The Legal Meaning of Titles and Peerage——Titles,Peerage and Governance in Ancient China
The way of governance in ancient China can be classified into ruling by heaven,ruling by human,and ruling by punishment.Specifically,it can also be divided into the rule of supreme emperor,the rule of emperor,the rule of king,the rule of hegemony and the rule of gentleman,which corresponds to the rule of heaven,virtue,benevolence,righteousness and group respectively,so considered in a comprehensive way,it means that the supreme emperor rules by heaven,the emperor rules by virtue,the king rules by benevolence,the hegemony rules by righteousness,and the gentleman rules by group.Besides the top title of"Son of Heaven",other titles can be divided into the"regular outer titles"and the"inner titles".The"regular titles"are for the rulers of vassal states,while the"internal titles"refer to the courtiers in imperial court.There are the grades of duke,marquise,earl,viscount,baron for the"regular outer titles",and the grades of duke,secretary,gentleman,and scholar for the"inner titles".All these titles have their own legal meanings,which are the common manifestation of humanistic principles of ancient Chinese political and legal theories.
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