On January 6, 2015, Professor Norman P. Ho, assistant professor of Peking University School of Transnational Law, delivered a talk on the implementation and application of the Tang Code in the Tang dynasty.
Using various selected historical sources and case accounts that he translated into English, Professor Ho argued that there appears to have been inconsistencies in how the Tang Code was applied during the Tang – sometimes, there were discrepancies in what was required by the Tang Code (particularly from a criminal procedure standpoint) and what officials deciding cases actually did in practice. However, some surviving case judgments also suggest that some officials did faithfully apply the provisions of the Tang Code in their cases. Professor Ho argued that these inconsistencies should not necessarily be surprising, given the dynamic history of the Tang period and the geographic diversity of the Tang empire, which likely required a diversity of governance and jurisprudence approaches across different localities at different points of time.
