The Kaihuang code was a set of laws created by Wendi who was the first ruler of the Sui Dynasty. This code was created in hopes to combine the ideas of northern and southern Chinese laws. It was also created because wendi felt that the former laws made by the western Zhou dynasty weren’t efficient in justifying crimes throughout the community. It contains 12 chapters and 500 provisions. The 12 chapters were Ming Li, Military, Bureaucracy, Marriage, Preservation, Construction, Larceny, Lawsuit, Trickery, Civil affairs, Pursuit, and Adjudication. There were 5 penalties for disobeying these ideas. These would include death, exile, beating with bamboo or sticks, and imprisonment. In 581CE Wendi started to create new legal ideas engulfing old ideas as well. Wendi had 14 other people helping him to finalize ideas throughout the process of creating the code. He was very selective in who he chose to help him create the code. He chose these people based off of how much they deserved and earn the position rather than social status. By October of 581CE the new laws were passed and in use. In 583CE Wendi felt that the laws were too strict because of the over 10,000 court cases waiting to be judged due to false accusations in crimes.
Nana's Bibliography:
1. above picture from: http://www.history.ubc.ca/faculty/lshin/teaching/320/week10/yangqian.htm
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