唐律「得古今之平」再辨

Rediscussion on the comment that “Tang Code was the most balanced one in the history”

長久以來，「論者謂唐律一准乎禮以為出入，得古今之平」被認為乃《四庫提要》所發。事實上，「一准乎禮以為出入」源於《明史．刑法志》；「得古今之平」乃柳贇之評判。在這當中，「今」指元代。通過比較可以發現，「古」可以上延三代，「今」可下及於清。唐律之「平」主要表現在罪名簡當，刑罰寬平。究其原因，與李唐王朝統治者的胡族血統、開放包容胸襟、寬仁之精神密切相關。

It has long been remarked that the remark that “scholars argued that Tang Code defined crime thoroughly according to proprieties, and it was the most balanced code in the history” has been accredited to the Abstracts of Imperial Collection of Four. As a matter of fact, the former part of this comment originates from the Treatise on penal law of The History of the Ming Dynasty; and the latter from Liu Yun. Furthermore, the “modern” means the Yuan dynasty. Through a comparative study, it can be inferred that the “ancient” may trace back to the Xia, Shang and Zhou dynasties, while the “modern” to the Qing dynasty. The “balance” of the Tang Code is mainly about its qualities of conciseness of criminal charges and magnanimity of penalty. In terms of the causes accounting for this phenomenon, they go hand in hand with its rulers’ foreign blood, open and tolerant policy and lenient spirit.