《周易》古经"明德慎罚"观辨析

"明德慎罚"是西周初年周公提出的重要法律思想。从《周易》古经中的类似表述来看,其已有明显的"明德慎罚"观。"明德"思想反映在《恒》九三、《益》九五等爻辞中;《临》卦中有对人民实施德教的内容。《周易》古经的"慎罚"观在西周刑罚适用原则中也有体现。西周的"以德配天"、"明德慎罚"的法制思想后来深深扎根于中国传统政治和法律理论之中。研究《周易》古经中"明德慎罚"的法律观,探究它所涉及的西周法制,不仅能为我们研究西周法制提供宝贵的史料,也能更好的梳理商末周初法律思想的变化脉络,进一步印证这一思想对西周社会、政治和法制的影响。

An analysis of the idea "enhancing untarnished virtue and punishing with discreet" in the Text of Zhouyi

"Enhancing untarnishee virtue and punishing with discreet" put forward by Duke Zhou in the early western Zhou dynasty,is an important idea of law.It conceives obviously the idea of "enhancing untarnished virtue and punishing with discreet" in the similar statement of the Text of the Zhouyi.The idea of "enhancing untarnished virtue" is available in the remarks appended to the third line of hexagram Heng(the 32nd hexagram in the received version of the Zhouyi) and the fifth line of hexagram Yi(the 42nd hexagram in the received version of the Zhouyi);in the hexagram Lin (the 19th hexagram in the received version of the Zhouyi) there is content about cultivating people with virtue.The idea of "punishing with discreet" in the Text of Zhouyi was expressed in the principle of the punishment in the Western Zhou Dynasty.The thought of"matching heaven with virtue" and "enhancing untarnished virtue and punishing with discreet" is rooted in traditional Chinese political and law theories.The researching of the law idea in the Text of Zhouyi and the related legal system in the Western Zhou Dynasty,not only provides us precious historical materials to study legal system at that time,but also organizes the development thread of the law,and confirms the influence of the thought on the society,politics and legal system.