Brutal Perfectionism

I argue that the Qin and Han legal system excessively punished administrative errors as crimes. Performance-oriented legislation criminalized a large number of officials, including those industriously devoted to their jobs. Excessive punishments made officials guilty of administrative errors suffer the same bodily pain and economic loss as those who caused serious harm to society with intentional violence. This legal practice can be traced to its philosophical roots in Shang Yang and Han Feizi, who eloquently articulated the effectiveness of performance-based law and severe punishments. They asserted that heavy punishments aim to create a crime-free utopia. However, I demonstrate that when brutal instrumentalism and idealism were applied to real-world politics, they generated a monstrous legal system that distorted justice. Resentment arose against the law, and sympathy developed for the condemned. This prominent and unjust problem triggered heated criticism, but no legal reforms ever occurred. This chapter shows the dangerous application of perfectionism in the real world and explains some historical roots of the long-standing Confucian tradition against rule by law.