Five hearings system of litigation revelation

Criminalized confessions

"Learning from the past can help us know the future", and the purpose of exploring history is to better grasp the present. The study of ancient Chinese criminal proceedings in the "five hearings" system, in order to scientifically summarize the regularity of things, "take the essence, remove the dross", for the contemporary legal system to provide reference. As a legal system inherited for thousands of years, the "five hearings" system still has a lot of useful inspiration for our criminal proceedings today.

One of the revelations is that the "five hearings" system requires the judge to sit in the courtroom in person and listen to the parties directly during the hearing of the case, which, to a certain extent, implies the principle of direct trial and the principle of speech in modern criminal proceedings. Of course, as there was no clear demarcation between the investigation, prosecution and trial procedures in ancient criminal proceedings, the hearing of lawsuits was often used in the pre-trial stage to provide clues and bases for the investigation and discovery of the truth of the case. The principle of direct trial and the principle of speech have become two important principles of modern criminal trial, although its connotation and requirements have been further developed compared with the ancient times, but it is not difficult to see the meaning of these two principles from the ancient "five hearings" system.

The revelation of the second: "five listening" system as the verbal evidence, especially the defendant's confession of an important way of evidence review and judgment, through the observation of the statement of the person's expression and look, the use of facts, reason and logic to judge, with a certain psychology, interrogation, and logic and other bases, has its own reasonableness. Modern interrogation in criminal proceedings, to a large extent, absorbed its reasonable factors, especially the judge to use the rules of thumb and theoretical rules of reasoning, the evidence for a comprehensive judgment, in order to form a reasonable inner conviction of the facts of the case. Reasonable and scientific mentalism is increasingly becoming the basic requirements of modern criminal proceedings to review and judge the evidence.

The third revelation: the "five hearings" system emphasizes the value of verbal evidence, especially the defendant's confession, in the social conditions of the time, has its historical inevitability. Although there are many cases of torture to force confessions in ancient times, but this is not the norm. As mentioned above, whether it is the Tang Dynasty, Song Dynasty or Yuan Dynasty, are required to "to first prepare the five hear, and check the evidence of all the letter; things suspected, but not the first real, and then tortured." Therefore, after legal procedures to obtain the true confession of the defendant, has a strong evidentiary value. Of course, in addition to the confession, the judge is also required to compare other evidence to corroborate the evidence for a comprehensive judgment to determine the truth of the case. This is of great significance to modern criminal proceedings. The characteristics of the confession determines its evidence "natural advantages", in the confession is "arbitrary, knowingly and intelligently", that is, the requirement to obtain a confession of the procedure is proper, but also requires the confession itself is true and reliable. It is noteworthy that, although the law of various countries on the evidence of confession and the power of proof for strict limitations, but in the specific operation of the criminal procedure, and often encourages the prosecution of the person "arbitrary confession", from which you can explore the evidence of the value of the confession. In China's judicial practice, some places in order to "confession supremacy" and the phenomenon of torture to force confessions, in the judicial system reform process to introduce "zero confession rule". "Zero confessions" requires prosecutors to downplay and weaken the role of confessions when reviewing cases, and to regard the guilty confessions made by defendants in the investigating authorities as nothing. This certainly helps us to update the concept of handling cases, especially to help eliminate the "confession complex" that has long been formed in the concepts of law enforcement and judicial personnel in China. But "zero confession" approach is too extreme, because the defendant's confession is, after all, China's legal provisions of a kind of evidence, completely ignoring its existence, completely deny its value, not only contrary to the spirit of the law, but also contrary to the law of judicial proof. Of course, we are not intangible exaggerate the value of confession, in the review of the legitimacy and authenticity of the confession, need to be combined with other evidence to test and corroborate, in order to make a comprehensive judgment on the facts of the case.

The fourth revelation: the "five listening" system of the ancient magistrates put forward high requirements: it not only requires the magistrates to have the ability to look into the eyes of the three, in order to capture each and every subtle manifestation of the parties; at the same time also requires judges to be aware of the local people, familiar with the local scenery, in order to scientifically carry out the reasoning, reasoning, and logical judgment. Judgment. Fact-finding is the basis for the application of the law, the facts of the case as a past historical facts can not be reproduced, which determines the complexity and difficulty of the facts of the case. In ancient times, when the means of understanding were limited, emphasis was often placed on relying on the personal wisdom and subjective initiative of the judicial officer in order to discover the substantive truth of the case. Modern criminal procedure also puts high demands on the judicial officers, not only requires them to have high legal literacy, but also requires them to have certain knowledge of psychology, interrogation and logic, especially based on the rules of thumb and ethical rules of reasoning, in order to prevent the judicial officers from making subjective judgment, resulting in false and erroneous cases.

The "five hearings" system of ancient Chinese criminal procedure has a long history and has been passed on to future generations. From the day of its creation, the "five hearings" system has constantly adapted to its specific social environment, surviving and continuing in the process of developing and improving itself. Although today's living soil is different from that of the ancient times, the rational factors contained therein are still of modern significance. While we see the rationality of the "Five Listeners" system, we certainly cannot erase its negative side. Objectively and comprehensively on the "five hearings" system to make value analysis, take the essence, for my use, which is the purpose of this paper. The purpose of litigation is to discover the truth and maintain justice. The irreversibility of time determines that once a case occurs, the truth can only rely on the aftermath of the search for evidence, according to the connection between things, the past events retrospective proof.

How to judge the evidence and discover the truth? Different paths have been explored in human history, including the earliest divine oaths and divine judgment; the statutory system of evidence in medieval Europe; and modern free-heartism. Proof of litigation has gone through such a process: from "divine judgment" to "evidence judgment", from "irrational proof" to "rational proof From "irrational proof" to "rational proof". In the history of human justice, the Chinese ancient people are unique, the creation of the famous "five hear" break prison trial law.

The "five hearings" system has a long history in China, and has existed since the early feudal society. "Shangshu - Lv Penalty" recorded: "listen to the two words of the prison", "two made with the division to listen to the five words, the five words Jane Foo, just in the five penalties". Means that the then judicial officer "break the prison to settle the lawsuit", in the requirements of the plaintiff and the defendant parties are all present, should listen carefully to the statements of both sides of the lawsuit, through the inspection of the "five words" method, review and judge whether the statement is true, and based on the facts of the case The court shall make a judgment on the facts of the case, and shall convict and sentence the offenders accordingly. The Zhou Li - Autumn Officials - Xiao Si Kou" says: "In the ancient times, prisoners were seated opposite each other when they were asked to speak." In the interrogation of the judicial officer to look at the speech, so-called: "five sound listening to the prison litigation, seeking the people's feelings: one said that the rhetoric listen to (view its speech, not straight is annoying), two said that the color listen to (view its color, not straight is blushing), three said that the gas listen to (view its breath, not straight is wheezing), four said that the ear listen to (view its listen to listen, not straight is feeling), five said that the eye listen to (view its eyes, not straight is poorly). " This is to require the judicial officer in the hearing of the case, should pay attention to the party's statement is reasonable, the statement of whether the expression is calm, breath is calm, whether the spirit is in a trance, whether the eyes have God, and accordingly comprehensively determine whether the statement is true, so as to make a judgment on the case. The "five listening" system of the ancient judges put forward high requirements, which not only requires the judges to have the ability to look into the eyes of the three observation, in order to capture the parties to each subtle performance; at the same time, also requires the judges to be aware of the local people, familiar with the local scenery, in order to scientifically carry out the reasoning, reasoning, and logical judgment.

"Five listening" to break the prison is not a rootless wood, no source of water, but the accumulation and summary of ancient Chinese trial experience, reflecting the Chinese judicial tradition of simple materialism and pragmatism. The "five listening" can be said to have its inherent scientific and psychological basis. Jin Dynasty Zhang Pei commented on this: "the criminal justice officials, the rationale for the opportunity to seek the feelings of the feelings of the heart, feelings of the heart of God's make, the heart of the feeling of the feelings of moving in the middle of the form in the words, smooth in the four branches of the cause, so the traitor's heart is ashamed of the face, the internal horror of the color of the take away, on the criminal business of the heart, the review of the feelings of the matter, the fine thing, into the take body, and far away from taking the things, and then can be the right punishment." Therefore, the judge in the hearing of the case, need to be observed through the party's speech is reasonable, whether the look is calm, breath is calm, whether the spirit of trance, whether the eyes of God and other circumstances, a comprehensive determination of the truthfulness of their statements.

The "Five Hearings" system began in the Zhou Dynasty, which was the earliest feudal system, and has been inherited and developed by successive generations, showing its tenacity and far-reaching influence on the practice of litigation in ancient China. As a method of adjudication in ancient China, the system of "five hearings", though incomparable to the modern free-heart evidence system as a whole, has its own unique features compared to the divine judgment evidence and statutory evidence system, which can be said to have put a rational color on the ancient Chinese judicial tradition, and is not without benefit even for the modern judicial trial. Even for the modern judicial trial, it is not without benefit. Ancient China's "five hearings" to determine the prison and the modern free evidence of the heart of the secret fit, there is a different flavor of the same thing.