Legalism's Influence on the Confucian Penal Code

Conversely, the pronounced influence of Confucian orthodox on the Code was paralleled by the pronounced influence of Legalist doctrines especially in the Code’s technical construction. Accordingly, Legalism’s prominent influence on the codification and administration of the Code is broadly separated into the three distinctive components of Legalism. In a representation of Fǎ, the set of rules embodied in the Code heavily reflects the conceptual notion of the usage of rewards and punishments to keep societal behaviour in check. Despite the failure to fulfil the original Legalist principle asserted by Ma as ‘objective and absolute standards of Fǎ’ with the gradation of punishments that emphasised levels of criminality and punishments based on individuals’ familial and societal rank, Fǎ was still noticeably influential in the Code. The separation of crimes into three notable categories based on the severity of the felony reflects Fǎ through severely punishing crimes that will undermine, obstruct and threaten the structure, authority and integrity of the state. The adoption of death penalties for crimes against the sovereign such as treason and sedition, hence evidences the prominent influence of Legalism in certain aspects of the penal code

Resultant from the Code’s focus on utility, Legalism heavily interacts with Confucianism to create a comprehensive set of laws irrespective of which philosophy posed to be more domineering, remained extremely relevant and influential on contemporary Chinese