Law and Politics in Modern China: Under the Law, the Law, and Abo ...

of different types of lawmaking. Codes were drafted in general terms and kept up-to-date then applied to particular circumstances by substitutions or imperial edict. These specific decisions were made on legal points and prevailed over conflicting, generally applicable code provisions.¹² In cases of conflicting rulings, legal issues would be decided by higher courts in which ministers made their suggestions and then sought ratification by the emperor himself. There was also a multileveled court system, which had specific procedural regulations covering all aspects of litigation. It had distinct and well-classified rulings to deal with legal actions, from the filing of a complaint to pretrial investigation, to the trial, judgement, and appeal. This system remained constant with minor variations as redefined and enacted by each imperial dynasty.¹³

This mature and complex system was the result of over two millennia, during which rules were repeatedly made and boundaries were defined. As boundaries became less relevant, they had to be reclassified and refocused in order to reestablish their authority and limitations.¹⁴ As the impact of words gradually diminished after repeated use and abuse, an army of legal administrators and surveillance personnel came to be organised and institutionalised. Their functions were to stand behind words of law and protect the integrity of the increasingly softer and more elastic boundaries that were emerging.¹⁵

Two thousand years ago, when the Chinese language was still formative, its law was young and vigorous, as were the early Roman law of the same period and the laws of various European vernaculars of the early modern period. Chinese law was publicly announced, recorded, confirmed by the appropriate authority figure, and then administrated by a civil body.¹⁶ China took many centuries to establish a comprehensive legal system and a complex legal administration to serve it.

The distribution of power was clearly defined in the law of the Han dynasty (206 BC–AD 220).¹⁷ The emperor and the chancellor each had what we might today call a secretariat. In the Secretariat of the Emperor, the emperor had six masters (liushang). They were the master of clothing (shangyi), master of food (shangshi), master of head gear