也論先秦時代的司寇

Rethinking on Sikou of Pre-Qia Period

有關先秦時代的司寇，法律史學界多依據《尚書》、《周禮》等傳世文獻的記載將其視為專職司法官員。事實上，揆諸周代青銅器銘文，西周時期的司寇只是一種職事而非職官。其成為職官當在西周晚期。至春秋時期，司寇一直以職官的形象存在，但其職能卻超出了其字面職能的拘囿並進入司法領域。至戰國年代，由於戰國在歷史風貌上與作為西周之延續的春秋截然不同，戰國儒家試圖實現官僚制與西周政制對接的設想或多或少地偏離了西周政制的原貌。司寇就是在這種情況下成為《周禮•秋官》所描繪的專職司法官員的。由此可見，司寇在先秦的演變過程其實就是先秦國家形態與治理模式之變遷的縮影。

The legal historians usually holds that the sikou of pre-Qin period is a specific judicial officeraccording to the words of the literatures, such as the Document and the Rite of Zhou etc. In fact, the script carved in the bronzes reveals that the sikou of Western Zhou dynasty was just an affair but not a title of officer, and it was the late time of Western Zhou when sikou became a title of officer. During the Spring and Autumn, the sikou existed as an officer at all times, but its function broke out the limitation of its function deriving from the meaning of its characters and penetrated into judiciary. During the Warring State, the bureaucracy progressively thrived. Therefore, the Confucians of the Warring State wanted to connect governmental system of Western Zhou to the bureaucracy. But, to the historical appearance, the Warring State was evidently different to the Spring and Autumn which was the successor of Western Zhou, so more or less the assumption of the Confucians in the Warring State departed from the original feature of the governmental system of Westeren Zhou. And, it was just under this circumstance, sikou became a specific judicial officer delineated by Qiu Guan of the Rite of Zhou. So, we can see that the evolution of sikou was the epitome of the changing of the form of the state and the mode of ruling in the period of pre-Qin.