Legislation and Official System in Tang Dynasty: Compilation of Ge and Ge-style Imperial Edict

摘要

Imperial edict is one of the important sources of laws in Tang Dynasty. In the early stage of Tang Dynasty, the central government compiled imperial edicts into Lv, Ling, Ge and Shi centered code system. In the later stage of Tang Dynasty, the focus of legislative activities was shifted to the compilation of Ge-style imperial edicts due to the transformation of the overall bureaucracy. In response to the actual political needs, the official system of Tang Dynasty gradually changed from the official system of officials to the dispatching system of special commissioners, and the status and functions of the six ministries also undergone major changes accordingly. The change reflected in the ministry of punishments, the main legislation body, was the reduction in the decline of authority and position. At the same time, the role of imperial edict in the dispatching of special commissioners became more and more powerful. Naturally, the legislation focus of the ministry of punishments in late Tang Dynasty was turned to the sorting and compilation of imperial edicts. Hence it can be seen that the evolution of legal form in Tang Dynasty is closely related to the evolution of official system, and the latter is an important reason for driving the change of the former. This also reflects the "official system and legislation isomorphic model" legal construction characteristics in traditional imperial China.