On Han Dynasty Laws

The Nine-Chapter Law (jiu zhang lu) occupies an important position in the history of Han Dynasty law, and indeed in the entire history of Chinese law. Its major content was passed on to the laws of the Wei and the Jin dynasties. The Second-Year Law (er nian lu ling) was not in fact issued in the second year of the reign of Empress Lu. The structure of the Han Dynasty laws cannot be readily understood from such concepts as zheng lu (main body of laws), pang zhang (supplementary chapters), dan xing lu (singly issued laws), zhui jia fa (amendments) and lu jing (interpretations of laws). There is no evidence that points to any status differentiation among different laws and acts in the Han Dynasty. At least in the time following the Second-Year Law, the Nine-Chapter Law was only a part of rather than a general name for Han Dynasty legislation. It does not cover the entire content of the Han Dynasty legislation and the fact that Xiao He compiled chapters of does not contradict the fact that the Han Dynasty law contained more than nine chapters.