關於唐代法律中的時間問題

Discussion on the‘Time’ in the Tang Code

本文嘗試檢討唐代法律中日年、晝夜等時間概念與時值，進而考察違反國家制定作息秩序的犯罪行為。時間的劃分與時值的訂定背後展現的是國家的權力，法律的「日」和「年」，並不完全根據自然時間的變動制定而來。一日百刻反映的是國家壟斷了時間訂定的知識與權力，一年三百六十日的規定則與中國法律中刑與役的折換有關。國家為了便於管理，制訂晝夜的法定時間，從而對於人民日夜的行為進行規管，而自然的夜、法定的夜、夜禁的夜三者其實並不一致。至於違反國家制定作息秩序的犯罪，本文聚焦在夜禁、夜無故入人家、宿宵、光火劫盜等四種夜間犯罪行為。夜禁適用的對象不僅是平民百姓，也包含了官人在內。《唐律》「夜無故入人家」條的罪刑與唐代夜禁制度無關，其宗旨是保障人身生命和財產的安全，與維護社會秩序稍有距離，而與保護住宅不受侵犯的精神更是大異其趣。溯其淵源，漢律已具備了「夜」與「登時」等時間要素了。「宿宵」指佛教夜晚舉行齋會，疑與彌勒、月光童子等信仰有關，且經常牽涉反亂。「宿宵」一詞始見於唐代武后之世，至玄宗朝屢見下旨禁斷宿宵，並將妖訛宿宵人與十惡、謀殺罪人並列。「光火賊」是結夥於夜間明火劫掠的強盜集團，既造成人民很大的恐慌，且搶掠的對象可能是整個村里，其危害性大，對社會治安構成嚴重破壞。

This article aims to analyze the ‘Date’ ‘Year’, and ‘Daytime’ ‘Nighttime’ concepts and their values under the law of Tang Dynasty, and observe any behaviors that against the work & rest schedule established by the government. The division of time and the values added to it reflects the authority of a government.The legal meaning of ‘Date’ and ‘Year’ was not entirely based on the change of natural time.The ‘Hundred Quarters within A Day’ concept reviewed the government had the total control on its definition and the absolute power on its setting.The ‘360 Days a Year’ regulation relate to the swap between ‘Punishment and Labour’ concept in the legal system. The legal demarcation of the day and night involves the government's demands on the people's daily routines, while the natural night, the statutory night, the curfew night were not in fact the same. This article focuses on four kinds of nocturnal crimes, such as curfew, enter private premise at night time without reason, nocturnal Buddhist worship, and night gang robbery that violate the government's rules and routines.Tang Code formulated that it was an offense if someone was found wandering in the street during night time, and it applied not only to ordinary people but also included officials.Tang Code stated clearly that person would be found guilty if entering others’ premises without reason at night, but not in the day time and the owner could kill the suspect instantly without being prosecuted. All these show the law was intended to protect personal safety, maintain social stability, but not to protect the residence from being invade. The two important time elements - “Night” and“Instant” were originated from the “Han Law”. “Su xiāo (宿宵)” refers to the Buddhist worship held at night, which seems to be related with Maitreya beliefs, Moonlight Child, and often involved in the riots. The term was found in the Wu Hou of the Tang Dynasty. The government issued order frequently to ban this type of events during the Xuan Zhong period, and classified such events same as Ten Abominations and murder cases to indicate its degree of seriousness from the official point of view.“The Night Gang Robbery” refers to rob people in gang at night time, and this would cause great panic to the public and their target would be the whole village instead of one or two families.This crime constituted a serious damage to the social security; therefore government issued a new rule to punish these criminals.