不以一眚廢終身之用

The Political Career of an Official should not be Terminated merely for Some Minor Mistake -A Research on the Xu’Fu(敘復)System of Civil Officials in the Song Dynasty-

敘復制度는 쫓겨난 관원이 사면을 받거나 일정 시한을 채우면 조정에 재임용 되거나 또는 이전의 관직을 회복하는 제도를 말한다. 사면제도를 바탕으로 宋代에는 전면적이면서 체계적인 敘復制度가 형성 되었는데, 그 주요 내용이 敘復의 담당기관, 敘復의 조건, 敘法과 敘復의 대상, 敘復의 과정에 대한 규정에 까지 미쳐있다. 송대의 이러한 제도적 정비는 관료제도의 변천에 영향을 받은 것으로, 특히 지표가 될 만한 의의를 지닌 것이 元豊연간(1078~1085)에 이루어진 관제의 개혁이다. 이 시기 文官의 敘復을 주관하는 정부 기구를 살펴보면, 여전히 刑部에서 해당 업무를 담당 했지만, 송대 초기 관료제도적 특수한 국면에 영향을 받아 실제 일부 업무가 다른 기관으로 분화되어 刑部의 권한이 약화되었다는 특징이 있다.

The Xu’Fu system(敘復制度) refers to a system according to which, officials who had been convicted or dismissed, could be reappointed or recruited to their previous positions by the government when they met an amnesty or satisfied a certain time limit. Attached on the She’ You system(赦宥制度), a complete and ordered Xu’Fu system of officials had formed in Song Dynasty, which mainly dealt with the provisions of the competent authorities, the conditions of Xu’Fu system, the laws and objects of Xu’Fu system, the procedure of Xu’Fu system. The Xu’Fu system was deeply affected by the changes of official system, especially the Yuanfeng Reform(元豐改制) which had a symbolic significance. The establishment and operation of the system indicated that the emperor and officialdom in the Song dynasty considers that one should not be abandoned only due to some minor mistakes. The Xu’Fu system was a crucial official management system of Song Dynasty, which has established and perfected the concept that any official should not been abandoned only for some minor mistakes by emperors and scholars of Song dynasty. It offered an access for those officials who had been convicted or rejected, to return to their political stage as well as gives them another career opportunity. In addition to the official who had committed a serious crime, was ungrateful, or had been decided by the emperor would never be recruited, the general officials usually had the opportunity to be recruited, excused by an amnesty, or for the emperor’s will. Regarding the competent authorities of the Xu’Fu system, although general affairs were still in the control of the Ministry of Punishments, its actual authority had been diverted and weakened by other institutions. This transformation could be observed from two aspects one is that officials attempt to be vindicated in abnormal ways. The Gu’si(鼓司), the Deng’wen yuan(登聞院) and the Li’jian yuan(理檢院), which initially was a prosecution injustice institution, was forced to supersede their authority and accepted the appeals of the officials. The second is that the list of the officials was not determined by the Ministry of Punishments after Renzong(仁宗) Era. In terms of the Xu’fa(敘法) and the objects of the Xu’Fu system, a complete set of well-organized regulations had been drafted in the Song Dynasty, which may have been revised in Yuan’feng Era. The content of the Xu’fa was closely related to the disciplinary system of officials and its function. The way can mainly be attributed to four aspects, which included the punishment against the Guan(官)、the Zhi(職)、the Chai’qian(差遣), in addition to the way for personal freedom. The content of the Xu’fa was also corresponding with these four aspects respectively, but the content was relatively complicated. In terms of Xu’Fu procedures, it mainly refers to a series of processes that officials can be recaptured, including officials’ posting, reporting by the relevant authorities, the zhao’bao(召保), the qu’zhi(取旨), and the delivery of the Xue’die(雪牒). The system was also deeply influenced by the change of the official system. At the beginning of the Song Dynasty, the Guan、Zhi、Chai’qian, which formed a triangle confrontation and the pattern of decentralization of authorities, resulting the Xu’Fu affairs into diverted. The dominance of the Xu’Fu affairs began to return to the Ministry of Punishments after Yuan’Feng Reform. With the reform of official system, the law, methods and means of the Xu’Fu system were increasingly richer than past and the focus of Xu’Fu system also changed. The procedures of the Xu’Fu system faced with the same situation, the order and links had also changed, and so on. In a word, the Xu’Fu system played an important role in the purification of the bureaucrats of the Song Dynasty and the stability of the ruling class.