從張家山《二年律令》簡看西漢初法制 中的「戶」

Abstract

法制史為研究周至秦漢社會結構變化的重要方法之一。本文旨在檢討西漢初基層社會結構最基礎的單元—戶。從西漢初的法制文獻，我們能夠發覺執政者與基層社會的關係，尤其張家山漢簡《二年律令》中有關「戶」的律文能夠反映西漢初基層社會組織的幾項重要特點。與睡虎地秦簡代表之秦律有別，西漢初之法制已充分利用「戶」作為社會最小的單元，基本上與律文中之「家」字可區分。編戶為伍制在西漢初已發展到與秦制不同的地步，將編伍之範圍擴到五大夫爵級，以地緣而非血緣、職業、階級等因素為原則，皆顯示西漢政府更加嚴厲、更加積極以編戶制徵稅與徭役的趨向。西漢初的法律顯示父親生前諸子分異或同居，均為普遍現象，但欲自成為戶者必須擁有一定數量的田宅。關於戶主身份繼承的規定，顯示西漢政府注重一戶的穩定性。

Studying the history of ancient Chinese jurisprudence is perhaps one of the most useful methods of understanding the tectonic shift in social structure that occurred between the Zhou and the Han Dynasties. This thesis utilizes legal documents from the Qin and the Han excavated in the past forty years in order to closely examine the most basic unit of Han society: the household. The materials, especially the codes contained in The Statues of Year Two, part of the trove discovered at Zhang Jia Shan in 1983, reveal a great deal about the nature of the household and its role in the relationship between state and society during the early Western Han. We can clearly see from the statues that the household (hu) has become differentiated from and has largely replaced the family unit (jia). The system of incorporating households into groups of five for administrative purposes had developed, by the Han, characteristics not see in the Qin: the reach of the system was extended as far as the Grandee of the Ninth Order, and incorporation was based upon geographic propinquity as opposed to kinship, vocation or social status. These mutations indicate that the early Western Han government was stepping up its efforts to exact tighter control on local communities, as part of an effort to more efficiently collect taxes and forced labor from the populace. The legal codes also reveal that it was common for adult sons to continue living under one roof before the death of their father, and that in order to be eligible to set up one's own household, a certain amount of private property was required. Finally, the various statues dealing with inheritance of the title of 'head of household' make clear that the government was interested in preserving the stability of each household unit.