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Thank you very much, Martin, for inviting me to visit Princeton, and thank you all for attending today’s lecture. It’s a great honor to speak here at East Asian Department. Today I will talk about the transmission and publication of laws in Early Imperial China based on newly manuscripts evidence. Sir Henry Maine, in his book “Ancient Law,” posits that the transition from Customary Law, known only to a privileged minority such as aristocracy, to a period of publicized law, marked a monumental milestone in legal history. Sir Maine suggests that similar patterns emerged in Rome, exemplified by codes like the Twelve Tables, as well as in Greece, Italy, and Western Asia, at similar points of time during social development. Laws were inscribed on tablets and published to people, displacing the exclusive knowledge previously held by an oligarchy. Maine’s theory regarding the evolution from customary law to publicized laws likely resonates with evolution of law in China during a similar period. If the historical records in the Zuozhuan 左傳 is to be believed, as the Spring and Autumn period (770-476 B.C.) came to its end, Zichan, prime minister of Zheng state, was the first to publicize the penal code in 536 BCE (Zhao 6), marking a historic moment in Chinese legal history. However, this move triggered controversy as it challenged existing social order by disrupting social hierarchies and reducing the aristocratic monopoly on legal authority. In the wake of Zichan’s innovation and encouraged by its success, other codes were promulgated throughout the fifth century BCE, often inscribed on bronze vessels or bamboo slips, signifying China’s to transition into an era of written laws. For example, twenty years later, in 513 BCE, ministers of the Jin state, Zhao Yang and Xun Yin, also inscribed laws on bronze tripods for public dissemination. Publication of law was closely linked with significant social changes of the time. As the traditional social hierarchy, rooted in rituals, gradually collapsed, the government became more centralized and social mobility increased. The laws, monopolized by the aristocracy insufficient for effective governance amidst these changes. This shift carries profound importance in China’s legal history, marking a pivotal transformation in governance and social control, and highlighting the complex relationship between legal evolution and social dynamics. While China transitioned into an era of written law during the late Spring and Autumn period that is about fifth century BCE, the earliest laws that were transmitted to us were the famous Tang law code from around seventh century CE. For over a millennium, Chinese laws were lost, leaving our understanding of law very limited, relying mostly on fragmentary law citations found scattered throughout historical records. Since the 1970s, several Qin and Han legal manuscripts have been excavated from various tombs, includin Shuihuqi No.11 Qin Tomb, Zhangjiashan No.247 Han Tomb, and legal manuscripts acquired from Hong Kong antique market by Yuelu Academy of Hunan University, where I come from. These recently discovered legal manuscripts as well as the administrative texts found at archaeological sites such as Juyan 居延and Liye 里耶provide valuable materials for research into the laws and legal systems of early imperial China (221 BEC-9 CE). They demonstrate that the Qin and Western Han laws aimed at regulating nearly every aspect of governance and social conduct, played a crucial role in overseeing officials and governing the populace. As obedience to laws as well as enforcement of laws relied on their effective transmission and publication, the Qin and Han empires attempted to promulgate law for its enforcement, reflecting the sociopolitical system of their time. This topic merits further research, and I aim to utilize these excavated manuscript texts to reconstruct the process of transmitting and publishing laws during this period. Assisted by digital technology, modern laws can swiftly reach and take effect across an entire country upon enactment. However, during the Qin and Western Han periods, constrained by the conditions of the time, the simultaneous dissemination and publicization of laws upon enactment across vast territories was unfeasible. Considering this scenario, and likening the promulgation of law to a form of communication between authorities and recipients, several questions arise: When did the dissemination of a law commence after its approval by the emperor? How were laws copied and transmitted across such a vast territory? To whom were laws transmitted? Were all laws communicated to both officials and the common people, or did it depend on the nature and function of the laws? Especially for commoners, who often lacked literacy and comprehension of legal terminology, how were laws made accessible? What was the efficacy of law dissemination? A study of these questions can enrich our understanding of the functioning of legal and administrative systems and social control in Qin and Western Han China. First, let’s discuss when did law dissemination begin? In the Qin and Western Han empires, only the emperor had the authority to approve laws. Laws served as a means for the emperor to govern the entire realm under his rule. These laws encompassed statutes and ordinances, both of which could be made to resolve legal issues through imperial decree, thereby gaining legal validity upon the emperor’s approval. For the effective enforcement of newly enacted laws at local level, swift transmission from the central court to local offices was imperative. A Yuelu ordinance offers insight on this process: