Administrative Law and the Making of the First Da Qing Huidian

Abstract

This article examines the formation of the rules and regulations for the Qing administration, beginning with the establishment of the six boards in 1631 and ending with the publication of the first Da Qing huidian, or administrative code, in 1690. It charts the administrative problems that arose during the early Qing, and how state-makers turned to the Ming Huidian for answers but consistently found it unable to provide solutions to Qing-specific problems. In response, Qing officials called for the compilation of a Qing Huidian that would account for the emergent Qing-specific administrative structure and apparatus. The article shows that the Qing Hudian was not merely a copy of the Ming document of the same name; rather, it was a compilation of the regulations that developed in response to administrative and political problems over a sixty-year period, and did so in tandem with the emergence of the Qing state. The article further argues that the Qing had administrative law. The intent behind the regulations of the Huidian was to lay out enforceable procedural requirements that regulated administrative activity, as well as to set binding rules about the organizational structure of the state and the relations among actors and internal agencies.