What are Deeds?

A contract originally refers to a document related to the relationship of sale, mortgage, lease, etc., which is entered into by mutual agreement between two or more parties. It can be understood as "honesty". Forms are spiritual contracts and written contracts. The objects are diverse. They can be: business partners, close friends, lovers, nations, the world, all human beings, and their own contracts. They can be agreed by "written contracts" or "language" To agree, it can also be a "silent" contract.

[qì yu]

according to"

1. The two parties to the contractual relationship are equal, and they share the responsibility for the smooth conduct of the entire business. No party can enjoy rights without obligations.

2. Contractual relationships are often mutual, and rights and obligations are often tied to each other;

3. The obligation to execute the contract lies with me, and the power to verify the contract lies with the person;

4. My obligation protects your interests, and your obligation protects my interests

5. Contracts can be divided into:

The family contract is a motto based on kinship, family motto, family etiquette, etc., and is often called a spiritual contract.

Property contracts are property agreements based on the purpose of increasing wealth, such as certificates of deposit, stocks, and real estate.

The Xingxing contract is a life-oriented contract made to achieve the smooth inheritance of property, such as life trust, life insurance, etc.

1. Documents and clauses related to the relationship of purchase, sale, mortgage, lease, etc., concluded by mutual agreement between two or more parties.

"

There are so many ancient documents in China that there are many contents that have a direct and indirect relationship with the contract. Therefore, to thoroughly study the contract issue, we must make full use of the literature. Here I want to talk about the following four issues.

Primitive social contract

None of the existing contract originals and contract materials in Jinshi's writings touched the contract issues of primitive society. Because these data reflect the contracts of future generations. At the end of primitive society, as a result of the exchange relationship, the budding contract has also emerged. There is no concrete information on what kind of contract was used by humans in the Central Plains at the time. Although some symbols painted on the pottery were found in archeological work, it was impossible to examine what kind of intention was expressed. From the documentation, Xu Shen's "Explaining the Characters and Explaining the Postsequence" said: "The ancients, the sacrifice family ... began the gossip of" Yi ", with the constitutional image. And the Shennong family tied the ropes as the rule, and unified It's not clear whether this gossip or knot has been used in contractual relations. However, Confucius once said:

"Heavenly emperor is lost, and he studied in Shiyi." ^[12] China is a multi-ethnic country, and the social development of all ethnic groups is very uneven. In the past millennium, many ethnic minorities have experienced or stayed at the end of primitive society. The use of contracts by these ethnic groups is reflected in the Han literature. For example, the Song Dynasty Zhou Qufei's "Answer to the Ling Wai" said: "The Yao people have no words, and their offer is carved with a wooden agreement between two boards. They hold one to the other and keep their faith." ^[13] Yuan Dynasty Italian traveler Marco Polo Say: Yunnan "Turen (Dong people) signed a contract, took a wooden stick, or square or circle, divided into two, each with two or three symbols written on it, each side holds one piece. After the debtor repays the debt, the creditor The half of the film held in the hand was recovered. " ^[14] Qing Mei Yuan Mei's" Zibuyu "said: Hainan Island," Li Min bought and sold land without a written contract; The upper right is divided into two, the buyer and the seller each hold their own half of the letter. If the day is long, the seller will take half of the original owner to sign the contract. " ^[15] The three ethnic groups mentioned above were at the end of the primitive society and used the contract. Although there are some differences, one important thing in common is that there is no text, but the bamboo stick wood chips are used as tokens. This form of contract is called a judgment. "Zhou Li · Qiu Guan · Chao Tu" said: "Everyone who is responsible has a verdict to listen to." Zheng Xuan said: "Judgment is a half-point." From this point of view, the verdict may be the end of primitive society. More commonly used contract forms. The Han ancestors may also use this contract at the end of primitive society. The reason why the contract from the Western Zhou Dynasty to the Han Dynasty was also a judgment system is derived from this.

Contract verdict

From the Western Zhou Dynasty to the Han Dynasty, the contract was written in words. At this time, although the form of the contract was still a judgment system, it was much better than the judgment of the primitive society. At this time, the form of the contract is divided into three types due to different uses: namely, "Zhou Li · Tian Guan · Xiao Zai" said: "Listen to blame for Fu Bie", "Listen to buy to buy quality", "Listen to the book Deed. " That is to say, the loan contract is used for different types, the sales contract is used for quality, and the contract for the receipt of the contract is granted. Regarding the form of Fu Bie, Zheng Xuan said: "Fu Bie, said to be a masterpiece in a book, the Chinese characters do not." ^[16] Liu Xi said: "Don't, don't also, in the middle of the big book, break the other." ^[17] Regarding the form of the quality agent, Zheng Xuan said: "Quality agent means two books, one and the same." ^[18] Regarding the form of the book title, Zheng Xuan said: "Book title ..." , Two books, carved on its side. "Liu Xi said:" The deed, the moment of engraving, also the number of engravings. ^{[17] In the} Qing Dynasty, Sun Zhirang made such a comparison of these three judgments: "The cover agent, Fu Bi, and the book deed are all coupons. Special agent, one handwritten book, the same text before and after, but the other, so that each hold its own half. Fu Bie is a large character in the handwriting, while the Chinese character is different from the other, making each one hold its own half character. The deed of the book is two pieces, so that each sticks to one piece. Fu Bizha, half a word; quality agent, only half a word, and the word is full, not half a book; book deeds, two books, not half a word. ^[18] Examples of these three forms of judgments can be found in today's Cun-Han Bamboo Slips.

After the Wei and Jin dynasties, the use of paper deeds became widespread, and judgments also changed. Fortunately, the system of quality agents is gradually not used, and contract forms are being developed. The contract form was born out of the book deed, and absorbed the advantages of Fu Fie, and developed. It takes the form of "two books", combining two books together. Co-author a capital "tong" and later merge the capital "contract". Each note has the word "same" or the word "contract", which is the verification of the coupon. This is the earliest sewing system. Later, single deeds were widely used in sales relationships, issued by the seller-party.

Impact of contract tax deeds

In order to protect people's legal rights, eliminate disputes such as property, and maintain social order, the government attaches great importance to the content writing and form production of contracts. "Zhou Li · Diguan · Shishi" said: "Stop litigation with the quality of the letter." "Ming Gong Shu Jie Qing Ming Ji" said: "In law, transactions are only based on deeds." Just by deed. "These records illustrate the property proof function of the contract. In order to make the contract better perform this function, the government has tried to standardize the contract, and the content and form of the contract have been improved from time to time. However, significant changes have occurred in the form of the contract. It is not the legal role of the contract content, but mainly the role of the tax deed policy of previous generations, such as the emergence of "red deeds".

Some scholars believe that the red deed "is a stand-in for the law set by the imperial power" and is a proof of "feudal land state ownership" ^[19] , which is a misunderstanding. In fact, the reason why the red deed is "red" is because it has the official seal of Zhu Se. The establishment of this official seal has nothing to do with land ownership, let alone proof of state ownership of land. As mentioned above, it is the role of the tax deed. "Book of Sui · Food and Goods" states: "Jin Zi crosses the river, all goods sell slaves, horses, cattle, field houses, and coupons. The rate is 10,000 yuan, the loss is 400, and the seller is 300. The buyer One hundred. "This is the beginning of the ancient Chinese tax deed system. "Documents" are contracts signed by the government when the contracting parties pay the deed tax. The descendants are called red deeds, red deeds, or official deeds. Tao Zongyi of the Yuan Dynasty said: "The red deed, the buyer will be resold to the owner, and the taxpayer is also the holder of the certificate." ^[20] Li Xinchuan of the Southern Song Dynasty said: Buying and selling Tianzhai, "there are more people to pay, and no one will tell the official." : This is the white deed. " ^{[21] It} can be seen that this major change in the contract was caused by the tax deed system. Therefore, the official seal should be stamped on the contract, mainly to ensure the collection of deed tax.

The contract was about the second major change in the Song and Yuan dynasties. Therefore, this is because the system of red deeds is not easy to prevent bureaucrats from invading the deed tax, and therefore another system of deeds is created. The deed is the receipt of the deed tax. In the Yuan Dynasty, it was called "tax payment". The deed of the deed is divided into two parts: the big tail and the sitting tail. The big tail is the receipt and the sitting tail is the stub for investigation. After the implementation of this law, it has played a certain role in preventing officials from corrupting the deed tax. Since then, the government has stipulated that everyone who pays the tax shall not stop using the deed, ^[22] Illegal. After the red deed, there is one more deed, and a legal contract must have one deed and one end.

Contract

There are no contract records in the pre-Qin literature. The literature of the Han Dynasty has narrative excerpts of contract text, but it is relatively simple. For example, in the early years of the Western Han Dynasty, Lu Jia met with his five sons and said, "Go, you give my horses wine, food, and desire. Even more in October. Dead, sword, rider, waiter ..." ^[23] Western Han In the later period, a wealthy man in Pei County said in a critical order, "It is said that the wealth belongs to a woman, but a sword and a male are paid for the age of fifty." ^[24] There are three years of the Western Han Dynasty (59 years before) ^[25] A game text written by Wang Yan, "Children's Contract." Although these materials are not recorded in the contract, they are close to the original contract at that time and have great reference value. It is a thing of the Song Dynasty that the complete contract records are contained in the literature. There are two situations: one is the contract form, and the other is the original contract.

Contract style began to spread around the late Tang Dynasty. There are many types of contract in the above Dunhuang contract as proof. In the eight years of the reign of the Taiping in the Northern Song Dynasty, the state formulated the code for the sale of contracts ^[26] as a "standard contract" printed by the local government and called "official board deed" or "printed paper." When the people signed a contract, they should buy printed paper from the government. After filling in the form, you can then enter the tax stamp deed. This kind of printed paper system has played a significant role in standardizing the contract. From this document, the matter of recording the contract style has greatly increased. "Zhan Qingqian", Ming Dynasty's "Rupi Pisces" (composed by Xiong Yin ) and "Wan Bao Quan Shu" (Supplementary Book of Mao Huanwen of Qing Dynasty), etc., contained various contracts, which provided convenience for folk writing contracts and also helped us to study The contract form at that time provided important reference material.

The document contains the original text of the contract, which is mainly found in the pedigree and cemetery of the "Genealogy". However, the genealogies seen today are mostly repaired in the Qing Dynasty and few in the Ming Dynasty. It is not easy to see before the Yuan Dynasty. Because of this, the contract contained in it is also late. When the genealogy of Chen Ting's family in Jinjiang County, Fujian was repaired in the Qing Dynasty, eight pieces of contract data of the Yuan Dynasty were recorded. This is indeed a rare set of data. The eight materials are divided into three groups. The first group consists of four accounts, public documents, government deeds and tax grants used to buy garden premises in the first two years (1336). The second group is the "question account", "public document" and "government deed" for the sale of gardens and mountains in the twenty-sixth year (1366). [3] There is only one of the three groups, which is the "official deed" for selling litchi gardens and mountains up to the ^{27th year} . ^[27] The contracts contained in most genealogies are very late, not many in the late Ming Dynasty.