The Case of Zheng Casting the Penal Code and Shu Xiang of Jin Sending a Letter to Criticize It

In 536 BCE, Zichan, the chief minister of the State of Zheng, ordered the casting of a penal code onto bronze tripods, thus making the laws publicly accessible for the first time in Chinese history. Upon hearing this, Shu Xiang, a nobleman from the State of Jin, sent a letter vehemently criticizing the act. He argued that when common people knew the written laws, they would lose their reverence for the aristocracy and rely solely on legal texts, leading to social disorder and the erosion of ritual-based governance. Zichan respectfully responded that his measure was not intended to subvert tradition but was a pragmatic necessity to address the pressing crises and save the state from chaos. The correspondence became a seminal moment in legal history, encapsulating the tension between customary, elite-controlled justice and the formal publication of law.

This was not a formal judicial trial but a political and philosophical confrontation. There was no binding adjudication. Zichan maintained his decision and the penal code remained public, marking a de facto victory for the legal publication position, while Shu Xiang's protest remained a powerful dissenting opinion.

Whether the public promulgation of criminal laws would undermine the traditional moral and hierarchical social order based on ritual (li) and lead to the loss of aristocratic authority, or whether it was a necessary reform for stabilizing the state through transparency and uniform application of law.

The event is recognized as the starting point of publicly promulgated written law in China, breaking the monopoly of the nobility over legal interpretation. It inspired subsequent legal codifications, such as the penal codes of the State of Jin, and deeply influenced the later Legalist school. The debate between rule by ritual and rule by law became a lasting theme in Chinese political and legal philosophy, shaping governance models for centuries.