Abstract

This article delineates the process through which the Qing ruling house reinstated the five punishments in the Ming and Qing codes. The Qing court restored the five punishments from the Ming code in the provinces after failing to impose the Manchu penal system on the Han people in 1645. In Beijing, the Qing court maintained its Manchu penal system until 1653. The Qing court gradually abolished the Manchu penal system and reinstated the five punishments among civilians in 1653 and among bannermen in 1656. As a compromise, the Qing court granted bannermen the privilege of commutation in 1656, but this privilege implicitly recognized the authority of the five punishments in the Qing code.

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