Chinese Litigation Culture: Interpretation of the Ancient Lawyer Phenomenon

Author: Dang Jiangzhou
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2005-04-01
Features: Litigants, an indispensable phenomenon in traditional Chinese legal culture. However, unfortunately, 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 financial 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 like litigants cannot be summarized in simple terms. 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 applications in the field of industry and commerce, with a focus on drafting lawsuits. The activities of litigants cannot be separated 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 often came from disgruntled scholars, the children of officials with certain social connections,, and bold and unscrupulous commoners. In different eras, the activities of litigants exhibited distinct regional characteristics due to differences in socio-economic and political conditions. The conflict between litigants and Confucianism is not fundamentally irreconcilable at its roots. Since the social background of litigants was governed by Confucian principles of moral and ritual, their thoughts were 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 popularization education, and the crafting of legal documents. It also had a significant impact on ancient legislative and judicial activities. Moreover, it holds invaluable reference value for advancing modern legal civilization today.