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In fact, time can never make people mature. What can really make people mature are people and things.
Some people are still very naive when they are in their forties or fifties, while some people experience a lot in their early years and become very mature and stable very early.
Yang Shen is about the same age as Qin Mu, both are still very young, but after these years of experience, both of them have a maturity and stability that is difficult for ordinary young people to achieve.
In the pre-Qin period, Gan Luo was appointed prime minister at the age of twelve, a legend that has been passed down through the ages. When Yang Shen was appointed as the Minister of the Dali Temple, he was only in his early twenties.
Although the civil and military officials of the Qin Dynasty were very young at the beginning of the country, Yang Shen's appointment as one of the Nine Ministers in his early twenties was still very conspicuous, and he became a role model that many scholars envied.
His style of doing things is just like his name, cautious, very careful.
In the Huagai Palace, he bowed and held the newly revised "Da Qin Law" high above his head and presented it to Qin Mu. Of course, this was only a draft of the "Da Qin Law" and had not been actually promulgated and implemented throughout the country.
Originally, the revision of the "Da Qin Law" should have been completed two years ago. Later, Qin Mu started a debate about "presumption of guilt" and "presumption of innocence", which caused a sensation in the world.
Under Qin Mu's promotion, the revision idea of "Da Qin Law" also changed from the original "presumption of guilt" to "presumption of innocence". As a result, many articles needed to be carefully considered and changed.
This is a very arduous task that requires repeated deliberation and often requires the opinion of Qin Mu himself. The fundamental purpose of the laws of previous dynasties was to maintain the imperial power and rule.
However, there is bound to be a conflict between maintaining imperial power and protecting the people. Under the current circumstances, both must be taken into account. This is not an easy task. Yang Shen and the officials of the Dali Temple are like they are on the edge of an abyss and treading on thin ice.
Qin Mu asked Han Zanzhou to present the draft of the Great Qin Law and opened it for reading. The first article clearly stipulated that the Great Qin Emperor was the only legitimate supreme ruler and prohibited any organization or individual from undermining the rule of the Great Qin royal family.
Qin Mu read it carefully one by one. The Great Qin Law is the national program law, that is, the Great Qin Constitution. There are only 388 articles in it, but under each article, there are detailed definitions and explanations.
Qin Mu finally finished reading it, and overall, he was quite satisfied. The idea of presumption of innocence was also well reflected in "Da Qin Law".
"Thank you for your hard work, Yang Qing."
"I don't deserve the word 'hard work'."
"This Great Qin Law is the fundamental law of our Great Qin. Once it is promulgated and implemented, it cannot be changed at will. Therefore, we must be extremely cautious. Let's do this. This draft of the Great Qin Law will be published in the Great Qin Times first, so that people of insight can discuss it in detail, and then synthesize the opinions of various parties. Finally, revise it and finalize it before promulgating it."
"I obey your order."
Qin Mu thought for a moment and said, "You can change some of the clauses. What I mean is that the emperor is the supreme ruler of the Qin Dynasty. He is beyond the law, but at the same time he cannot interfere with the normal judicial trials of the country.
The judge is appointed by the emperor, but he has no superior except the law. The law is his supreme superior. The emperor can remove the judge from office, but he cannot change the judge's decision. "
If the emperor had said this in previous dynasties, it would have shocked the world, but in fact, since the middle of the Ming Dynasty, an idea of limiting the power of the emperor has emerged and has been recognized by many people.
For example, Qian Yiben proposed "breaking the conventional rules and making the world a public place through elections."
Wang Fuzhi proposed the idea of constitutionalism with a nominal monarch: "If there is an emperor but it seems that he does not exist, then there is no emperor but it seems that he exists. Although the ruler is young, all the officials support the rule of the country. Why use the title of assistant to govern to confuse the world?" "Predetermine the rules for the next generation, put the emperor in a place where there is no emperor, and rule the world with emptiness and tranquility, so there is no need to rely on noble relatives and old ministers to assist." "Judgment is based on law, and control is based on righteousness... Starting from the emperor, the world will accept his judgment. Gentlemen are upright and villains are at ease. When a king emerges, no one can change this."
Neither the emergence of Qian Yiben's electoral system nor Wang Fuzhi's idea of constitutional monarchy was accidental.
In fact, after the middle of the Ming Dynasty, the relationship between the emperor and his ministers often became strained, which can be completely regarded as a struggle between the two ideas of "monarchy" and "constitutional monarchy", and the idea of "constitutional monarchy" was gradually gaining the upper hand.
Since Emperor Wuzong of the Ming Dynasty, many emperors were forced to live in seclusion in the palace by their ministers, and the government affairs actually fell into the hands of the ministers.
The History of Ming Dynasty compiled by the Qing Dynasty smeared the emperors of Ming Dynasty and said that they were "not doing their jobs properly". In fact, it was not that the emperors of Ming Dynasty did not want to "do their jobs properly", but after the middle of Ming Dynasty, the ministers were too powerful and often united to refute the emperor's will, which made the emperor very embarrassed. However, he had no choice but to hide in the deep palace to turn a blind eye.
The emperor's use of eunuchs to deal with ministers was actually the product of the struggle between the two ideologies of "monarchy" and "constitutional monarchy". The emperors of the Qing Dynasty enslaved their ministers because they were afraid of the restriction of the "constitutional monarchy" on the imperial power.
Now Qin Mu has taken the initiative to hand over the judicial power, which is in line with the wishes of the ministers.
Qin Mu was not worried about this, as judicial functions were purely legal in nature, not political.
Emperors of all dynasties rarely intervened directly in judicial trials, and it was a rare thing in history for an emperor to sit in the yamen and try cases.
Surrendering judicial power would not fundamentally shake the emperor's ruling foundation.
Qin Mu's words above were to ensure the independence of judicial trials, which is one of the lifelines of judicial fairness. Yang Shen was deeply touched by this.
He said: "Your Majesty, throughout history, the government and the public have always attached great importance to personal relationships, and the influence of personal relationships on the judiciary cannot be ignored. In addition, the judicial and trial departments of all dynasties are actually equivalent to subordinate agencies of the administrative department. The Zhongshu Shengshi and Shangshu Sheng in the Tang and Song dynasties, and the inner cabinet in the Ming Dynasty all have jurisdiction over the judicial department, which has led to the phenomenon that power is greater than law.
The higher the status of an official in the court, the greater his influence on judicial trials. This is an indisputable fact. Your Majesty now wants to make the judiciary independent from the executive. This move is unprecedented. As the saying goes, a single move can affect the entire body. If it is really implemented, I am afraid that the resistance will be very great. "
Qin Mu nodded and said, "I know this. Everything is difficult at the beginning, but no matter how difficult it is, someone has to start it. Whether the judiciary is fair and just is directly related to the well-being of the people of the world and the prestige of the court in the eyes of the people.
Bao Zheng of the Song Dynasty was praised and admired by people for generations, precisely because there were too few such people. In the past, whether the justice of each dynasty was clean and fair depended entirely on whether the officials were upright, and the law had very limited binding force on them. This situation must be changed. To change this, judicial independence is essential.
The judicial independence I mentioned is not only to ensure that the judicial departments are externally independent from the parties, but also internally independent from each other. Internal independence includes two aspects. First, the relationship between the upper and lower judicial departments is a supervisory and guiding relationship, rather than a leadership and follower relationship, to maintain the independence of the trial level.
Therefore, the higher judicial department cannot interfere with the normal trial work of the lower judicial department when the lower judicial department has not concluded the case under its jurisdiction, unless new problems in the application of the law arise and the lower judicial department reports to the highest judicial department for instructions step by step. The reply of the highest judicial department to the case becomes a new judicial interpretation.
In short, it is absolutely forbidden for higher judicial departments to interfere with the trial activities of lower courts at any time. Only when the parties appeal can the higher court make a decision to modify or maintain the judgment of the lower court. "
Yang Shen was well versed in law and could understand the elegant meaning of music. The emperor's words were meant to put an end to the interference of high-ranking officials in the judicial system.
If the emperor's method is implemented, then judicial departments at all levels can try cases independently without worrying about interference and pressure from above.
For example, when a county magistrate is trying a case, before the case is settled, not only administrative officials, but even the judicial department, which is also part of the judicial system, cannot interfere. The county magistrate is completely independent when trying a case.
Now, the judicial power of Daqin has been basically separated from the administrative system and handed over to deputy officials such as the county magistrate and the deputy governor. It can be said that the emperor is perfecting his ideas step by step according to his will.
After hearing what Qin Mu said, Yang Shen couldn't help but say sincerely: "My emperor is wise."
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.(To be continued..)
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