Tobunken Seminar “Research on Counterbalance of Two Elements: Legislation Model of Land Law in Variation Period of Tang and Song Dynasty”

東文研セミナー「「二元制衡」ー唐・宋交代の際における田土立法方式」

Title: Research on Counterbalance of Two Elements: Legislation Model of Land Law in Variation Period of Tang and Song Dynasty

Lecturer: HAN, Xiao, China University of Political Scince and Law, Research Fellow of Institute for Adbanced Studies on Asia

Date: 16/June/2014

Time and Place: 3pm-5pm at the Meeting Room 2, 3rd floor of the Institute for Advanced Studies on Asia, the University of Tokyo

Language: Chinese( without interpretation)

Abstract:
There is obvious inheritance between tang and song dynasties on legislation model of land law. Counterbalance of two elements, which is called legislation model, had always been carried out by tang and song’s land legislation. One element was that land legislation safeguards the government tax on land soil. For instance, under the ‘Zu-Yong-Tiao’ system, it made the effort to perfect the field management ,while under the ‘Two taxes’ system, it turned to protect property rights, agricultural production and trade security. The other element was that land legislation also guaranteed people’s life, provided them land rights, and protected interest of their land. Under ideal condition, counterbalance of two elements reflected Chinese traditional philosophy of the balance between “given” and “returned”. The tax would have been the primary value with unbalance of the two elements. The land legislation had run through the great changes of the society, and the form of the legislation had kept the same strain, even though great changes had taken place from Tang to Song.
The continuity was greater than transformation obviously with the development of land legislation from Tang to Song.

Report:
After the presentation, the participants discussed on three questions.

1, The lecturer said Song Dynasty inherited Tang Dynasty\’s land system as the counterbalance system of two elements, to secure tax income and to secure the survival of people. However, this balancing should be common for the history of the human race. What was/were the notable features of the two dynasties?
2, The lecturer pointed out that there had been a social and legal change from tacit approval of land trade in the first half of Tang dynasty to formal approval of land trade in second half of Tang ,the five Dynasties and Song Dynasty, and that it had been a natural change for long term, not revolutionary change, so it can be called inheritance. If the lecturer would like to call it inheritance, it is necessary to define the word of “inheritance”.
3, People were given land by the dynasty, at least in the first half of Tang .Can we say people had the property “rights”?

They are the basic and interesting questions on Chinese legal history. We expect more studies on these questions by the lecturer for her Doctoral thesis.

Hosted by Regular Researc Project of An Attempt at the Integration of Studies in the Traditional, Modern and Contemporary Chinese Legal System (Prof. TAKAMIZAWA,Institute for Advanced Studies on Asia, the University of Tokyo)

Photo

東文研セミナー「「二元制衡」ー唐・宋交代の際における田土立法方式」

東文研セミナー「「二元制衡」ー唐・宋交代の際における田土立法方式」

東文研セミナー「「二元制衡」ー唐・宋交代の際における田土立法方式」

東文研セミナー「「二元制衡」ー唐・宋交代の際における田土立法方式」

東文研セミナー「「二元制衡」ー唐・宋交代の際における田土立法方式」

東文研セミナー「「二元制衡」ー唐・宋交代の際における田土立法方式」