Смертная казнь и ее применение в эпоху Хэйан (794–1185)

Abstract

The article analyzes the significance of the death penalty in the criminal law of early medieval Japan based on historical and legal sources, its evolution and characteristics. It is widely believed among researchers that the death penalty was abolished completely in the Heian period. The death penalty was not used for 346 years following the execution of Fujiwara no Nakanari in 810, until it was revived during the Hogen rebellion (Hogen no ran, 1156). Further the author analyzes the position which developed in the Heian Japan after introduction of the moratorium on capital punishment, focusing on examples of the use of the death penalty in Japanese criminal law in the 9th – first half of the 12th cen­turies. Originally it was only an execution procedure for punishing intruders, and an integral part of the judicial system during the Asuka and Nara periods, but in the Heian era, the death penalty turned into a large-scale ceremonial action, reg­ularly held in the market square of the capital's city of peace and tranquility. It was a spectacle both for noble persons and for commoners, which became a credential sign of the triumph of the law over iniquity, a symbol of dishonor for dangerous criminals.