Canon of Laws

The Canon of Laws or Classic of Law (Chinese: ; pinyin: Fǎ Jīng) is a lost legal code that has been attributed to Lǐ Kuǐ (Chinese: ), a Legalist scholar and minister who lived in the State of Wei during the Warring States Period of Chinese history (475-220 BCE). This code has traditionally been dated to the early fourth century BCE, but scholars now widely consider it to be a forgery from the fifth or sixth century CE.

According to the traditional account, which first appeared in the monograph on law (Xingfa zhi 刑法志) of the Book of Jin, the Canon of Laws was the earliest legal canon of ancient China and became the basis for all later legal works. It is said that Legalist reformer Shāng Yǎng (Chinese: ) took it to the State of Qin where it became the basis of the law of the State of Qin (Chinese: ; pinyin: Qīn Lü) and later the law of the Qin Dynasty.

Although the original text has been lost, according to later records the Canon of Laws comprised six chapters:

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