On Confucianism-characterized Chinese Law

During the time of Chinese empire, law was characterized by Confucianism. The ritual spirit and the standard code of ethics that the Confucianist advocated was directly written into the statute book, integrated with law. The legal Confucianism started in the Han Dynasty and was gradually intensified in the later several centuries. In 653 A.D.,《Law of Tang》was formulated and promulgated, which marked the final completion of the combination of etiquette and law. Moral custom in legal form has the official legal effect, or law epitomized by moral custom has the function of moral standard. Just as Ju Tongzu points out, to study China's ancient law one must take moral custom and law into consideration in order to understand its origin and its spirits.