IF an injustice is done to a Chinese citizen today, he can make a shangfang (an appeal to a higher judicial authority) for redress but in ancient times people were in a miserable position when seeking redress for wrongs.

Such plaintiffs had to hammer on drums hanging at the gate of a yamen (government unit in feudal times) with their suzhuang (a plaint), at least for ordinary cases.An official would come out and deal with the plaint.

However, those who suffered extreme injustice would have to go through a tough test before they were permitted to see the local governor - they would have to lie on a bed of nails.

This kind of scene, often seen in movies or in television series, was confirmed to have really taken place by Ma Xueqiang, an expert in the History Department of the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences.

The ordeal was designed to show how much injustice the person had suffered and how firm his or her will was to win fair treatment.

"The legal system in ancient China was very complicated and varied from dynasty to dynasty. However, hammering on the drums and lying on beds of nails occurred throughout history," Ma said.

Feudal emperors didn't have police departments like today to investigate cases and no procuratorate units existed. The local yamen was an all-in-one institute.

Yushi and shiye

Dynasties had different administrative departments. For example in the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911), in a province, there were three levels of government - in descending order: dao, fu and xian.

The families of people who had been dealt with unjustly would have to appeal to the government offices starting with the lowest level and moving upwards in stages.

A special supervising department called the yushi was a unique feature of the ancient Chinese legal system.

This acted as the eyes and ears of emperors, supervising the implementation of laws, impeaching unjust officials, overseeing trials of important cases and inspecting legal problems throughout the country.

This department had some effect in redressing injustices.

That's why in some cases, wrongly treated citizen would kneel down and block the passage of the jiaozi (wooden sedan chair) of officials of the department who were on tours of inspection.

According to the book, "Legal Systems in Ancient China", the yushi was a comparatively effective department in helping ordinary people. For instance, during an inspection of yushi officials in the Yuan Dynasty (1271-1368), more than 3,100 unjust verdicts were found and rectified.

However, due to the complicated nature of the ancient legal structures corruption flourished.

In the "History of Shanghai", a foreign clergyman who came to China in the Qing Dynasty had this to say: "In the feudal offices, duties and structures were very complicated. The official was not only a judge but a prosecutor, a tax officer, a law executor and an investigator of both criminal and civil cases. Such officials received low wages which led them to blackmail ordinary people and they would send groups of outrageous subordinates to carry out their orders."

Another unique aspect of the ancient legal systems was the shiye (a private adviser who helped government officials when making judgments).

Shaoxing in neighbouring Zhejiang Province was famous for having the smartest shiye throughout Chinese history.

"The shiye was a hereditary title and that's why Shaoxing had so many of them. They were good at using their clever skills to find out the facts in difficult and doubtful cases," Ma said.

At the start of their careers, they had to be apprenticed to a former shiye, who was usually a relative.

They spent years learning law, studying cases and improving their writing skills.

The most renowned shiye was Wang Huizu who lived in the reign of the Emperor Qian Long (1736-1795). He occupied the position for 34 years.

The shiye contributed a lot to trials of cases that couldn't be handled under existing laws, when they would give judgments based on ethics.