"Zouyanshu" on bamboo slips of Han Dynasty unearthed in
Zhangjiashan is not only a collection of proposals on law cases,
but also a legal form which has a powerful constraint effect on the administration, judicature and personal behavior of the government officials in early Han Dynasty. The content of it mainly reflects the stern punishment on the government officials' criminal defenses as destructing the centralization of
authorities system, killing a person, stealing, giving harbor to those who didn't report to the local authorities for their residence registration, being deliberately not to decide on the nature of the guilt in order to extenuate the offense, intentionally inflicting an over-punishment or an under-punishment on the criminals, deceiving people and winning the reputation of an upright gentleman, accepting bribes, forging official documents, and so on. It's one of the important characteristics of legal system building in early Han Dynasty, which also shows the rulers' determination to cleanse out political corruption and to strengthen to govern by law.