唐代法官形象舉隅──「守法型」與「嚴酷型」的比較研究

The Image of Judges in the Tang Dynasty: A Comparative Study of“Law-Abiding”and“Harsh”Judges

唐代的主要法典有四：《律》、《令》、《格》、《式》，而唐廷要求法官折獄時所應遵守的規範，主要即這四種國家法典。
論及法官判案時的執法心態，很明顯地是，本文所舉唐代三位「守法型」的法官，在執法之時，多能遵守朝廷法律規範，依法判決；如若違背了君主的旨意，也能據理力爭，引導君主「依法行事」，其形象適與我國古代奉公守法，且上順公法，下順人情之「循吏」相近似。
而在古代中國，也幾乎是代代均會出現各種曲法而行，執法「嚴酷型」的法官，其行為略同於我國古代所謂的「酷吏」。唐代酷吏文化的殘暴性與狠毒性，更是遠邁前代，且比較集中於武后時代。此因武則天在父權社會之下的唐代，以牝雞司晨，故不得不借助恐怖統治手段，以收震懾人心之效；惟武則天事實上也明白這些酷吏所形成的恐怖統治，有失人心，因此常在抓到他們的些微過失時，動輒賜死或流徙於邊陲地區。因此，武則天的歷史評價，似乎並沒有受到她重用酷吏的影響。

There were four major types of law in the Tang Dynasty: lü律(code), ling令(statutes), ge格(regulations), and shi式(ordinances). These were the four main dynastic sets of laws that the Tang court required judges to follow when rendering judgment.
The three“law-abiding”judges cited in this essay were able to abide by the laws and regulations of the imperial court and rule in accordance with those laws; if they disobeyed the sovereign’s wishes, they were able to argue on the basis of reason and guide the sovereign to“manage affairs in accordance with the law,”like the law-abiding officials (xunli循吏).
In almost every generation in ancient China, there were judges who bent the law and enforced it in a“harsh”manner, slightly similar to the“harsh officials”(kuli酷吏) of ancient China. The brutality and ruthlessness of the Tang dynasty’s cruel officials far surpassed those of previous generations, and were concentrated in the era of Empress Wu武后. As the Empress was ruling as a woman in a patriarchal society, there were few options but to adopt methods of terror and control the populace by fear. However, Wu Zetian武則天also understood that the reign of terror created by these harsh officials was unpopular, so she often sentenced them to death or exiled them to the frontier areas when she caught them in minor faults. Therefore, the historical evaluation of Wu Zetian does not seem to be affected by her reliance on harsh officials.