由于中国古代的法律主要以刑法和刑罚为主要内容，故一直以来学界都认为中国古代法律的功能在于惩治违法犯罪。实际上，在中国传统伦理社会和儒家法律教化思想的影响下，以唐律为代表的中国古代的法律早已具有了教化的特性和功能。因此，中国古代的法律不仅有惩治违法犯罪的功能，还有教化民众的功能，并且以后者为其主要功能。这一点，在作为中华法系典型代表的唐律中得到了鲜明的体现。 在中国古代社会，无论是人们的生活起居，还是学校的教育，甚至治国理政，都渗透着教化。教化已经深入中华民族的血液和骨髓之中。在中国古代社会教化传统的影响下，中国古代法制在发展的过程中无可避免地就具有了教化的特性和功能，因此也就有了法律教化思想和具有教化功能的法律制度。中国古代社会法律与教化的天然联系决定了法律具有教化的特性和功能。 中国古代社会中的法律教化是对人们进行以法律为内容的教化或者通过法律对人们实施教化，其主要目的在于维护社会秩序和国家统治。中国古代法律教化不仅有一套完整的教化体系，而且还有着清晰的发展脉络：尧舜禹时代产生了法律教化的概念；夏商西周时期有了法律教化思想的萌芽；春秋战国时期提出了较为完善的法律教化理论；汉代开创了法律儒家化，又把法律教化运用到了国家统治和社会治理的具体实践当中；魏晋南北朝时期对法律教化思想进行了丰富和发展；至隋唐时期，则实现了法律与教化的完美结合，集中国古代法律教化思想和法律教化理论之大成的唐律由此产生。因此，唐律的教化功能是中国古代法律教化功能中的典型代表。 唐律的教化功能在唐代的立法和司法中均得到了很好地体现。唐律教化功能在立法中的体现，主要有以下四个方面：“明刑弼教”、“辟以止辟”、“刑期于无刑”和“移风易俗”。这四个方面的教化功能各有侧重点，以制度和法律规范的形式分散在唐律的各篇当中。从某个角度来说，“明刑弼教”、“辟以止辟”、“刑期于无刑”、“移风易俗”，四者之间还是有一定的关联的，甚至可以说，四者构成了唐律的教化体系。其中，“明刑弼教”是唐律教化的主旨和总纲，“辟以止辟”是唐律教化的具体实施过程，“刑期于无刑”是唐律教化的长远目标，而“移风易俗”则是唐律教化的终极目的和完成形态。由于唐代流传下来的真实判例少之又少，故只能从唐代的正史、政书、判词、笔记小说、墓志等史料中搜寻相关案例，尤其是借助唐代的拟判，以便对唐律教化功能在司法中的体现加以说明。通过对史料中记载的相关案例的分析，可以看出唐代不论是皇帝，还是司法官吏，在运用唐律审判案件的过程中，无不对唐律的教化功能加以重视，并且取得了理想的司法效果。 唐律具有教化的特性和功能的原因是多方面的，主要包括唐代社会的特殊性、唐代法律的特殊性、唐代官员的职责、唐代社会秩序形成的特殊机制等几个方面。这些因素共同决定了唐律具有教化的特性和功能。而唐律对于唐以后各朝代的深远影响不仅仅是法律文本上的，还包括法律精神上的，即唐律所具有的教化特性和教化功能。这种影响在唐以后各朝代的立法和司法中都得到了很好地沿袭和体现。由此，以唐律为代表的中国古代法律的教化传统便得以形成，并对中国古代法制的发展产生了重要的影响。 受儒家法律教化思想的影响以及由此而形成的中国传统伦理社会的决定，以唐律为代表的中国古代法律具有了教化的特性和功能，从而对中国古代社会的立法和司法产生了深远的影响，也为中国古代社会秩序的稳定和国家统治的巩固起到了重要的作用。究其原因，无论是作为法律制定主体的皇帝，还是作为法律遵守主体的臣民，抑或是作为法律实施主体的司法官吏，奉行的都是儒教理念和伦理要求。由于这样的法律与中国古代社会生活状况相契合，比较容易为人们所接受和遵守，因而法律实施的社会效果也就很好。 长期以来，人们一直以为做到依法办事就能实现法治。殊不知，没有教化特性和教化功能的法律很难得到很好地实施，法治社会的实现因此也就无从谈起。一味地强调法律的惩罚作用，如当下诸多行为的“入刑”，希望通过刑法来解决各种社会问题，可能会事倍功半。而“赢了官司输了人心”、“执行难”等社会问题的出现，亦跟法律缺失教化功能有关。时至今日，在运用法律进行社会治理时，法律的教化功能还是需要注意和加强的。如果一个国家的法律不能使人因违法犯罪而感到羞耻，并且导人向善的话，那么这样的法律也就失去了应有的功能和价值。毕竟，法律的目的不在于对人们进行违法犯罪的惩罚，而在于引导人们遵纪守法。唯有如此，才能真正实现法治。 关键词：教化；法律教化；明刑弼教；刑期于无刑；唐律

 Because ancient Chinese laws mainly focused on criminal laws and penalties, scholars have always believed that the function of ancient Chinese laws is to punish illegal crimes. In fact,under the influence of Chinese traditional ethical society and Confucian legal edification thought, ancient Chinese laws represented by the Tang Code has already had the characteristics and functions of edification. Therefore, the ancient Chinese laws not only have the function of punishing crimes, but also have the function of edifying the people, and the latter is its main function. This point is clearly reflected in the Tang Code, which is a typical representative of the Chinese legal system. In ancient Chinese society, no matter people's living and living,school edification, or even governing the country, there was infiltration of edification. Edification has penetrated into the blood and bone marrow of the Chinese nation. Influenced by the tradition of social edification in ancient China,in the course of its development, the ancient Chinese legal system inevitably had the characteristics and functions of edification. Therefore, there were legal edification ideas and legal systems with edification functions. The natural connection between law and edification in ancient Chinese society determines that laws have the characteristics and functions of edification. In ancient Chinese society,legal edification is to edify people with the content of laws or to edify people through law. Its main purpose is to maintain social order and state rule. Ancient Chinese legal edification not only has a complete edification system, but also has a clear development context. The concept of legal edification came into being in Yao,Shun and Yu times. In Xia, Shang and Western Zhou Dynasties, the idea of legal edification sprouted. In the Spring and Autumn and the Warring States Period,a relatively perfect theory of legal edification was put forward. The Han Dynasty initiated Confucianism of Law and applied it to the practice of state rule and social governance. The thought of legal edification was enriched and developed in the Wei,Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties. In the Sui and Tang Dynasties,the perfect combination of law and edification was realized. And the Tang Code, which concentrated the great achievements of ancient Chinese legal edification thoughts and theories, came into being. Therefore, the edification function of the Tang Code is a typical representative of the edifying function of ancient Chinese laws. The edifying function of the Tang Code was well reflected in the legislation and judicature of Tang Dynasty. There are four main aspects of the Tang Code's edification function in legislation. They are "Integrate punishment with edification", "Penalty is used to stop crime","Execute penalty for avoiding the penalty",and "Change existing habits and customs". These four aspects have their respective emphasis on the edification functions, which are scattered in the various articles of the Tang Code in the form of systems and legal norms. From a certain point of view, there is a certain correlation among the four, or even,the four constitute the edification system of the Tang Code. Among them, "Integrate punishment with edification" is the main idea and general outline of the Tang Code's edification. "Penalty is used to stop crime" is the concrete implementation process of the Tang Code's edification. "Execute penalty for avoiding the penalty" is the long-term goal of the Tang Code's edification. "Change existing habits and customs" is the ultimate goal and form of the Tang Code's edification. Because there are few authentic cases handed down in Tang Dynasty, we can only search for relevant cases from the official history, political documents, judgments, notebooks,epitaphs and other historical materials of the Tang Dynasty, especially with the help of false judgments in Tang Dynasty, in order to explain the embodiment of the Tang Code's edification function in judicial practice. Through the analysis of relevant cases recorded in historical materials, we can see that both the Emperors and the judicial officials in the Tang Dynasty attached great importance to the edification function of the Tang Code in the process of using the Tang Code to adjudicate cases,and achieved ideal judicial effect. There are many reasons why the Tang Code has the characteristics and functions of edification. They mainly include the particularity of Tang Dynasty society,the particularity of Tang Dynasty law, the duty of Tang Dynasty officials,and the special mechanism of Tang Dynasty social order formation. These factors together determine that the Tang Code has the characteristics and functions of edification. The far-reaching influence of the Tang Code on the dynasties after Tang Dynasty is not only in legal texts,but also in legal spirit, that is,the characteristics and functions of the Tang Code's edification. This influence has been well inherited and reflected in the legislation and judicature of all dynasties since the Tang Dynasty. Thus, the edification tradition of ancient Chinese laws, represented by the Tang Code,came into being and exerted an important influence on the development of ancient Chinese legal systems. Influenced by the Confucian thought of legal edification and the decision of the Chinese traditional ethical society formed therefrom, the ancient laws of China represented by the Tang Code have the characteristics and functions of edification, thus exerting a far-reaching influence on the legislation and judicature of ancient Chinese society, and also playing an important role in the stability of ancient social order and the consolidation of state rule. The reasons are as follows: whether the Emperor as the main body of law-making, the subjects as the main body of law-abiding,or the judicial officials as the main body of law-enforcement, all pursued Confucian ideas and ethical requirements. Because such laws were in accordance with the living conditions of ancient Chinese society, they were easy to be accepted and obeyed by people,so the social effect of law enforcement was also very good. For a long time,people have always thought that the rule of law can be achieved by doing things according to laws. Little wonder,laws without the characteristics and functions of edification can hardly be well implemented, and the realization of a society ruled by law is therefore impossible to talk about. Emphasizing the punitive role of law blindly, such as "sentencing" of many current acts,hoping to solve various social problems through criminal law,may get half the results with twice the effort. The emergence of social problems such as "winning lawsuits and losing hearts" and "difficult execution" is also related to the lack of edification function of law. Even to this day, in the application of law to social governance, the edified function of law still needs to be paid attention to and strengthened. If the law of a country can't make people feel ashamed for breaking the law and committing crimes, and guide people to be good,then such law will lose its function and value. After all, the purpose of law is not to punish people for breaking the law, but to guide people to abide by the law. Only in this way can the rule of law be truly realized. Key words: edification; legal edification; Integrate punishment with edification; Penalty is used to stop crime; the Tang Code