The Legal Dispute for Monarch Establishing Seen in the Ge(Ba)Ji Bronze Gui and "Laws of the Former Kings"
The inscription of Baji Bronze Gui is related to the dispute for establishing the monarch of the Ba State in the Western Zhou Dynasty.Ge(Ba)Ji claimed that the monarch shall be her son,whilst the Tai Fu(politician)of the Jin State advocated his nephew as the monarch.The nobilities of the Western Zhou Dynasty,Gui(鬼),Yue Shu((䟑)叔),Mi Fu(鼏父),Shi Fu(师父),and Wei Shi(微史),had jointly investigated and examined the case and reported to Bo Yi Fu(伯偯父),who made the ruling.The judgment was made by the head of the official historians(史官),Yinshi(尹氏),and was told to Ge(Ba)Ji by his subordinate.Yin and his subordinate Bao Zijin(保子津)announced the judgment at the etiquette for praising and encouraging Ge(Ba)Ji,which is a declaration that Ge(Ba)Ji and her son legally possess the leadership of Ba State.The inscription of Ge(Ba)Ji Bronze Gui shows that the judicial procedure was based on the laws of the former kings,moving the era of the appearance of the expression"following the laws of the former kings"forward to the King Mu and King Gong.Moreover,it is the only instance of the application of the laws of the former kings in adjudication.The inscriptions of Ge(Ba)Ji Bronze Gui,Ba Ji Pan,and Ba Ji He,unearthed from the Tomb M2002 at Dahekou,Shanxi Province,show the comprehensive expansion of the jurisdiction,which consists of the prescriptive and adjudicatory jurisdiction and is related to the law reform during the reign of King Mu.
Ge(Ba)Ji Bronze Gui"laws of the former kings"the inheritance of monarchlaw reform
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