Xie Xin-zhe 謝歆哲
Errors in Executions by Strangulation and Decapitation: Some Cases from Nineteenth-Century China
十九世紀中國死刑執行中的斬絞錯誤
十九世紀中國死刑執行中的斬絞錯誤
In drastic contrast with the questions of sentencing and case revision at the Autumn Assises related to death penalty, which were regularly the object of in-depth discussions in the Qing regulatory corpus and works specializing in the studies of law, the executions of capital punishment themselves hardly received attention from any of the above-mentioned types of source materials. The description and regulation as to how an execution should take place seem to stop at the step where the local magistrate was notified of the confirmation from the Ministry of Punishment ordering the execution. This talk will examine a few numbers of palace memorials, drawn from the Qing central government archives, which reported on serious mistakes that occurred with the executions, leading to the beheading of criminals condemned in fact to strangulation, and vice versa. These memorials not only enable us to know more on how local courts prepared an execution in the Qing times, but also shed some lights on the extent to which the then overwhelming idea according to which decapitation punished more serious crimes than strangulation, was implemented in the practice of the Qing penal system.
清代的法律文獻以及律學著作中,對死刑中關於審判以及秋審等的議題,經常有詳細的討論。這與死刑執行的相關議題,形成相當劇烈的對比。通常在這兩類史料當中,關於死刑執行過程的的描述,或者應有的程序規範,似乎皆止於地方官員接獲刑部來文的這個階段,其餘則未有詳述。這篇會議論文將檢視幾篇清代奏摺。它們的內容皆在於報告關於死刑執行中發生過的斬絞顛倒的錯誤。這些奏摺不僅讓我們多認識地方官府如何準備一場死刑執行,也讓我們思考「斬重絞輕」此一觀念,在清代刑罰體系的實踐中,如何獲得實現?
清代的法律文獻以及律學著作中,對死刑中關於審判以及秋審等的議題,經常有詳細的討論。這與死刑執行的相關議題,形成相當劇烈的對比。通常在這兩類史料當中,關於死刑執行過程的的描述,或者應有的程序規範,似乎皆止於地方官員接獲刑部來文的這個階段,其餘則未有詳述。這篇會議論文將檢視幾篇清代奏摺。它們的內容皆在於報告關於死刑執行中發生過的斬絞顛倒的錯誤。這些奏摺不僅讓我們多認識地方官府如何準備一場死刑執行,也讓我們思考「斬重絞輕」此一觀念,在清代刑罰體系的實踐中,如何獲得實現?