The Qin-Han Grading System for Illicit Profit from Robberies: New Evidence from Tomb No. 12 at Hujiacaochang, Hubei

The term dao 盜 (robbery) in the Qin and Han laws encompassed a wide range of crimes. As the late Sinologist A. F. P. Hulsewé pointed out, “any action that could be construed as ‘taking things’—in the widest sense—‘that were not one’s own’ was described as dao.” To match such crimes with appropriate punishments, the cash value of the “illicit profit” (zang 贓) gained from those crimes was assessed. However, an examination of the records of illicit profit in Qin-Han texts reveals that the grading system of illicit profit and its matching punishments underwent various modifications or changes during the period. This paper explores the causes and implications of these modifications.
By analyzing legal texts recently excavated from tomb no. 12 at Hujiacaochang in Hubei, which date from shortly after Emperor Wen’s legal reform of 167 BCE, this paper demonstrates that the grading system for illicit profit and its matching punishments were modified as part of this reform. This finding aligns with Tomiya Itaru’s 冨谷至 suggestion that the reform aimed to break away from the Qin system and form a new penal system that centered on a hierarchy of fixed-term hard labor punishments. This provides a new perspective to reconsider the assumption that “Han continued the institutions of the Qin” (Han cheng Qin zhi 漢承秦制).