After explaining this matter, Zhang Fei went home with Xu Zhiqian. As for the celebration banquet, those spies could go there by themselves and he would be responsible for paying the bill.
For Zhang Fei, now is not the time to celebrate.
The first thing I did when I got home was to discuss things with Xu Zun.
"Breaking the law by making an exception?"
Xu Zun was also slightly surprised.
Zhang Fei had previously mentioned that he wanted to use this case to legislate. At the time, he was also very curious about how you, as the spies, could legislate.
But he never expected that Zhang Fei was actually planning to break the law by making an exception.
"Yes." Zhang Fei nodded and said, "I wonder what you think, benefactor?"
Xu Zun stroked his beard, thought for a while, and said, "In fact, the practice of citing precedents to break the law has existed since ancient times, such as the Qin Dynasty's "court affairs" and the Han Dynasty's "decision comparisons", which all used precedents to assist in judgment. Although this has the advantage of convenience, it also hides the source of disaster and chaos.
For example, in the late Han Dynasty, many corrupt officials skillfully used precedents to judge cases, manipulated the law, deceived their superiors and subordinates, embezzled and accepted bribes, or cited serious precedents for minor crimes, or cited minor precedents for serious crimes, or did not cite precedents when there were precedents, or forced to cite precedents when there were none, which caused the entire legal system to collapse. Therefore, precedents were once abolished in the Tang Dynasty. Although they still exist in our dynasty, they are used with caution, and generally in the form of pardons. "
The implication is that I am still not in favor of breaking the law by citing exceptions.
A big problem with the Han Dynasty's decision-making was that there were too many precedents, resulting in different precedents for the same type of case.
This gives corrupt officials many opportunities.
Once the money is in place, a lighter case will be cited.
If you don’t give it to me, I’ll kill you.
Many cases are similar, so it is impossible for ordinary people to understand.
Although the Song Dynasty had laws and regulations, the precedents were rarely used, and pardons were generally used.
This pardon refers to the emperor's instructions on the case, which is then sorted out by the Dali Temple and the Ministry of Justice to form a pardon order, and then promulgated throughout the country.
Compared with the precedent, this amnesty has great limitations, because it must be approved by the emperor himself, and there are only a few in a year.
Zhang Fei nodded and said, "Your words make sense, but everything has its pros and cons, and the law is no exception. I think that in the current situation of our dynasty, if we can make an exception and break the law, the benefits will far outweigh the disadvantages!"
Xu Zun asked, "What do you mean?"
Zhang Fei said: "The biggest benefit of breaking the law by citing precedents is that it can make the law full of vitality and keep pace with the times. My benefactor, have you ever thought about why piracy became a problem in our dynasty, but not in the Tang Dynasty or the Han Dynasty?"
Xu Zhiqian said: "This may be because the printing technology in our dynasty has been greatly improved."
"Be more confident and remove the word maybe."
Zhang Fei added: "With the improvement of technology, the convenience of transportation, and the activeness of commodities, a large number of new problems will arise. It is difficult for the court to formulate a large number of laws to deal with these new problems in a short period of time. If we can introduce precedents and break the laws at this time, it will facilitate the governance and development of the country."
Xu Zun asked: "Although what you said makes sense, how can we eliminate its drawbacks?"
Zhang Fei said: "I have also studied the decision-making ratio of the Han Dynasty. There are two main reasons for this. First, the Han Dynasty was corrupt. Under this premise, regardless of whether or not the law was broken, the law and order would be corrupted.
The second reason is that there were too many "comparisons" later. We can learn from the lessons and be cautious in making precedents. For example, any law needs to be reviewed by the Dali Temple, the Ministry of Justice, the Court of Criminal Justice, and even the government before deciding whether to promulgate it, and it can be revised every few years. "
Xu Zun frowned and said, "Even so, it may not be possible to completely avoid the disadvantages."
Zhang Fei said: "What if it is combined with the judicial reform of the Grand Secretary Sima?"
Xu Zhiqian opened her beautiful eyes and said, "You didn't plan this a long time ago, did you?"
Wasn't it Zhang Fei who proposed the main suggestion for judicial reform? Did she have it in mind long ago
Xu Zun also looked at him puzzledly.
Zhang Fei did not deny it. "I have considered this aspect. I happened to encounter this case, so I thought why not go with the flow."
Having said this, he paused for a moment and said, "In addition, it's not just the judicial reform. The reform proposed by Wang Daxueshi is already imminent, and it may cause many new problems. If we can introduce precedents and break the law, it will make our legal system resilient enough to deal with some of the problems brought about by the new law."
Xu Zun couldn't help but frown.
really!
Wang Anshi's reform is imminent, and if the judiciary lags behind, many problems may arise.
It's just like piracy, there's no way to punish it.
It also has to be included under the crime of "making jackets, writing jackets and saying jacket words".
Although there are some drawbacks to citing precedents to break the law, most of these drawbacks can be avoided if combined with judicial reform.
After thinking it over again and again, Xu Zun nodded and said, "I'll mention it then and see how they react."
... ...
In fact, Zhang Fei's proposal to cite precedents and break the law was not a momentary impulse, but because he had studied the laws of the Song Dynasty. Citing precedents and breaking the law appeared during the Xining period, but it did not happen actively but passively. The reason was very simple, which was Wang Anshi's reform.
Wang Anshi's reforms were comprehensive and also caused many judicial problems.
Ordinary legislation has a great lag, but Wang Anshi's reforms were urgent, fast and drastic.
In the end, we can only make exceptions and break the law.
However, since it was a forced behavior, it led to too many examples being cited later, causing a considerable impact on the judicial system.
It can be seen that it is inevitable to cite examples and break the law.
Since it is inevitable, we might as well take the initiative.
This can also be more standardized.
Of course, this is very beneficial to the person who whispered the truth, and Zhang Fei can also cite this example to sue.
However, you have to create problems first. You can't just go to the court for no reason and clamor for breaking the law. No one will pay attention to you!
Just as Zhang Fei said, "change" is the most difficult thing in the world.
Change will inevitably hurt many vested interests.
... ..
The next day, afternoon.
Kaifeng Prefecture.
"Prefect, the Right Wing Official Huang just handed over a petition."
Huang Guibing reports.
Lu Gong, who had just had his lunch break, was still a little sleepy. Hearing this, he immediately perked up and asked in surprise, "What's the big case? How did Huang Tuiguan's complaint come to me?"
That is the lowest level court, and I am here in the highest level court, it is overstepping the level!
It’s not a big deal, you can’t do this!
Huang Gui explained, "This petition was delivered to Youxiang Gong this morning by Qiu Zhengwen, the spy of the Bian Jing Law Firm."
When Lu Gongzhe heard about this law firm, he was overwhelmed. It was too recognizable. He sighed and said, "They finally got back to normal and went to Youxianggong. Why are they coming to me now? Do they think that I, Lu Gongzhe, am Zhang San's personal governor? This is really absurd."
He wanted to hide last time, but failed. Today, the other party thought it through and decided not to bother him, but ended up coming to him again.
How could he not be angry
Huang Gui said awkwardly, "Please calm down, the prefect, because this complaint is related to the lawsuit we had yesterday, so they dare not make a judgment easily. The prefect has to make the final decision."
Lu Gong frowned when he heard this, "Where is the petition?"
Huang Gui quickly handed over the complaint.
After Lu Gong took it and read it, he immediately slammed the table and said, "I knew it wasn't that simple."
Huang Gui said, "Prefect, this case has a special charge, and Xiang Gong has to treat it with caution. However, the case of Su Shi is exactly the same as this case. If Xiang Gong makes a different judgment, it will affect the authority of Kaifeng Prefecture. But if it is judged as it is, it is estimated that all booksellers in Bianjing will be sued. Those major booksellers have almost all pirated Yan Xiang's poetry collections."
Lu Gongzhe sighed, "Not only that, in the case of Su Shi yesterday, I only made a judgment based on a special case. But if there are more cases like this, and they all use my judgment as an example, the judgment will obviously not meet the punishment for the crime of making false statements. Wouldn't this be breaking the law by citing an example?"
The lightest punishment was sixty strokes of the cane.
However, yesterday's verdict convicted him of this crime but temporarily exempted him from caning, and at the same time ordered the defendant to pay compensation to the plaintiff.
There is no penalty for this crime.
The prefect certainly has the power to make special decisions based on actual circumstances.
If it were just a eucalyptus, that would be fine.
But if everyone cites this particular ruling and gives the same verdict, then it is clear that this precedent takes precedence over the law.
It becomes an example of breaking the law.
Huang Gui said with a worried look on his face, "If we don't break the law by making an exception, I'm afraid it will cause more trouble. First of all, those booksellers will have to be caned. Moreover, these two cases are exactly the same. The prefect has already made a verdict. If the right wing official makes a different verdict, I'm afraid it will cause criticism."
"This brat!"
Lu Gong couldn't help but gnashing his teeth in hatred. Suddenly, he frowned, "But why did he do this? Is he deliberately making things difficult for me?"
Huang Gui said: "I just heard that the contract signed between Su Shi and Zhang San stipulated that the compensation for this case would belong to Zhang San as a reward."
Lu Gong asked, "So he wants to start a business of printing books?"
Huang Gui nodded and said, "That is a possibility."
Lu Gong was furious and said, "So he wanted to use me to get those bookstores for free."
“… … !”
This was the first time Huang Gui had encountered such a thing and he didn't know what to say.
Lu Gongzhe suddenly felt that this matter was beyond his authority and he could not make the decision. "I will go to Junshi and discuss it first."
He ran to the Court of Criminal Justice that day to find Sima Guang and discuss with him how to sentence the case.
Sima Guang had thought yesterday that this case was not so simple, and he was still thinking about it just now. When he heard this case, he knew that Zhang Fei was playing tricks again.
He didn't believe that Zhang Fei was just after a few bookstores.
Sima Guang said that he had never encountered such a thing before and he also needed to study it. He asked Lu Gong to hold the man in custody first and then hold a meeting to discuss the details.
After Lu Gong left, Sima Guang immediately invited Xu Zun to come.
Xu Zun pretended to think about it and said, "In my humble opinion, the only way to deal with this case is to cite an example and break the law."
Invoke an exception and break the law? It turns out that the boy wanted to invoke an exception and break the law to interfere with the court's legislation.
Sima Guang, a shrewd man, reacted immediately, but kept silent, and asked: "Xu Sishi is well versed in ancient and modern laws, and should also know that citing examples to break the law will cause many problems."
Xu Zun immediately told Sima Guang what Zhang Fei had said yesterday.
After hearing this, Sima Guang could not help but frown. Yes! Wang Jiefu wants to reform the law. He has changed the law. No matter how much I reform the judicial system, it is difficult to restrict him by law! Only by citing examples and breaking the law can I fight against him.