How did people solve their disputes over debt, compensation, inheritance and other civil matters in early China? Did they go to court? How did the authorities view those problems? Using recently excavated early Chinese legal materials, Zhang Zhaoyang makes the compelling argument that civil law was not only developed, but also acquired a certain degree of sophistication during the Qin and Han dynasties. The state promulgated detailed regulations to deal with economic and personal relationships between individuals. The authorities formed an integral part of the formal justice system, and heard civil cases on a regular basis.
Zhaoyang Zhang, Ph.D. (2010), University of California at Berkeley, is Professor of History at the School of Humanities, Shanghai Jiao Tong University. He has published monographs and many articles on China, including Zhongguo zaoqi minfa de jiangou (Zhongguo zhengfa daxue, 2014).
“Professor Zhaoyang Zhang of Shanghai Jiao Tong University has published a book of considerable academic weight. [...] Containing numerous citations, footnotes, lists of reference materials and archaeological evidences, the book has obviously been based on solid research, rigorous analysis and painstaking gathering of historical data.” - Pengfei Su, in: Comparative Legal History 11(2) (2023), p. 260
Graduate students and scholars in the fields of Chinese history, legal history, and Asian studies, in addition to East Asian Studies’ libraries and Law school libraries.