서하 천성율령의 爲不道

Abstract

The Xixia Dynasty (also known as the Western Xia Dynasty, hereinafter “Xixia”) is an ancient Chinese dynasty that existed over 190 years from 1038 AD in the northwestern region of China. Xixia had its own code of laws called the Tiansheng Code of Laws (Tianshenglüling in Chinese, hereinafter the “Tiansheng Code” or the “Code”), which consists of 1,461 provisions. Out of these provisions, 39 provisions deal with the so-called “Ten Deadly Sins.” Among the Ten Deadly Sins, the sin of Weibudao is designed to punish those immoral acts that seriously disturb the social order. Under the Tiansheng Code, there are six provisions (Articles 19 through 24) that specifically deal with the sin of Weibudao. Compared to the Codes of Tang and Song Dynasties, these provisions are far more detailed and specific. For example, the following acts were punished as Weibudao pursuant to the Tiansheng Code : (i) act of murdering three innocent persons in a single household; (ii) act of murdering one or two person(s) in a single household that disables such household to have any descendants; (iii) act of premeditated murder by way of injecting poisonous substance; (iv) torso murder or murder by severing hands and feet; and (v) murder by arson. The Code also distinguished intentional murder and intentional injury. The crime of intentional injury is further divided into intentional injury by an ordinary person and intentional injury by an official. If an ordinary person has an intent to injure an official, such person will be sentenced to 12 years in prison. If an ordinary person has an intent to injure an official who is a member of the imperial family, such person will be punished by decapitation, the maximum penalty under the Code. In contrast, if an official injures an ordinary person, such official will only be sentenced to 8 years in prison. Even in the cases of intentional murder, the Code had different penalties for officials and ordinary people. As for the intentional murder by ordinary people, the Code provided different sets of punishment for murder between ordinary persons and murder of official by an ordinary person. The Code further distinguished the murder by officials and provided different sets of punishment. For instance, if a higher ranking official murders a lower ranking official, the senior official will be sentenced to life in prison, the lowest penalty for the sin. In addition, if a higher ranking official murders three lower ranking officials, such senior official will be punished by decapitation, while his family will be jointly punished as slaves.