The Legal Manuscripts of the Qin Period (3rd Century BC) from the Collection of the Yuelu Academy
2010 - 2014
The law of ancient China was only vaguely known before the startling discovery of legal manuscripts in the tombs of Shuihudi (3rd century BC) and Zhangjiashan (2nd century BC). In the winter of 2007 the Yuelu-Academy of Hunan-University in Changsha acquired about 1150 bamboo slips from the 3rd century BC containing a large corpus of legal texts that can substantially supplement the known material with new texts concerning penal and administrative law. These texts will be accessed in close cooperation with the editorial team, scrutinised with regard to legal and cultural history and made available to the public in form of commented English translations. The findings will furthermore be included in an online-dictionary on ancient Chinese legal terminology. Exemplary studies will shed light on the Yuelu-Academy collection of legal cases in comparison with the Zouyanshu from Zhangjiashan as well as some aspects of administrative law.
Contact at CSMC
Dr Thies Staack
Universität Hamburg
Centre for the Study of Manuscript Cultures (CSMC)
Warburgstraße 28
20354 Hamburg
Email: thies.staack@uni-hamburg.de