Abstract
The two “Decrees of the Former King” in the Yuelu Academy collection of Qin slips are a valuable source for the study of the role that decrees played in Qin’s legal system. This paper argues that the term jiangeng (踐更) in the decree issued by Taishang Huang should be read as a predicate rather than a subject as suggested by some other scholars. The term refers to the two legally disadvantaged social groups of state-dependent laborers, sikou (司寇) and yinguan (隱官), who had to perform jiangeng, or statute labor. The decree stipulates that those performing the labor who were unable to provide themselves with food would receive their grain rations from the counties where they resided or where they performed their services. My analysis also reveals that King Zhaoxiang’s decree should be properly referred to as zhi (制), or “regulation”, but not zhao (詔), or “edict.” This paper also interprets the term xian (獻) as “to offer tribute” and the term qing (請) as “to request.”
Analysis of the political situation during the Second Emperor’s reign and comparison against other Qin slips of the Yuelu collection that were likely excavated from the same tomb suggest that the “reenactment” of these two decrees took place during the second and third years of King Zheng of Qin and not the second and third years of the Second Emperor as scholars have previously suggested.
The two “Decrees of the Former King” in the Yuelu Academy collection were most likely ordinances issued through what Oba Osamu described as the first and second forms of legislative process. At the time of King Zheng’s ascendance to the throne, there could have been a process determining whether or not to reenact the decrees made by his predecessors.
Keywords
the Yuelu Academy collection of Qin slips, Qin decrees, King Zheng of Qin, Second Emperor of Qin
Cite
Citations are generated automatically from bibliographic data as a convenience, and may not be complete or accurate.
