laws and legal codes: Asia and the Pacific 603 very warlike, within the state life was very peaceful, and crime was infrequent One possible reason for this apparent internal tranquility is that punishments for crimes were swift and brutal, and the state specified numerous capital offenses, such as treason, disobedience to the ruling Inca, and thievery A thief was beaten with stones for a first offense and beaten to death for the second Laziness was regarded as a crime—a form of stealing from an employer and from the state Disabled people were required to work within the limits of their disability, as were the elderly It is also known that land was divided into thirds: one parcel was dedicated to the use of the gods, a second to the ruling Inca, and the remaining to the landholder The landholder was expected first to work the land dedicated to the gods and then to focus on the ruling Inca’s land before finally paying attention to the personal share of the property It is also known that the Inca required men to marry by the age of 20 and people with disabilities to marry people with the same disability Asia and the Pacific by Kenneth Hall During the medieval era the Asian court elite codified prior legal practices into written legal codes Chinese dynasties shared the legal values and customs that complemented the formal law and procedures as contained in the Tang Code (624) The Tang Code, which became the basis for judicial codes in neighboring Korea, Japan, and Vietnam, contains 502 articles The initial 57 articles establish the basic principles of justice and judicial procedure; the remaining 445 articles define specific offenses South Asia and most neighboring Southeast Asian countries based their legal codes on the multiple Dharmasastra Hindu-Buddhist texts that were codified in the era of the Gupta monarchs (320–550) The Dharmasastra texts, which outline the Indian system of jurisprudence, define universal obligations and penalties, but they were always subject to local caste, religious, and civil codes that prescribed appropriate local behavior These Chinese and Indian legal codes were modified to accommodate local needs and common practices in the law codes of their neighbors Since issues of social justice were universally regarded as foundational to civil order, they took precedence in Asian law Laws reinforced and defined the privileges of social hierarchy and regulated landholding, property rights, taxation, and service relationships Criminal law included elaborate lists of appropriate penalties Commercial law established the standards of the marketplace Religious law defined appropriate ritual traditions and practices The Abominations of the Tang Code The Tang Code was one of the most influential set of laws in the medieval world It was established in 624 but did not take on its final form until 737 Out of this immense work in 12 sections and 502 articles, medieval Chinese legal scholars identified criminal laws that were “abominations” because they disrupted the order and the peace of society These laws concerned depravity, family life, the conduct of government, and the security of the emperor Mass murder, which was the slaying of three or more people at a time who had not committed capital crimes, may have been chief among depraved crimes Another depraved crime was the use of sorcery to harm others, especially to murder them The burning or dismembering of murder victims before or after death was an abomination Physically harming elder family members was an abomination It was illegal for someone to beat or murder a parent, and aunts, uncles, and elder siblings were also protected by the law On the other hand, it was legal for a parent to beat a child, though the law might punish a parent if the harm done to the child was too excessive for the offense for which the child was beaten Treason was an abomination This crime included switching sides during a war, joining a rebellion, or giving allegiance to a foreign ruler Murdering a government official was treason The penalties for these offenses varied from loss of social rank to exile to the hinterlands of the empire to death, usually by beheading In general, most reprehensible were violations of the laws protecting the emperor, because the emperor both represented the government and was the father of all the Chinese people Deliberate efforts to harm him were forbidden Other abominations included failing to carry out duties, such as properly tasting his food before it was served to him, or failing to follow dietary laws or to prepare healthful food when cooking his meals Physicians who did not follow appropriate procedures when treating the emperor also committed abominations Chinese law was shaped by two conflicting approaches to maintaining societal order China’s humanistic tradition was more optimistic in its hopes for humanity and was thus more tolerant of transgressions than the Confucian legalistic tradition The Confucian legalistic tradition was based in a