Legal Empires: Legal Thought, Legal Statutes, and Bureaucracy in Early China (4 c. BCE -1 c. CE)

(3 Credit Hours) · Undergraduate

This course attempts to explore the power of law and the concept of justice via examination the legal thought and legal practices in early Chinese empires. Whereas the rule of law serves as the basic principle of modern political thought and the spirit of democracy, the mature legal empires in early China fostered a prominent and enduring intellectual tradition that viewed the law with disdain, a tradition that still has its legacy in Chinese society of modern day. By examining philosophical texts and recently discovered legal statutes and administrative documents from Qin-Han empires, this course will investigate the fundamental differences between Eastern and Western perspectives on law and governance. By digesting scholarly articles and analyzing primary sources, we will explore questions such as what justice meant in the Chinese context; how the relationship between sovereignty and the people defined the legal rights and responsibilities of commoners and nobilities; how the legal practices of early China can aid our understanding of the Confucian persistent criticism of law and its enforcers, namely, the technical bureaucrats; and how the history of early Chinese empires provides perspectives for observing its legacy in the modern politics of East Asia.