CE), how often did people turn to the formal legal system to resolve disputes? To what extent did the empire become a “litigious society” despite the Confucian moral suspicion toward litigation? How did local officials and their legal advisors actually handle civil and criminal disputes in practice? And what do these practices reveal about the relationships among law, ideology, and governance in late imperial China?
These questions have driven some of the most enduring and consequential debates in the field of Chinese legal history. Often informed by differing assumptions about China’s political and legal traditions, these debates highlight key issues in law and governance in imperial China, such as the ideological roots and functions of legal and political institutions and the tension between normative ideals and administrative practice. They also invite critical reflection on the use of modern categories in interpreting premodern or non-Western legal cultures.