Doctor DINH NGOC VUONG
The Institute of State and Law
According to the Marxist-Leninist theory on the State and law, the origin of the State, or the cause that led to the formation of the State, is actually the disintegration of primitive communism, together with the appearance of private ownership and the division of society into opposite classes. Thus, according to this theory, the State is not an accidental phenomenon, nor is it a necessity of all societies, but rather the outcome of the internal development of society. The process of formation of the State was a slow process, passing through many periods, during which the clan-tribal management organ gradually transformed itself into the State management organ, and the social power gradually changed into State power. The formation of the State did not occur in the same way in all regions in the world, due to the fact that each region has different nations with their own characteristics in terms of geography, economy, national identity. The Athens State, the Germanic State and the Roman State grew out of different causes. In Vietnam, the State appeared at quite an early stage, not as a result of a bitter class struggle, but due to the need of self-defense and the defense of the common interests (fight against foreign aggression, harnessing the rivers, construction and maintenance of irrigation works in service of agriculture).
The Van Lang-Au Lac State is the first State in the history of Vietnam. It is designated under the name of the Hung kings period.
Until now, what we have known about the State and the law in the period of the Hung kings is chiefly acquired through legends or common history books compiled in later periods.
According to ancient history, as early as the Bronze Age, the Viet tribes already settled in North Vietnam and the northern part of the present-day Central Vietnam, beside the Au-Viet tribes and other populations. It is believed that about 15 Viet tribes had already settled, chiefly in the Red River delta. The strongest of them is the Van Lang tribe, which occupied a large territory in Phong Chau, stretching from the foot of Ba Vi mountain to the slopes of Tam Dao Mount in the Red River delta. According to the Lich Trieu Hien Chuong Loai Chi, the Chieftain of the Van Lang tribe unified all the Lac Viet tribes and founded the Van Lang country, proclaimed himself King under the name of Hung Vuong (King Hung). This name was to be used to designate all the kings of his descent.
The Van Lang State ruled over a very large territory bordered to the East by the sea, to the West by Yunnan of China, to the South by Chiem Thanh country, to the North by Kwangsi province, to the Northeast by Kwangtung province and to the Southwest by the Lao Qua country.
Also according to ancient history, the first Hung King and his descendants who succeeded one another at the throne for a total of 18 generations, each with his own dynastic name, birth name and dynastic name, ruled the country in the following chronological order:
1. King Duong Vuong Loc Tuc reigned for 250 years.
2. Hung Hien Vuong Sung Lam (Lac Long Quan), 269 years.
3. Hung Quoc Vuong Lan Lang, 217 years.
4. Hung Nghi Vuong Tan Lang, 300 years.
5. Hung Hi Vuong Vien Lang, 200 years.
6. Hung Hoa Vuong Phap Hai, 81 years.
7. Hung Huy Vuong Long Tien, 300 years.
8. Hung Ninh Vuong Thua Van, 100 years.
9. Hung Chien Vuong Quoc Tien, 80 years.
10. Hung Uy Vuong Hoang Hai, 90 years.
11. Hung Trinh Vuong Hung Duc, 107 years.
12. Hung Vu Vuong Duc Hien, 96 years.
13. Hung Viet Vuong Tuan Lang, 105 years.
14. Hung Dinh Vuong Chan Nhan 99 years.
15. Hung Trieu Vuong Canh Thieu, 90 years.
16. Hung Tao Duc Quan, 92 years.
17. Hung Nghi Vuong Bao Quang 160 years.
18. Hung Due Vuong Hue Duc, 115 years.
All told, the reigns of the Hung Kings lasted 2,655 years.
Until now, historians and researchers still vary in their observations about the State under the Hung Kings. Some maintained that State had not appeared at that stage. Others affirmed that the State had appeared but only in the form of a primitive State. Still others maintained that in the period of the Hung Kings, a feudalist-style State already appeared. In any case, the first State in Vietnam was not a State of slave ownership, which was the prototype of State commonly seen in many regions in the world. In any case, the State in the Hung Kings period was already a closely organized State organization, where power no longer belonged to the whole society, but was already detached from society, placed above the society, and took on the character of a State power, and a concentrated administration which already adopted measures to make other segments of the population obey its will. The State power in this case still had a primitive character, bearing the characteristics of a transitional period. Its repressive function was not yet clearly demonstrated, and the traditions of the period of the military democracy still persisted.
The State organization of the Van Lang country remained very simple. Heading the State was the King, and under the King were the Lac Hau and under the Lac Hau were the Lac Tuong and Bo Chinh..., all ruling through the hereditary system. The King was the Head of the country politically, and also the military leader, and the one who presided over religious rites of a State character. The first Hung King was himself chieftain of a tribe, the Van Lang tribe. But he succeeded in subjugating the other tribal chiefs of the other Lac Viet tribes, and founded a sort of alliance of these tribes. The members of the other Lac Viet tribes honored the Hung King as their king, because they ascribed to him a certain divine power vested by Heaven. Thus, it can be concluded that the Van Lang State came into being, somewhat earlier than ordinarily created by the maturity of the differentiation of society into classes. It was formed not to resolve any class contradictions, but to fulfil two functions: to build water conservancy works, and to organize the fight against foreign aggression, which could not be shouldered by any separate tribe.
The King was assisted by the Lac Hau. The King and the Lac Hau resided at the center of the country. The Lac Hau were military commanders, entrusted with the task of repressing any localities which refused to submit, and at the same time to help the King settle affairs in the country.
The Van Lang State was divided into 15 Bo, which were originally the 15 Lac Viet tribes. Each Bo was headed by a Lac Tuong, who was actually the chieftains of the Lac Viet tribes which had grouped into the Van Lang State. The Lac Tuong’s duty was to assign and look after the paying of tribute by the localities to the King, take the orders from the King to the tribal chiefs, and organize the defense force, whenever a foreign aggression took place.
Bo Chinh were the heads of rural communes which were “administrative units” of the Bo. The rural commune was a combination of consanguine relations with neighboring relations. The Bo Chinh may be likened to a village patriarch (Gia Lang) in the present social organization of the ethnic minorities in the Central Highlands. The Bo Chinh was assisted by a Communal Council, comprising persons appointed by members of the communes, to run all affairs of the commune.
In the Hung Kings period, the communes were given autonomy, but they had the duty to absolutely obey orders from above (the Lac Tuong, Lac Hau and the King).
Thus, organizationally the Van Lang State could be represented by the following diagram:
The King
The Lac Hau
(Central organs)
The Lac Tuong
(Heading the Bo)
The Bo (the Lac Viet tribes)
The Bo Chinh
(Heading the communes)
(With or without Communal Councils
The Rural Communes
By around the middle of the 3rd century BC, An Duong Vuong Thuc Phan, The King of the Tay Au tribes to the North of Van Lang country, invaded Van Lang and occupied this country (this might also be the integration of the two countries into a bloc to increase their defense capabilities, faced with the danger of full-scale aggression by the Tang empire in China). The Au Lac State came into being, made up of two components, Au and Lac. Thuc Phan as ceded to the throne and moved the capital city to Co Loa in the vicinity of present-day Hanoi.
In essence, the organization of the Au Lac State remained unchanged, compared to the Van Lang State. The country was headed by the King, Thuc Phan, who was assisted by the Lac Hau while the Bo remained under the control of the Lac Tuong. Under the Bo were the rural communes headed by the Bo Chinh (village patriarch).
Unfortunately, no written historical documents about the Law of the Van Lang - Au Lac State have been found. But one thing is certain, that is, there could be no written law under the Van Lang - Au Lac State. Archaeologists and historians alike agree that the ancient Viet tribes did not yet have any script, and their only means to record an event or to issue an order was to make one or several ties on a thread or a rope. However, this does not mean that the Van Lang - Au Lac State did not have any law. If this law could not yet be written down on paper, it was enacted through customs or customary law, not only for each Bo and each rural commune, but also a broad law applicable to the whole Van Lang State and later the Au - Lac State.
This customary law was reflected in the legends, such as the legend of the Genie of Mountain and the Genie of Water, the legend of Princess Tien Dzung who decided to marry Chu Dong Tu, an indigent fisherman, against the will of her father the King (under the reign of the 3rd Hung King), or the legend of the betel and areca trees... Combining the study of these legends and archaeological finds, law researchers have generalized the law in the period of the Van Lang - Au Lac State in the following observations:
- Customs on marriage and the family: In the Hung kings period, monogamy was already established with the wedding rites, marriage expenditures demanded by the bride’s family, more or less free choice of their future spouses by both the young man and the young woman. Matriarchy was gradually losing its strength and replaced by patriarchy (after the wedding, the bride came and lived at her husband’s family, all the Hung Kings passed the throne on to their sons). Nevertheless, vestiges of matriarchy remained (after the husband died, his brother would marry his sister-in-law).
- Funeral: The dead was rolled into a shroud, and buried together with his/her valuables. This differentiation between rich and poor, and between people of different social standings (mandarin - ordinary people) was easily discernible during the excavations of ancient tombs dating in the Hung Kings period.
- Land ownership: Ancient writings show that in the Hung Kings period, land was not yet owned privately, but came under the ownership of rural communes (“Lac dien”, Lac dan”).
- Punishments: Legends show that in the Hung Kings period perpetrators of severe offenses (such as against the King) were penalized by deportation, but might be pardoned and redeem his rights and interests (legend of Mai An Tiem deported to a far-off island).
In sum, a brief survey of the State and law in the Hung Kings period might lead to the following preliminary conclusions:
The State in the Hung Kings period, which was the Van Lang State, and later Au Lac State, was only a primitive form of the State, where there were yet no close and definitive political institutions, and a concentrated central administration. It was only a form of organization at a higher level than the tribal alliance. Such a State did not yet have a written law due to the lack of script, and the social relations remained very simple and were regulated by customary law.-