Study on the Legal Mechanism of Grassroots Governance in the Song Dynasty

Abstract

The organic combination of clans, townships and scholars constituted the grassroots social governance order in the Song Dynasty.
The development of the commodity economy and the change of land policy in the Northern Song Dynasty promoted the class differentiation
and the change of values in the rural society. In the face of numerous civil lawsuits, the limited governance resources of the government
could not adequately respond to the needs of grassroots governance, and the local elites often took the initiative to assume the responsibility
of grassroots governance in order to seek social status, thus forming the governance structure of “the imperial power to rule the country, and
the gentry to build the society”. In addition, the state policy of ruling the country by literature and the development of the imperial examination system in the Song Dynasty promoted the rise of the scholarly class, who attempted to reshape the grass-roots social order by Confucian
rituals and rule, and invested in the practice of governance of the vernacular society together with the gentry, whose grass-roots governance
practices, such as clan autonomy and township covenant, mediated disputes with the family law and the Confucian scriptures and doctrines,
which embodied the Confucian ideals of indoctrination and education to transform people into a customary society.