Chinese litigation culture

Author: Dang Jiangzhou
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2005-04-01
Features: Litigants, an indispensable phenomenon in traditional Chinese legal culture. However, it is regrettable that in the vast body of research on legal culture, academia has only begun to pay attention to litigants, and their study remains scarce. Broadly speaking, litigants played the role of quasi-lawyers in ancient society. They might act as "litigation manipulators" for monetary gain, or earn the title of "litigant" by advocating for rights through the law, exhibiting extreme duality. In a country with a profound historical and cultural heritage like China, phenomena such as litigants cannot be summarized in a simple manner. Their emergence and existence have deep economic, political, legal institutional, and cultural roots, and they differ significantly from the long-standing lawyer phenomenon in the West. The actions of litigants primarily involve drafting legal documents, such as wills, various contracts, petitions, and administrative filings related to industrial and commercial affairs, with a greater focus on drafting lawsuits. The activities of litigants are inseparable from concrete material foundations. Their external names varied across different periods due to varying social contexts, but the essence and scope of this profession remained largely consistent. Litigants were often drawn from disgraced scholars, the children of officials with certain social connections, (yeyi) and relatives of government officials, as well as bold and unscrupulous commoners. In different eras, the activities of litigants exhibited distinct regional characteristics due to differences in socio-economic and political conditions. Litigants and Confucianism were not fundamentally irreconcilable in principle. Since litigants operated within a social context governed by Confucian ethics and rituals, their thinking was undoubtedly marked by Confucian influences. The "Litigant's Secret Manual" is a comprehensive reflection and representation of the world of litigants. It not only provides a thorough understanding of the writing skills of the litigant community but also reveals the outstanding achievements of ancient litigants in legal studies, moral and legal education, and the drafting of lawsuits. It also had a significant impact on ancient legislative and judicial activities. As for advancing modern legal civilization today, it holds invaluable reference value.