The ancient laws of China were all combinations of various laws. It wasn't until China opened its maritime ban in the 0/9th century A.D./KLOC that the laws were revised according to the departmental laws of the late Qing Dynasty with the introduction of western culture, thus finally disintegrating the legal system of China. But we can't deny that there was no civil law or marriage law in ancient China because of the combination of various legal forms. In fact, China has had regulations on the marriage system since ancient times. From these regulations, we can see the living habits and legal culture of the Chinese nation in this land.
Since Xia Qi established the Xia Dynasty, the rulers of China have been practicing patriarchal clan system. In order to maintain this organizational form with blood relationship as the link, the rulers implemented the top-down eldest son inheritance system in political practice, while in marriage, the Xia, Shang and Zhou Dynasties all implemented monogamy. The so-called wife means that the first wife can only have one. In addition to the first wife, a man can legally have a different number of side rooms, that is, "concubines." "Book of Rites Quli" records: "The son of heaven has a queen, wife and concubine"; "Governors have wives, wives and concubines". However, according to the requirements of patriarchal clan system, there can only be one original match. The first wife is born for the "clique" and the other concubines are born for the "concubines". The first wife and their children, and concubines and their children, have obviously different positions in the family. This is determined by the patriarchal clan system, which attaches great importance to the distinction between ordinary and unusual. There is no difference between the official and the ordinary, and the principle that the eldest son inherits the patriarchal clan system and power cannot be maintained, which will inevitably lead to the disorder of the whole patriarchal clan system.
In the Western Zhou Dynasty, in addition to monogamy, two principles should be followed: (1) parents' orders, and the matchmaker's words "The Book of Songs, Qifeng Nanshan" said, "What about getting a wife?" I will tell my parents ","why do you want to get married? The bandit media can't "the marriage in the Western Zhou Dynasty must obey the" parents' orders "and go through the" matchmaker's words ". Under the patriarchal clan system, marriage events must be presided over by parents, and the words of matchmakers can be considered polite and legal and recognized by clans and society. This is because the rulers of the Western Zhou Dynasty emphasized the rule of etiquette, that is, the monarch, ministers, father and son were required to live in the order of etiquette. The core of "ceremony" lies in "pro" and "respect". "Father first", in the family and family relations, we should recognize and safeguard the status and authority of parents, and take father and parents as the center of the family and family. Therefore, parents can only make decisions on major issues such as marriage between men and women, and the parties have no choice. (2) The marriage in the Western Zhou Dynasty was based on the principle of "not sharing the same surname", which was mainly based on two points: First, as Zuo Zhuan said, "men and women share the same surname, and children are not uncommon", which was not conducive to the healthy growth of children, indicating that people had a more scientific understanding of eugenics at that time. Secondly, the Book of Rites says that "marrying a different surname means being far away from you", which reflects that marriage has strengthened the ties with the aristocrats with different surnames, further consolidated the family world and patriarchal clan system, and has a distinct political intention.
The establishment of marriage in the Western Zhou Dynasty must conform to the "Six Rites" in procedure. A legal marriage must go through "six rituals": (1) acceptance, that is, the man asks the matchmaker to give the woman a gift to propose marriage; (2) Ask the name, that is, the man asks the matchmaker to ask the woman's name, date of birth, and tell the ancestral hall good or bad; (3) Najib, that is, engaged after good omen; (4) Zheng Na, also known as Nabi, means that the man lets people send dowry to the woman's house; 5] Please ask the date, that is, ask the woman to choose the wedding date; [6] Kissing means that on the wedding day, the man marries the woman to his own home. At this point, the wedding was completed and the marriage was finally established. In fact, such a complicated procedure can only be carried out by aristocrats, and it is impossible for Shu Ren, that is, the so-called "courtesy is not inferior to Shu Ren". The "Six Marriage Rites" of the Western Zhou Dynasty had an important impact on the formal requirements of marriage in later generations. In modern China, in some rural areas, the obvious traces of "Six Rites" can still be seen in the form of marriage.
Just as the conclusion of marriage must abide by the "parents' orders", the decision to dissolve the marriage is entirely in the hands of the man's parents. According to historical records, there was a complete system of dissolution of marriage in the Western Zhou Dynasty, which was called "seven exits and three exits". The so-called "seven out" means that the husband or in-laws can divorce her if the woman has one of the following seven situations. "The Book of Rites contains" seven fruits ":"No children, one also; Fornication, second; Don't be an aunt, three also; Mouth, four also; Thieves, five also; Jealousy, six also; "Seven evils." However, a married woman cannot be abandoned by her husband's family under three circumstances, namely, the so-called "three noes": "If she marries without returning, she will not go; With more than three years of mourning, don't go; " I'm not going to be poor until I'm rich. "To some extent, the' three noes' limit the arbitrary withdrawal of wives, but the main purpose is to maintain the patriarchal ethics. The system of "seven going out and three not going" is a typical reflection of patriarchy and husband power autocracy under patriarchal clan system. As an important part of the marriage system in the Western Zhou Dynasty, its influence is far-reaching. From the Han and Tang Dynasties to the Ming and Qing Dynasties, the relevant provisions of the laws of various dynasties on the conditions and restrictions for the dissolution of marriage generally did not exceed the scope of "seven out of three noes".
Qin Shihuang established the first centralized unified empire in the history of China. Qin's historical experience made Qin Shihuang fully realize the great significance of a sound legal system to the prosperity of the country. Therefore, the Qin Dynasty pursued the legalist theory of "rule of law" and "severe punishment". In this way, the marriage system is less influenced by Confucian ethics, which is quite distinctive compared with the marriage systems of the previous and later dynasties: 1. Marriage is registered as an adult and an official. Without registration, it is not protected by law. "Legal Question and Answer" states: "It is inappropriate to say that a woman is a wife and will go out after she dies, not less than six feet." If you are an official, you must talk about it. If you are not an official, you must talk about it improperly. "That is, if a female minor escapes behind her husband's back, if she is registered to get married, she will be convicted of her husband's death; If it is not registered, it will be regarded as an invalid marriage and cannot be punished. According to the Qin system, not only the conclusion of marriage needs official registration, but also the dissolution of marriage must be registered with the official and recognized by the official. Otherwise, it will constitute the crime of "abandoning a wife and not writing a book", and both men and women will be punished. Marriage has no restrictions on the status of future generations. The law replied, "A woman is a servant's wife and has a son. When the servant died, the woman left her son in the north (separated her son from her family), thinking that she was not a servant. Ask a woman what to say. When it is finished, it is finished. "Visible, a woman is a free man, her husband can be detained, but her descendants should be detained, that is, officials have slaves. The woman was punished because of her son's "northern" origin, that is, concealing his son's official origin, rather than her marriage with an official. 3. Don't marry someone else's dead wife "Legal Q&A": "A married his dead wife, but somehow he died, and now he has a son. How do you arrange his son? Damn it. "Either public welfare or public welfare." That is to say, when A married a fugitive's wife, she didn't know she was a fugitive. Later, the woman was captured. Therefore, the ownership of the children born after her marriage with A appeared. It can be seen from this record that the Qin Dynasty was not allowed to marry other people's runaway wives. 4. Discrimination against husbands According to the Biography of Jia Yi in Han Shu, the Qin people "have a poor family and a strong son, so it is unnecessary". Surplus means that a man goes to a woman's house to get married. Nu Wa's social status was low in the Qin Dynasty, which was despised by people. Qin bamboo slips quoted the provisions of the Wei Family Law: "From now on, if you become a monk, you will do the opposite, and your husband will marry you, not you." After III, he wanted to be an official, but he still gave him a name, saying, "So a son-in-law is a grandson." Wei Bensheng's law also has provisions on the similar status of husbands. In addition, although the Qin law also safeguarded the superiority of men over women and the right of husband, it restricted the right of husband and protected the personal rights of wives more than all previous dynasties after the Han Dynasty. For example, the Qin law, on the one hand, requires the wife to be loyal to her husband, on the other hand, stipulates that her husband is guilty of adultery. "If the husband sends it, he is not guilty." "Legal Questions and Answers" states: "If a wife is fierce, her husband will beat her and cure her ears. What can she ask her husband if she breaks her limbs and fingers? Donna. " Obviously, even if the wife is fierce, the husband can't hit her at will.
The marriage system in the Han Dynasty followed the tradition since the Western Zhou Dynasty in principle. However, with the establishment of the exclusive position of Confucianism, its marriage legislation is more ethical. 1, the establishment of marriage In view of the sharp decline in population in the early Han Dynasty, the court advocated early marriage. According to the records of Emperor Hui of Han Dynasty, in the sixth year of Emperor Hui of Han Dynasty (189 BC), the imperial edict was that "women over 15 to 30 years old should not marry for five times", that is, they should be paid for five times (once 120 yuan). This is a measure taken by the rulers to increase the labor force in order to restore and develop production after the war at the end of Qin Dynasty. According to this imperial edict, women 15 to 30 years old who don't marry will be fined and taxed more. So early marriage prevailed in Han Dynasty. There were still uxorilocal marriages in Han dynasty, but the social status of uxorilocal husbands was the same as that of Qin dynasty, which was discriminated against. 2. The purpose of monogamous and polygamous marriage in Han Dynasty, as the Book of Rites said, is to "serve the temple and carry on the family line". Therefore, marriage attaches importance to the continuation of children, which is required by the patriarchal clan system. In addition, as mentioned above, in order to solve the problem of household registration depression caused by the sharp decline of population in the early Han Dynasty, the state also encouraged childbearing. Because early marriage and having many children are the needs of the country and the need to delay inheritance. Therefore, although the Chinese law determines that the marriage relationship is monogamous, it is of course legal for people without heirs to take concubinage. 3. The dissolution of marriage is still based on the basic principles of "seven exits" and "three noes". It should be pointed out that in the Han Dynasty, due to the influence of Confucianism on the law, feudal ethics became the rope that bound women. Although women "serve their husbands and grandmothers" and "work day and night" after marriage, if their in-laws are slightly unhappy, they can force the couple to divorce. At the same time, men can find various excuses to abandon their wives, but generally speaking, even if the husband has bad behavior, the wife is not allowed to leave her husband. "White tiger pass. "Marriage" says: "The husband has evil deeds, and the wife cannot go." The reason is that "the earth has no meaning in heaven." My husband is evil, but he can't go. "One-sided emphasis on her husband's privileges. On the issue of property after divorce, Zheng Zhu quoted a sentence from the Han Dynasty in the Book of Rites Miscellaneous Notes: "The place where the wife was abandoned. "Give, give. Give sb sth. It means that the husband filed for divorce and allowed the woman to take the property she brought from her family when she got married. The marriage relationship that men are superior to women confirmed in Han Law also shows that a wife remarries privately or her husband dies and remarries, all of which are abandoned. The husband who commits adultery with others is only punished according to law, while the wife who commits adultery with others is sentenced to death.
During the Three Kingdoms, the Jin Dynasty, the Southern and Northern Dynasties, due to the prevalence of aristocratic gate system, special attention was paid to family background in marriage, and it was forbidden for scholars to marry ordinary people. Violators will be punished by law. Emperor Xiaowen of the Northern Wei Dynasty issued a three-year imperial edict: "The house of the royal family and the gentry is not only the house of the nobility, but also does not marry a non-class couple", and "offenders will be sentenced by their backs". The Northern Dynasties emphasized early marriage. "Women under the age of 20, 14 years old or older don't get married, and the parents of the concealer are executed." Concubine was considered legal in this period. The Jin order stipulates that one to four concubines can be taken according to official products.
China's feudal society entered the heyday of China's feudal society-Sui and Tang Dynasties, which experienced three or four hundred years of separatism in the Three Kingdoms, the Jin Dynasty and the Southern and Northern Dynasties. The establishment of marriage in the Tang Dynasty emphasized the following aspects: (1) Confirming the right of the elder to marry the younger generation. "If you get married illegally, your grandparents and parents will get married alone." Even if children are engaged in other places, as long as they are not married, they must obey the arrangements of their elders. If they go against the wishes of their elders, they will be beaten with "one hundred sticks" according to the law. (2) Marriage certificate and money employment are necessary elements for marriage. Marriage certificate refers to a written contract to establish a marriage relationship, including the marriage certificate of the elder of the man and the marriage certificate of the elder of the woman. The former is that the man's elder sends an invitation letter to the woman's elder, proposing an engagement, while the latter is that the woman's elder gives a reply. "Please" and "Xu" are matchmakers' words, and there is no need to ask the wishes of both sides. If the woman's elders have known in advance that the man is older or physically disabled, he is an adopted son, illegitimate child, concubine, servant girl, traitor, etc. It is not appropriate to stipulate the special circumstances of marriage certificate, that is, to supplement the content of marriage certificate in the form of private agreement. Bride money is the key element for marriage to be legally recognized. No matter how much money you hire, you just need to come up with a certain amount of money. As long as the woman's elders receive the money, even if there is no power of attorney, the engagement is still considered valid and legitimate. If the woman's elders renege, according to the law, she will get 60 sticks, and the marriage relationship is still valid. (3) The age of marriage in the first year of Zhenguan is limited to 20 years for men and 0/5 years for women. In the twenty-second year of Xuanzong Kaiyuan, in order to increase the population, the age of marriage was reduced to fifteen for men and thirteen for women. The law of the Tang Dynasty forbids "no intermarriage with the same surname". Offenders are allowed to marry each other for two years, and people with the same surname but blood relations are not allowed to marry. Offenders "talk about rape"; It is forbidden to marry a fugitive daughter, a prison officer shall not marry a prison girl as a concubine, a sage shall not marry, and offenders shall be prosecuted. The Tang dynasty also stipulated that the wedding date had arrived and could not be violated. If the date has come and the man doesn't get married for five years without reason, the company will remarry; Before the wedding day, marriage is generally not allowed.
In the Tang Dynasty, the privilege of husband and wife was particularly prominent in the dissolution of marriage. There are two main ways to dissolve a marriage: "becoming a wife" and "divorce". Being a wife is simply called "going out", which means that the man unilaterally dissolves the marriage and divorces his wife. Its condition is the traditional "seven trips" since the Western Zhou Dynasty. It is not only the husband but also his parents who put forward the "seven out" policy. The implementation of the "seven-out" policy does not need the government to judge. On the contrary, wives and concubines have absolutely no right to unilaterally dissolve their marriage. According to the law of the Tang Dynasty, wives and concubines served for two years. "Those who remarry because they leave without permission will only serve three years in prison". There are two restrictions on "seven out": first, the husband still wants to get married, and the husband only works for one and a half years, but "seven out" is a simple principle, which makes it easy for the husband to find an excuse to get married; The other is the existing "three noes" in the Western Zhou Dynasty. Although there are seven things, but at the same time there are three things not to go, and the wife is married, the marriage is still maintained. "Seven Outings" and "Three Don 'ts" were originally the ritual system of the Western Zhou Dynasty, and the laws of the Tang Dynasty were transplanted into legal norms.
Harmony is different, that is, both men and women voluntarily agree to dissolve the marriage relationship. The law of the Tang Dynasty allowed the husband and wife to make up because of "disharmony". Moreover, both the divorce and the above-mentioned wife should make a written "marriage certificate", which was written by the husband himself, and the woman can remarry only with these written evidences of dissolution of marriage.
Divorce means that the government has decided to dissolve the marriage. Generally speaking, there are two situations: first, in the case of "marrying against the law" or "marrying against the law", the government breaks diplomatic relations and punishes the relevant parties everywhere. The other is "Yi Jue", that is, when one spouse beats, commits adultery or kills the other spouse or a certain range of relatives, the marriage relationship is forcibly dissolved through an official judgment. Those who fail to execute the sentence will be sentenced to one year's imprisonment. The law is based on the principle of "the righteousness of husband and wife, and the righteousness is absolutely separated". The specific conditions for being brave are: beating the grandparents and parents of the husband of his wife, and killing the grandparents, uncles, parents, brothers, aunts and sisters of his wife; There are murders between grandparents, parents, grandparents, uncles, parents, brothers, aunts and sisters of both husband and wife; The wife tries to murder her husband, beats or scolds her husband's grandparents and parents, kills her grandparents, uncles and parents, brothers, aunts and sisters, and commits adultery with her husband's relatives; Couples commit adultery with their mothers and so on. These conditions are obviously biased in favor of the husband. If only the wife "wants to harm her husband" and no husband "wants to harm her"; A husband must beat, kill or kill his wife's relatives to be a good Samaritan, while a wife only scolds or beats her husband's relatives to be a good Samaritan. In addition, it is also obligatory to marry wives and concubines to prison officials and betray wives and concubines by husbands. These regulations reflect the inequality in the feudal relationship between husband and wife, and also reflect the Confucian principle of "husband as wife".
In short, in terms of marriage, the Law of the Tang Dynasty further confirmed the inequality between parents and children, husband and wife, lovers and untouchables, thus maintaining the social order in favor of the feudal ruling class.
Marriage legislation in the Song Dynasty generally followed the Tang system, but in the conclusion of marriage, it was stipulated that relatives within five clothes were prohibited from getting married, and aunts and uncles were not prohibited from getting married. In addition, it also stipulates: "On the date of appointment, officials of prefectures and counties are not allowed to marry the people under their jurisdiction, and offenders will leave even if they are pardoned. Its state, government and county orders are the same as those of its subordinate officials. " Officials engaged in the front and rear, and officials in the three auxiliary schools are quite willing, which is not prohibited. "There are exceptions to the situation that the woman is not allowed to dissolve the engagement, that is, after the engagement, if the man does not get married for three years without reason, the woman can take the initiative to dissolve the engagement on the premise of informing the government and returning the money.
The provisions on marriage and divorce in the Song Dynasty completely inherited the provisions of the Tang law, with the traditional conditions of "seven out", "three don't go" and "righteousness". The meanings of "Seven Outings", "Three Don 'ts" and "One Unique Skill" are the same as those of previous dynasties, but the condition of "childless" is further defined: "A wife who is over 50 years old, childless and obedient, that is, no children under 49 years old are unmarried." According to this law, married women in the Song Dynasty could not be driven out of their homes by their husband's family on the grounds of "no children or daughters" before the age of 49. The exception of "three don't go" is that if the wife has a "bad disease", she commits adultery with others, which reflects the true intention of Song law to maintain the inheritance of patriarchal clan system.
"Seven marriages" is the privilege given to a husband and his wife by law unilaterally, and "righteousness" is the condition for both men and women to divorce by law. The article "Marrying a Wife" in the Criminal Code of the Song Dynasty stipulates: "Those who violate justice must leave, and offenders will be punished for one year." Women are always in a passive position on the issue of dissolution of marriage. However, with the deduction of society, especially the development of commodity economy in Song Dynasty, people's ideas will naturally be impacted, which is reflected in the marriage system. Under certain conditions, women in Song Dynasty had certain legal divorce rights.
First of all, the husband is away for three years, and the wife can divorce. Secondly, if the husband lets his wife engage in prostitution or hire a wife, the wife can divorce. Because it is immoral for a husband to force his wife to engage in prostitution, which is not only against social morality, but also very harmful to family harmony, the law gives women in this situation the right to divorce voluntarily. In order to stabilize the social order, officials in past dynasties prohibited selling their wives, but some people still hired wives and others. For this kind of illegal behavior, the Song government punished the employed women according to law and gave them the right to divorce on their own initiative. The legal divorce right of married women in Song Dynasty was missing in the previous laws.
The Yuan Dynasty was ruled by Mongolian nobles. After Mongolian nobles entered the Central Plains, they also brought some Mongolian customs to the Central Plains, so the laws of the Yuan Dynasty reflected the traces of Mongolian nomadic customary law. Its substantive systems such as marriage documents and professional matchmakers are quite distinctive. Although marriage certificates were generally needed in the Ming and Qing Dynasties, they are no longer required by law. 2. Management and Professionalization of Matchmakers According to the laws of the Yuan Dynasty, only "loyal women" sponsored by grassroots officials and local elders can serve as matchmakers, and they are officially registered and strictly managed. This kind of matchmaker is a common people, not an official. They are engaged in civil marriage matching affairs, which are different from the "matchmaker" and "official media" who served as state officials in the pre-Qin period, and also different from the "official media" specially set up for the preference of boys over girls in the Song Dynasty. The latter can be called a professional matchmaker. One of the important contents of the government's management of matchmakers is to limit the amount of "matchmaker money". 3, the wind of husband has existed since ancient times, but the wind of recruiting talents by civil servants in Yuan Dynasty was quite prosperous. In the yuan dynasty, mother-in-law and daughter-in-law were generally divided into four categories: one was to support the elderly, which meant that the wife and family were finally reunited; The second is the number of years, that is, those who bring women to teach; The third is to leave the house, which means to live with his wife's family; Fourth, returning to the ancestral home refers to the expiration of the fixed number of years, or the death, divorce and return of the wife. 4. Inheritance marriage means that the unmarried man takes the widow in the family as his wife. This is a custom introduced by Mongolian nobles. In December of the eighth year of the Yuan Dynasty, Yuan Shizu wrote a letter: "My mother (co-mother) and my sister-in-law, how can we accept them?" Declare the legality of the adoption marriage. Brothers take wives from their brothers, which usually happens between their own brothers, and distant brothers are generally not allowed to take them. In addition, brother in law's right of inheritance and punishment can only be realized after the mourning period of his widowed sister-in-law, and the inheritance system is also branded with ethics. The influence of ethical code on adoption marriage is also manifested in: widows can't be forced to get married, but if they want to remarry, they must inherit their brother-in-law, which means that brother-in-law has the legal right to get married first. In the process of folk adoption, the elder brother's widowed sister-in-law has been extended to the engaged "widowed" sister-in-law. In addition, before the Yuan Dynasty, the law allowed widows to take away their original dowry, and what was not allowed was only the husband's inheritance (or due share). However, the laws of the Yuan Dynasty formally stipulated that if a divorced woman or widow remarried, she would lose the dowry and other inherited property she had received from her parents. As for the property of her husband's family, she could not take it away. Influenced by the Yuan Dynasty in the Ming and Qing Dynasties, there were: remarriage, in-laws property and original dowry, and the former in-laws were the main provisions. This provision reflects the trend of further decline of women's status in the late feudal society. 5. Marriage divorce in the Yuan Dynasty was basically the same as that in the Tang and Song Dynasties, mainly in two forms: "divorce" and "harmony".
The laws on marriage in the Ming Dynasty basically followed the old laws of Tang and Song Dynasties, but the laws in the Ming Dynasty developed and changed in the aspects of marriage relations and the application of penalties to illegal marriages. According to Daming Law, Family Law and Marriage, "When men and women are engaged, if they are disabled, old or young, or have gone out to beg for support, they must clearly inform them, write down their engagement according to their wishes, and get married according to the ceremony." Those who get a marriage certificate, or make a private appointment and regret it, get married, or are employed for money without a marriage certificate, should be punished with a stick. In the Tang dynasty, if a person repented and reformed, he would not be punished. Clear laws have been inconsistent with the laws of the Tang Dynasty, and the punishment for a man to divorce his wife has been increased, which is the progress of marriage legislation. People-friendly officials in counties and counties are not allowed to marry women or take concubinage during their tenure, and offenders will be punished with a rod. Prison officials are not allowed to marry women as wives or concubines, and offenders will be severely punished. The Ming Law also stipulates that female prisoners who are at large shall not be taken as wives, nor shall they be forced to take good wives and daughters as wives, otherwise they shall be punished according to law. In terms of punishment for illegal marriage, the punishment of Ming law is slightly lighter than that of Tang law, such as "people with the same surname get married". The Tang law stipulates that "everyone is imprisoned for two years", while the Ming law only stipulates "60 per staff", which embodies the principle of "lighter than Tang law".
The marriage system in Qing dynasty changed before and after entering the customs. After the Manchu nobles entered the customs, the marriage system in Qing dynasty was deeply influenced by Confucian ethics, and further developed on the basis of fully inheriting the marriage system in Ming dynasty, making it have its own characteristics.
1, marriage conditions (1) Marriage age Before the Qing Dynasty entered the customs, the system of early marriage was implemented. After entering the customs, the legal age of marriage is set at male 16 years old and female 14 years old. (2) The feudal arranged marriage of "parents' orders" is still the basic feature of marriage in Qing Dynasty, and it is the law of Qing Dynasty to respect parents and master their children's marriage rights. "The Qing Law, Family Law, Marriage and Marriage between Men and Women stipulates:" All marriages are arranged by grandparents and parents; If there are no grandparents, no parents, ask for marriage from the remaining relatives. "If her husband dies and takes care of her daughter, her daughter will marry from her mother." The laws of feudal countries gave elders the right to marry their children, but it also required that the exercise of marriage rights must comply with the relevant provisions of national laws. For cases of illegal marriage, concealing disability, old and young, concubines, passing through houses, begging for support, etc. The officiating person shall bear corresponding legal responsibilities. Before the Qing dynasty, parents' right to marry actually existed, and it was only in the Qing dynasty that parents' right to marry was clearly stipulated in law. Parents' right to get married is actually their right to arrange marriage. China's parents have held this power for thousands of years. In Qing dynasty, they reached the peak in legal provisions and social practice, which fully showed the further spread of family departmentalism in the late feudal society. The marriage system deprives the parties of their autonomy, making it illegal for men and women to decide for life in private. Private marriage between men and women is not only despised by public opinion, but also one of the cases of forced divorce stipulated by national laws. (3) Engagement, engagement letter and money employment are the conditions for marriage. Once engaged, both men and women can't go back on their word. The Law of the Qing Dynasty Family Law Marriage stipulates: "If you promise to marry, you will regret it if you have a private agreement, and you will be fined 50 ... If you promise another person, you will be given a stick 70 if you are unmarried, and a stick 80 if you are married ... If a man regrets it, you will feel guilty, and you will not pursue gifts." One of the main contents of the engagement agreement is the date of marriage. Marriage can't be forced until the man's house, and it can't be delayed until the woman's house. If the man is forced to get married or the woman deliberately delays the marriage, the person in charge of the marriage shall be forty. If the man fails to get married for five years beyond the marriage contract without reason, and the fiance absconds for three years, the woman can choose another partner, but the government must verify the man's situation and issue a certificate. The engagement can be dissolved because one party commits a crime. In the Qing dynasty, the proviso was: "... if unmarried men and women commit rape and theft, this law is not needed", and "men commit crimes, don't listen to women, women commit crimes, don't listen to men." In addition to the engagement, there is also a marriage certificate. According to the laws and folk customs of Qing Dynasty, the marriage certificate is signed by both husband and wife and the matchmaker. Under normal circumstances, the bride price given by the man's family to the woman should be stated in the marriage certificate. Marriage certificate in duplicate, one for each parent. In the Qing Dynasty, betrothal money was the key factor for the success of marriage. "Qing Tongli" made specific provisions on the wedding bride price of officials with one product to nine products: "One product to four products, 820 yuan per coin, eight things in appearance, ten things in diet. Five to seven products, six per coin, six per ornament, eight meals. Eight, nine products and those with high hats, four Liang in the currency, four Liang outside the currency, four things for decoration, six for food. "
Ordinary people's marriage also has the requirement of hiring money. According to different national customs, the forms of employment money are different. For example, it is stipulated in the Imperial Rules of Qin Dynasty that the employment of Mongolians in Mongolia is: "The two surnames of Mongolia are married and both are betrothed by ordinary people. It takes two horses, two cows and thirty sheep, and no more. Otherwise, the livestock given to them will be punished and brought into the official, and those who are given less will not be banned. "
The provisions of the Qing Law on marital employment are so detailed and specific that it can be seen that property plays an important role in the establishment of marriage, and the nature of buying and selling feudal marriages is obvious.
2. The condition of divorce is that men are superior to women, and it is only natural that married women obey their husbands unconditionally in the Qing Dynasty. On the issue of divorce, men always take the initiative. The Qing dynasty followed the divorce conditions of the previous generation, such as seven exits, three no's, righteousness and so on. However, there are two differences in the treatment of "righteousness" between the Qing Law and the Tang Law: First, the note "Wife" in the Collection and Integration of the Qing Law: "A righteous person means that the courtesy of husband and wife deviates from the obstacle and its meaning has been lost. In law, there is no so-called auspicious preparation, but it is scattered in various provisions and has different meanings. Those that should be separated legally and are not allowed to reunite, such as divorce and return to the ancestral home, that is to say, this article should be inseparable. " If they can leave, they promise to get back together. As the saying goes, those who want to stay will listen, those who want to leave will listen, and so on. In other words, it is true that this article was sold in marriage. According to this annotation, there are two ways to deal with "one unique skill" in Qing Dynasty, that is, to divide "one unique skill" into "those who should leave the law but should not be combined" and "those who can leave the law but still agree". Obviously, there is no absolutization of the Tang law of "separation of one prince from another, and offenders are sentenced to one year's imprisonment". Secondly, "a unique skill" is not only a condition for married couples to divorce, but also for unmarried couples who are not married after engagement. Since the Tang and Song Dynasties, once the engagement is established, it is forbidden to go back on our word, especially for the woman.
3. Marriage is forbidden (1). In the early Qing dynasty, the rule that marriage with the same surname was not allowed was strictly enforced. If there is a marriage with the same surname, not only the principal and both men and women are sentenced to 60 sticks respectively, but also the marriage is invalid and must be forced to divorce. By the end of the Qing Dynasty, this situation basically ceased to exist. "Qing Law Family Law Marriage" emphasizes: "People with the same surname should attach importance to the same clan. If they are not from the same family, there is no need to arrest them when they are judged to assist the situation. " Marry consanguineous relatives with a staff of one hundred; Marrying a relative who is above hemp will be regarded as rape, and the punishment is wrestling or even beheading. It turns out that the Qing law also prohibits intermarriage between cousins, that is, cousins do not get married. However, due to folk customs, the Qing dynasty had to make an accommodation rule, that is, "married uncles, aunts and second sisters obey the convenience of the people." (2) People with good quality and low price should not get married. Marriage in the Qing dynasty pays attention to the right family. "Zhejiang Tongzhi" contained the area around Hangzhou at that time, "At the wedding, a scholar-bureaucrat attaches great importance to his family." The article "Marriage with Virtue" in the Laws of the Qing Dynasty stipulates that the master is forbidden to marry a lover for slaves. "If parents marry a slave's lover, the staff will be eighty"; "The same is true of slaves who marry themselves." When a slave marries a lover, he naturalizes his wife as a handmaiden, and the staff is 100: "When a handmaiden marries a lover, the staff is 90. Divorce and correct. "
Although the traditional marriage system in China is fundamentally different from our modern marriage system, we can see the living habits, values and behavior patterns of the Chinese nation in this land through these traditions. Our present is a continuation of tradition, and we can find tradition in the reflection of our present life. Only by knowing more about tradition can we have a deeper understanding of some modern phenomena.
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