论中国古代的罪疑惟轻

中国古代的“罪疑惟轻”中的“罪疑”既包括由于缺乏证据而无法查明案情的罪与非罪之疑，还包括因犯罪行为或当事人身份而引起的法律适用上的罪轻罪重之疑。对于“惟轻”，自汉以来主要存在从轻、从赎、从无三种处理方式，实践中，对于“惟轻”到底如何处理取决于对“罪疑”的理解。古人对于“罪疑惟轻”的议论不仅是讨论罪疑如何处理，更体现了古人对于刑罚公正的美好愿望。价值层面的罪疑惟轻体现了宽仁、教化的意义。制度层面的罪疑惟轻被当作议狱的宗旨，一则可以平衡当事人双方利益，一则可以理雪冤屈、救济无辜。但是，因为“疑”本身难以把握，导致实践中罪疑惟轻的处理结果千差万别，无法真正实现刑罚公正。
The phrases of “Zui Yi Wei Qing”, which existed in ancient China, means low-grade punishment in doubt case. In the phrases, “Zui Yi (doubt case)” includes the doubt of crime and noncrime in the absence of evidence that lead to the court cannot ascertain the facts of a case, and the doubt of felony and misdemeanor because of criminal behavior or the status of the parties. “Wei Qing (low-grade punishment)” includes low-grade punishment, non-punishment and paid redemption since from Han Dynasty. In judicial practice, the punitive measures of “Wei Qing” depend on how to understand “Zui Yi”. The discussion of “Zui Yi Wei Qing” in ancient china not just is about how to handle the doubt cases, but also reflects the ancients wishes of the fairness of penalty system in ancient china. In the value level, “Zui Yi Wei Qing” means forgiveness and enlightenment. In the institutional dimension, “Zui Yi Wei Qing” is used as the point of judge’s discussing difficult criminal cases. So on the one hand, it can balance the interests of the parties; on the other hand, it can investigate unjust cases and remedy injustices. But in practice, the punitive measures of “Zui Yi Wei Qing” differ in thousands of ways because of the difficulty to comprehend the meaning of the word “Yi (doubt)”.