Chapter 507 The Spirit of the Law

Shi Wei came back from Futian Courtyard and saw the "Song Criminal Rule" piled high on Su You's table, as well as the "Note" on one side that was higher than the "Song Criminal Rule", and said: "Such a poor girl, can't the court princes let her go?" ”

Su You patiently explained: "Wei'er is too underestimated, let her go, there must be a legal basis." Sima Wanggong could not argue, and Cheng Tengfu in the imperial history still had to request the re-election of officials to review and decide, and the imperial history Qian Kai and asked for the removal of Xu Zun Dali's official position. His Majesty also issued an edict to send the case to the Hanlin scholars Lu Gongshu, Han Wei, and Qian Gongfu for re-examination. ”

"The discussion of Lu Gong and others was the same as that of Jiefu Gong, but judges Qi Hui, Wang Shiyuan, Cai Guanqing and others disagreed, so the official family ordered everyone to discuss it together and study this difficult case repeatedly."

"From the point of view of the jurisdiction of the case, the case has been repeatedly discussed and refuted on a large scale by many judicial institutions and officials, such as the state government, the three departments, the two systems, and the two governments, which precisely reflects the improvement of the system and the importance attached to the concept of our dynasty in handling difficult cases."

"Human life is of the utmost importance, and it is impossible to be too cautious. At least so far, when everyone discusses specific issues, they are closely related to the law in terms of content, and they are also gradually promoted according to the level of the legal department in terms of procedure, which is completely on the facts, which just reflects the respect and observance of the laws of the imperial court. ”

"This shows that the legal system in our country has developed to a relatively standardized, perfect, and systematic level, and this is a very good thing, and such discussions are too little, not too much."

Speaking of this, Su You suddenly became stupid, and he thought of Pu Yi.

What is the difference between his eagerness to participate in the discussion of this matter and Sima Guang, Ouyang Xiu and others in the Pu discussion back then?

Later generations only saw that the two sides formed a court dispute during the Pu discussion, and slacked off state affairs, and only thought it was a ridiculous and nonsensical thing, but they did not know that in the eyes of the Song people, the weight of etiquette and law was far greater than the Ayun case, and the heated discussion and dispute was more natural than the Ayun case.

Thinking of this, Su You couldn't help but smile dumbly, and even Pu Yi began to understand, he was really more and more like today's Song people.

Shi Wei pouted and said, "I don't understand this, but as the saying goes, the law is not human." In the Ayun case, is there nothing to forgive? ”

Su You suddenly woke up and jumped up suddenly: "That's right! In the discussion of whether Ah Yun surrendered voluntarily, whether it met the crime caused by it, and whether it was avoidable, the Jiefu Gong and Jun Shigong also started from their own polemic positions, and did not jump out of the box of talking about things! Everyone has forgotten that the spirit behind the law! ”

"In fact, in the practice of adjudication, the application of voluntary surrender to non-theft and homicide 'murder injuries' and the use of voluntary surrender as a mitigating circumstance in sentencing is undoubtedly in line with the original intention of the voluntary surrender system! It is in line with the judicial spirit of prudent use of punishment! ”

"Hahahaha, Wei'er is really worthy of Wei Xianqing, the wonderful way is natural, this is a person who wakes up in a dream! I know how to write the cantata! ”

That night, Su You drafted his own views on the case.

First of all, is there any mitigating circumstance in Ah Yun's case? Obviously, there is.

Secondly, Sima Gong, Dali Temple, is the law cited correct? Obviously, yes.

And An Shigong's explanation is obviously a misinterpretation of the order, which is of course flawed.

But this does not mean that I support Sima Gong and oppose Jiefu Gong.

The reason why this case has attracted so much controversy is that the use of existing laws and regulations to correctly adjugate is obviously unfair to Ah Yun!

So what's the problem? Obviously, the essence of the problem lies in the flaws inherent in the current legal provisions!

Where are the flaws?

First of all, the article cited by Sima Gong that "there is an injury to a person, and there is no case of voluntary surrender" is obviously not applicable to the Ayun case!

Wei Da lay there and let her kill, but more than a dozen knives did not kill, whether it was a human problem or a murder weapon, which showed that the person concerned did not have the ability to kill at that time!

Secondly, it is the crime of "marriage in violation of the law", and the subject of the crime is not clear.

Ah Yun is an orphan girl, ignorant and ignorant, the real culprit of this crime should be the uncle who is engaged to her, not Ah Yun himself!

Even if Ah Yun promised before, the purpose of the repentance was only to "dislike her ugly appearance", but at least it shows the attitude of the parties, she is resistant to this marriage! Even if it can't be regarded as the subject of the crime of "marriage in violation of the law", at least it is not the main subject of the crime! This crime should not be borne by her, or rather, it should not be borne by her!

Third, it is whether the voluntary surrender after "murder has been injured" meets the conditions for commutation!

Surrender after theft, the crime of theft can be pardoned, although there is no law that clearly stipulates Ayun's situation, but we can draw conclusions through comparison.

In the Ah Yun case, Ah Yun was reluctant to marry Wei Dacheng, especially when the marriage was still illegal, his motive for the crime was obviously lighter than stealing, and the result of his crime was so slight.

Therefore, even if the law does not explicitly stipulate it, it should be considered that Ah Yun's voluntary surrender is in line with the conditions for exempting him from the "crime caused" compared with his voluntary surrender after theft and killing!

In fact, these are all flaws in the provisions of the law, and how should we decide in the Ayun case, which is a special case where fairness cannot be maintained with existing legal orders?

The minister believes that the most important thing at this time is that the verdict must reflect the spirit behind the law, and be able to maintain and lead the authority and justice of the law, and not harm it.

What is the spirit of the law? It is to protect the legal rights of all people, to advocate fairness, to maintain social stability and order, and to guide everyone to abandon evil from good – in any case, it is not punishment for the sake of punishment.

In other words, the law is not humane.

When the basis for adjudicating a case is clear, and when the law can be invoked for judgment, it needs to be firmly enforced.

But in a situation where the law cannot make a judgment and has caused such great controversy, the only way is to make a judgment that most people consider fair according to the common good in human nature.

This is the most fundamental meaning of the existence of His Majesty's Imperial Decree, and it is also the only reason why the Imperial Decree can interfere with the law!

Your Majesty's will should not interfere with the administration of justice in ordinary times, and only at such times can it play an active role!

Therefore, please uphold the judgment made by Dali Temple in accordance with the existing decree, so as to maintain the authority of the law of the Emperor and Song Dynasty, but at the same time issue an edict to reduce Ah Yun's guilt, taking into account the reasonableness of the sentence.

Most importantly, it is necessary to adjust the relevant laws and regulations in light of this case and clarify the ambiguities therein, so that the judicial department can rely on them in the future, and in the future, in such cases, it will be able to make correct judgments without the need for His Majesty's edict.

This letter is completely in line with Su You's style, seeking truth from facts, being reasonable, and having a vision higher than Sima Guang and Wang Anshi, skillfully distinguishing and opposing the legal provisions and the spirit of the law to resolve disputes.

It seems that the discussion has nothing to do with political positions, but many people in the court and the central government immediately saw the difference between Sima Wang and Su.

If Sima Guang is a conservative and Wang Anshi is a radical, he is not attached to any party and is a moderate reformist!

In April, Zhao Ji issued an edict to encourage the people of Dali Temple to adhere to the principles at the same time, but also to obey the edict, affirming their insistence on upholding the spirit of the law.

The verdict of Dali Temple was declared valid, but at the same time, Ah Yun was ordered to be sentenced to a second-degree crime, and his sentence was reduced from hanging to arrangement.

If you want to say that there are any flaws and flaws in Su You's recital, it is that he said such a big deal, and in the end, he stood with Zhao Ji inexplicably!

Implicitly accusing Wang Anshi of attaching the holy will, in fact, he himself is the greatest attaching to the holy will, okay!

However, compared with Wang Anshi's entanglement in finding reasons in the legal provisions, Su You's method is obviously superior.

Now the Taiwan admonition itself is divided into two factions regarding this case, coupled with Tang Tietou's huge influence in the Taiwan admonition, and another Taiwanese boss, Sima Guang, did not feel hurt from Su You's recital, and even faintly felt that Su You spoke his heart, refuted the absurdity of Wang Anshi and Xu Zun, and upheld the dignity of the law.

In addition, this piece gives a lofty explanation to the emperor's operation. Therefore, the Taiwan admonition did not make a sound this time.

Convince people with reason, that's about it.

In fact, Wang Anshi himself didn't think there was anything wrong with this letter, because Su You finally mentioned his innermost attempt - to change the law!

However, Wang Yan was very angry, and decided that Su You was a treacherous person, trapped his father in injustice and passivity, robbed the emperor's good impression, and smashed chess and bowls at home, indicating that this hatred was not shared.

Where did Su You care about this, he went directly to the second chapter, struck while the iron was hot, and requested that the verdict of this case be written into the "Notes" of the Song Dynasty and the emperor's "Edicts" as legal interpretations.

Su You also proposed that the ins and outs of this discussion be recorded in the "Notes", and emphasized that this is the common crystallization of the collective wisdom of the three divisions, two systems, two prefectures, and Taiwan, and is a gratifying progress in the law of the Great Song Dynasty.

The bigwigs all felt that this arrogant kid was very good at things and very modest, and they didn't know that Su You was taking measures to prevent future troubles.

In the wild history, after Sima Guang later became the prime minister, he overturned the case of Ayun, saying that many years later, he also recaptured Ayun who had already remarried and beheaded him.

Although Su You doesn't believe in this - one crime and two punishments is inherently unreasonable in the legal theory of the Great Song Dynasty, and Sima Guang, as a conservative and a staunch supporter of the established provisions, stands to reason that he will not act like this.

But since there is this legend, we have to guard against future troubles.

A thin mud was fooled.

However, things came again, and there was an edict: "The marshal ministers of Zhulu, the superintendent and the two systems, and the miscellaneous imperial history have been put on the list, and each of them has raised martial arts and strategies to plan two envoys in the third class." ”

You don't have to think about it here, there are many martial artists in his pocket now, but because they are too young, he has not been promoted.

only two people who are not close to him at all were selected - Liu Changzuo and Gao Yongneng.

Liu Changzuo has a relationship with Su You, his popularity is majestic, proficient in the art of war, especially good at riding and shooting, and has the ability to penetrate Yang in 100 steps.

Father Liu He died in the battle of Dingchuan, Liu Changzuo was recorded by his father as the direct master of the right class hall by the imperial court, and later moved to the West Road Patrol, now he is forty-six, and he is in the Liao team of his brother Su Song with a guard company.

Gao Yongneng Suyou has never seen it, this person is already fifty-five years old, and he is still a subordinate of Chong Ge, and he is unknown.

In the battle to defend Suizhou, Gao Yongneng led 6,000 troops as the vanguard, won five battles and five victories, not only did he not get a single reward afterwards, but he was almost beheaded by the land transport envoy.

When he was put into custody, he was also unlucky and went to prison, but Su You went to Han Qi to save it.

No matter how arrogant he is, he is finally honest now, or rather, he doesn't know about other civil officials, but he is completely convinced by Su You, who has great kindness to several brothers in the plantation family.