Confucian Law

Confucian Law

In China, the legal system is based on the schools of thought, namely legalism and Confucianism. The Confucian law is highly criticized, and it’s majorly focused on the submission of the humans to what they do and thus ignoring human rights. On the other side, the rule of the land emphasizes the consideration of human rights and minus that no activities can go on, or the people will not abide by that law if it violates human rights. The youths, according to this law, while at home, they are expected to be filial and respectful to the elders. The human rights are not prioritized in the Confucian law, and this is why it is quite contrary to the western modernization and laws. The laws are formulated based on the deep influence of China on building the state, for example, the legal and moral traditions. It is the law of the tradition that governs social control in China (Yao, Hsin-Chung, and Xinzhong, pg. 50). The philosophy of Confucianism was developed by Confucius, and his followers and the law plays the role of shaping the behavior of humans. In the early Confucian law development, the concepts of ritualism and morality are observed instead of the existing legal system. Ritual propriety is the social relationships and rituals set to regulate the law, and in a community system, it occurs in a way that the relationships between the ministers and the emperors can be controlled as well as in the familial context such as brothers and friends, a son and the father, husband and wife. According to Li, the relationship between those being ruled and the ruling is governed by the Confucian law, for example, senior persons and their juniors.

According to Confucianism, humans are considered to be inherently good and endowed by nature; for example, they have the following fundamental values righteousness, wisdom, propriety, and humanity. The men’s bed behavior or wrongdoings are the consequence of the adverse environmental, influences, and no appropriate education. Those who do wrong are taught to be aware of the shame due to the inappropriate actions through moral persuasion and education. They are educated on the social ranks and roles in the community through the defined rites and language and therefore internalize the society and social relationships naturally to have harmony and peace (Vuong et al. pg. 143). In the Confucian law, the people are not as free, and they are an insignificant portion of the complex network in social relations. Everyone is obligated to fulfill all their duties as they are subjective to the emperor. The legalists assume that men by nature are evil and can` commit crimes if not punished is not regulated or are not punished, which is contrary to the Confucian belief of the inherent goodness of the people. Those who violate the law are punished severely by those in authority due to greed and selfishness of human beings. For the legalists, the men are not equal by nature, and therefore, the law needs to be equal; for example, the innocent are rewarded, and the guilty are punished. According to one of the legal thoughts of Confucian law, when the penalties are heavy, and the rewards made light, then it is considered that the ruler loves the people, and thus, the people are willing to die for their ruler. On the other side, when the rulers make the penalties lighter and the rewards heavy, then the ruler has no love for the people, and none is willing to die for the ruler. In a prosperous nation, penalties are usually applied in Confucian law, and profit is realized on the application of the rewards. The law states that in a nation with no strength and the knowledge and practices are implemented; they will certainly perish. The fearful individuals, when stimulated by the penalties, become brave when encouraged by the rewards and are willing to fight to the death.

For some studies concerning the conceptualization of Confucianism from a religious point of view, the secular is considered sacred. The Confucian law transcends in the dichotomy existing between humanism and religion, working through normal human activities, for example, human life and the relationships manifesting in the form of the moral nature of humanity. This is transcendent in the anchorage of heaven context and thus will unfold as the appropriate respect for gods and the spirits existing in the world (Nguyen, Tai-Dong, and Manh-Tung, pg. 100). The Confucian law, as well as focuses practically on the worldly awareness of Confucian liturgy, is guided by the “sages of rites” or the Confucian priests. They are allowed to worship in public as well as the Chinese temples that are ancestral and are thus preferred on some occasions, especially by the religious groups of Confucianism and for the civil rites of religion. According to the Confucian law and its impacts on Chinese society, orthodoxy has become official, and the taxation system does not favor the common system as it is high. The emperor has absolute power and can do anything, for example, when executing punishments.

In history, religious issues concerning ethics of motivation bled to critical review and rational ideas of the traditional morals. One of the issues on the forefront is embracing the culture of Confucianism, and there are also ethics concerning motivational activities, for example, on personal responsibility. The emphasis placed on the fact that an individual cannot be given punishments of the sins is not his or hers, such as the sins of a brother. The Confucian law tied together with legal history, institutional economics, and cultural history. In the economics, part, take a keynote of the economic laws of Confucianism, which led to the fall of pre-industrial developments in China (Grant, Bligh, Joseph, and Helen, pg. 67). There are some rules followed by the monks in the Confucian laws. The Buddha could authorize the second division of the Tripitaka that is the Buddhist three basket canon. One of the differences between the rule of man and the rule of law is constructed based on hierarchy and guarantees the ruler to have absolute control and power, and the rule of law is an alien according to them. According to Li, the law is a tool in ruling in Confucianism, and the law means nothing when things go on smoothly. In Confucianism, the law acts to restrain people, and there is fear in doing wrong or going against the stipulated laws of Confucian. In Confucianism, there are ethics, for example, beneficence, justice, non-maleficence, respect to the autonomy as the moral values that must be met by individuals, and going against the rule is like triggering a fire that is a heavy punishment. Currently, the Confucian law allows for the treatment of the employees in most factories and organizations harshly in poor working conditions, and less food is provided to the people if they don’t work to satisfy the evaluators like the policemen or the owners of the companies.

There is nothing regarding the rights of human beings in Confucianism, and they focus on self-motivation or self-restraint and then help others serve as they serve Li. There is an instance in the Confucian law when some people are devoted to their rulers’ life or the nation, and there is no fighting for common human rights. The rights of individuals are a shame when considering the Confucian law. In Confucianism, the blueprints of Li are still existing. In the modern of the rights of humans, the people are ruled by someone they know. The Chinese are taught how to remember the codes of their law (Confucianism) and the process of achieving the dream, for example, to pass the examinations in Confucian law. There is no democracy in Confucian law (Lee, pg. 45). In the Confucian law, there are more uncertainties than certainties; for example, there is no foundation for an independent judiciary and formal legality. Nothing in Confucianism relates to the rules of law for governing humankind. In the Confucian law, there is no aspect of Judge, and the governor is regarded as the Judge according to the people. The governor and the Judge are seemingly similar, according to Confucianism. The judges here and governor mentioned are not lawsuits, but the emperor is the Son of Heaven while the governor represents the Son of Heaven. The governor, therefore, has legalization, and the governor is seen as a parent, and people are subjective to him. There is a story of a governor Gong who sentenced his relative a niece to death in order to achieve justice, which is passed in from one generation to another.

Li can be a tool for ruling the people. On the contrary, I find no law in Li as the emperor, and there is no expostulation coming from the ministers. When challenging the authority and follows the channel of the emperor, then it is not according to Li. An example is the concept of the state hero Yue Fei and is highly admired by the Chinese while the guy who did the prosecutions, Qin Hui, and this means a death penalty have all along been cursing the Chinese. When an emperor provides a sanction penalty, it is not blamed a lot. Yue Fei was so loyal to the emperor to the extent of facing a death penalty to betray the emperor. Chinese admire him for loyalty. In the principles of Ren being loyal, considering others leads to an inclination of the personality in Chinese.

On the contrary, it is if the others consider you. For example, the emperors and the governors. In the teachings to consider for others is a virtue. For example, cater to others’ interests equals egoism, which is a taboo, according to Confucianism. People fight for their rights as for the westerners (Vuong et al. pg. 143). People consider others in order of seniority, for example, a son being loyal to the father. The son is faithful or respectful to the father even if he does not consider for the others or goes ahead to do something illegal. There is no assuredly that the authority or those in power could be considerate to others. For the westerners, it is based on the realization of the rights or interests of a person when matters of the law come.

Work cited

Grant, Bligh, Joseph Drew, and Helen E. Christensen, eds. Applied Ethics in the Fractured State. Emerald Group Publishing, 2018.

Lee, Ping-Chao. “Understanding the match-fixing scandals of professional baseball in Taiwan: An exploratory study of a Confucianism-oriented society.” European Sport Management Quarterly 17.1 (2017): 45-66.

Nguyen, Tai-Dong, and Manh-Tung Ho. “People as the Roots (of the State): Democratic Elements in the Politics of Traditional Vietnamese Confucianism.” Journal of Nationalism, Memory & Language Politics 13.1 (2019): 90-110.

Vuong, Quan-Hoang, et al. “Cultural additivity: Behavioural insights from the interaction of Confucianism, Buddhism, and Taoism in folktales.” Palgrave Commun 4 (2018): 143.

Yao, Hsin-chung, and Xinzhong Yao. An introduction to Confucianism. Cambridge University Press, 2000.