Ten Legal Traditions (VI): The Appreciation of Feudal Orders of Importance and Ethical Rules

Ancient China advocated the five orders of relationship (Wu Lun): the monarch， paternity, connubiality, brotherhood and friendship, which are eternal so they are called the feudal orders--Chang. Chang was rooted in Chinese culture. There are stable rights and obligations among them and the law served greatly to maintain this order. Disobedience, for example, which is against the paternity relationship, is a felony. As a result, it formed gradually a legal tradition--ethical rules such as patriarchal relationship which is affirmed and protected by the law. This is ethical rules and ethical legal tradition, which is inseparable with China's specific condition. In such a society of ancient China which paid much attention to the law and the kinship, the paternity, brotherhood and connubiality were treated the most important social relationship which were regulated to much extent by the law. Therefore, it formed the tradition of ethical law which is also one of the features of Chinese legal system based on the status quo.

In such a society of ancient China which paid much attention to the law and the kinship, the paternity, brotherhood and connubiality were treated the most important social relationship which were regulated to much extent by the law. Therefore, it formed the tradition of ethical law which is also one of the features of Chinese legal system based on the status quo.