This study attempted to clarify the process that the three-year mourning costume, which was merely a traditional practice of Confucianism, was legalized as a duty for officials in the Wei-Jin era. In particular, this paper focused on the task of confirming whether the law of “Resignation from public office(解官)” to mourn for his parents actually existed in the Jin’s Code. The conclusions obtained from the analysis of related materials are as follows.
First, the case of Yu-Chun(庾純), who was impeached for violating the law of “resignation from public office(去官)” to care for his father over 80-years(侍養), suggests the following. The law of “去官” for old was legislated on the basis of the scripture phrase in Liji wangzhi (『禮記』 「王制」). Then, in the same way, there is no reason not to enact the law of “去官” for 3-years mourning based on the phrase of “No participation in government affairs for 3-years mourning” in the same Liji wangzhi.
Second, another important basis to support the existence of the “解官” law is the “wear mourning in mind(心喪)” system. It was a new mourning method that allows the missing number of months from 25 months to be supplemented with 心喪 if the 25-month period stipulated in the Li(禮) was not possible due to mother status or other reasons. In Jin, there was a system that gave 25 months of vacation to the bereaved officials, and it continued to the Sui-Tang era as it was, and the reality can be confirmed in the Code of Sui and Dang dynasty. In short, there doesn't seem to be much difference between the two eras in the ‘心喪’ system. From this, it can be inferred that the provision of 3-year mourning and “解官” laws included in the Tang Code(唐律) must have been recorded in the Jin Code as well.
Third, the close similarity of the laws between Jin and the Tang is also confirmed in the case where Yin Zhongkan(殷仲堪), the governor of Jingzhou(荆州) during the Dongjin period, judged a case of impersonation for 3-years mourning. Two types of impersonation articles are cited here. First, “Anyone who falsely pretends that their parents are dead will be put to death.” or “Anyone who falsely pretends that their parents are dead, even though their parents are still alive, will be put to death.” Second, “Anyone who falsely pretends that their parents died in the past but is now dead (will be punished.)” Comparing the above articles with those of Tang’s law, that is, “Criminal name and general rule(「名例律」) and “The law on deception and falsehood(「詐僞律」)”, despite the differences in punishment standards according to the times, there is a striking similarity between the two. In the end, the close succession relationship between Jin and Tang can be confirmed as far as the three-year mourning-related laws are concerned. In that sense, the initial legislative period of the law of “resignation from public office(解官) for 3-years mourning” can also be raised to the early Jin dynasty.