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反对死刑的人士常常将唐玄宗747年发布的敕令视为中国历史上废除死刑的最早记载。但不幸的是,全面的历史考察发现,尽管绞刑和枭首两种主要的死刑方式曾被暂时废除,但死刑仍旧通过其他方式得以延续。尽管在今天主张废除死刑的人们看来,公元747年敕令并不是废除死刑的先驱,但该敕令仍值得关注,因为它本身反映了很早就产生的,具有原生性和典型中国特色的死刑废除论。汉武帝在公元前167年曾做出过一系列法律改革,终于在经历了几百年的进步、倒退与重复之后彻底废除了肉刑。中华文明实际上是最早根据人道主义原则来评价刑罚的正当性的,并决定那些被视为残酷的惩罚应当由国家加以废除。欧洲是在启蒙时期出现了宏大的法律改革并于18世纪晚期获得了成功,而中国在此很早之前就已经经历了法律进步主义的各种挑战。
Those who oppose the death penalty often regard the ordinance issued by Emperor Xuanzong in 747 as the earliest record of repealing the death penalty in Chinese history. Unfortunately, however, a comprehensive historical review found that although the two main death penalty methods, hangman and barbarian, were temporarily abolished, the death penalty continues through other means. Although it seems to those who advocate the abolition of the death penalty today that the 747 ordinance was not a precursor to the abolition of the death penalty, the decree still deserves attention, as it itself reflects the abolition of the very early death penalty with its original and typical Chinese characteristics s. Emperor Wudi made a series of legal reforms in 167 BC and finally abolished the punishment after several hundred years of progress, retrogression and repetition. Chinese civilization is actually the earliest to assess the justification of penalties on the basis of humanitarian principles and to decide that the penalties considered cruel should be repealed by the state. Europe saw a great legal reform during the Enlightenment and succeeded in the late 18th century, and China had already experienced various challenges of legal progressiveism a long time ago.