The feudal law of Asylum prohibited 'the whole family from holding office' in one place.

Citing the Law of Asylum from the feudal era, National Assembly member and historian Duong Trung Quoc said that since ancient times there have been strict regulations to prohibit "the whole family from being officials" in a locality.

National Assembly member, historian Duong Trung Quoc. Photo: infonet.vn

Recently, information about a series of relatives of Mr. Trieu Tai Vinh, Secretary of the Ha Giang Provincial Party Committee, holding leadership positions in local agencies has spread on social networks, causing many controversial opinions. The Secretary of the Ha Giang Provincial Party Committee also responded to the press, affirming that his relatives (wife, younger brother, younger sister, brother-in-law) were promoted according to the correct procedure, but public opinion is still skeptical and concerned.

Without commenting in depth on this specific case, National Assembly member and historian Duong Trung Quoc only cited the Law on Avoidance from the time of King Le Thanh Tong to talk about the regulations for appointing ancient officials.

Historian Duong Trung Quoc said that the Hoi Ty Law stipulated that relatives such as brothers, fathers and sons, teachers and students, schoolmates, and people from the same hometown… could not hold official positions in the same place. If anyone encountered the above cases, they had to report to the court and relevant authorities to arrange for a transfer to another place.

“This law is also strictly applied in the provincial, municipal, and royal examinations. The above principle aims to prevent those in power from abusing their positions to support, cover up, or collude with relatives (family, clan, teacher-student, local) to commit negative acts in the management of public agencies,” said historian Duong Trung Quoc.

The Law of Refuge was first promulgated under King Le Thanh Tong regarding the recruitment of feudal mandarins at that time in the reform of the national administrative system.

In addition, in the Le Dynasty Penal Code (also known as Hong Duc), it is stipulated: "Officials are not allowed to marry, get married, or become in-laws in the places they govern; they are also not allowed to buy land, gardens, fields, or houses in the places where they are high-ranking officials, and are not allowed to use people from the same hometown as servants."

During the reign of King Minh Mang, the Law on Avoidance was even more thorough, with its scope and subjects of application expanded and new regulations added, including:

Officials in the ministries, in the capital, and in the provinces and districts who have fathers, sons, brothers, uncles, or aunts working in the same place must move to another place. The Imperial Medical Institute, which specializes in medicine and medical treatment, must be passed down from father to son, so the Law of Avoidance does not apply. Officials who are from a prefecture or district are not allowed to work at the office of that prefecture or district.

Officials in the prefecture and district offices who were from the same village had to be transferred to work in another office. Officials were not allowed to hold positions in their own hometown, their wife's hometown, or even the place where they went to school when they were young. Relatives by marriage, and teachers and students were not allowed to hold positions in the same place.

In particular, the law also clearly states that provincial officials are strictly forbidden from establishing relationships, making friends, or marrying women or girls in their jurisdiction, and are forbidden from buying houses or fields... within their jurisdiction.

Previously, at the first session of the 14th National Assembly, in the hallway of the National Assembly, also talking about the appointment of officials, National Assembly Deputy Duong Trung Quoc asked: There is a refrain that people often say "the process is correct but the result is wrong", so where is the problem?

“There are clearly loopholes for people to get around. They are very sophisticated, not weak at all. This has become abnormal. People who are responsible for causing property losses like Trinh Xuan Thanh are being promoted. Meanwhile, we always talk about responsibility, but responsibility is a very abstract concept. We think that at this time it is extremely important to attach it to personal responsibility. Praise and criticism must be clear and specific,” said historian Duong Trung Quoc.

According to Mr. Duong Trung Quoc, everything is done by people, that is, the quality of the person doing it. The second important thing is the supervision of the people, without that supervision, mistakes happen around the appointment of officials./.

According to Infonet.vn