“礼不下庶人刑不上大夫”辨正

"礼不下庶人刑不上大夫"不连读,两者涉及两种不同的仪礼。因为庶人无庙,故其君、上轼庙时不必下车回避,此即"礼不下庶人"。君使臣以礼,会见大臣当以礼意而非刑意,故"刑人不在君侧"。自贾谊在《新书.阶级》中以"礼不及庶人,刑不至大夫"对之加以阐释后,所引起的争论迄今未决。在承认"礼不及庶人,刑不至大夫"的前提下,通过对"礼"、"刑"的外延加以限制,将之修订为"某些或某种礼不及庶人,某些或某种刑不至大夫",这种说法在逻辑上是不通的;而据此否认"礼不下庶人,刑不上大夫"是真实存在过的制度,其观点虽有可取,但仍然存在前提性错误;"刑无等级"比"礼有等级"更专制。

Discussing "the Common not Regulated by Ritual,Scholar-bureaucrat not by Penalty"

The phrase "the common not regulated by ritual,scholar-bureaucrat not by penalty" involves two different types of rituals.The masses do not avoid the emperor’s procession,for they have not formed etiquette,and this is "the common not regulated by ritual".Emperor should reply ministers’ salute,rather than conduct penalty on them,and it is called "never could criminals stand in the emperor’s rank".Since Jia Yin explained in his Xin Shu Jie Ji "the common not regulated by ritual,scholar-bureaucrat not by penalty",never has the debate about the phrase ended.After acceptance of the concept,we restricted the denotation of "ritual" and "penalty",emended it by "the common not regulated by some rituals,scholar-bureaucrat not by certain penalties",but the words is not reasonable in logics;therefore,the author denied the assumption that this practice had existed.Even though the point of view is somewhat preferable,it still goes wrong at the very beginning,that is,"penalty without clear levels" remains more despotic than "ritual with grades".