The Law Lays Importance on Criminal’s Motive: The “Subjective Evil” in Law of Theft and Its Practice in Qing Dynasty

The criminal law systems whether in ancient or in modern times, whether in China or in foreign countries, would pay attention to both subjective and objective facades. The Western modern criminal law studies emphasizes that it should follow the order of “first objective, then subjective” in sentencing guilty. The same was true in the Qing Code of theft and its practice. Crime and punishment are decided primarily by objective injury (or possible injury) made by the criminal acts, and finally by the subjective evil, and according to it is or is not a guilty, as well as the guilty is severe or not severe. Comparatively, the Qing Code lays more importance on the factor of subjective evil, and if the motive of theft is good, it could be a condition to relieve punishment. If the act of theft is forced, the punishment could be stopped or reduced. If the theft is more subjectively evil, it would be punished severely. “The law lays importance on Criminal’s motive,” and the terms of the laws of theft and its practice focus on the subjective evil in order to stop and ban the theft thoroughly, to realize the situation of “no theft even if it is awarded”.