Special Law in Ancient China

Here is a translation of what I read about recently from a Chinese book :

In modern society, there are many cases whereby young parents have spoilt their children. These children grew up to be unfilial sons / daughters and committed many bad deeds or crimes in society. It was only then that the parents realized their mistakes. It is important to educate the children and being strict with them when they are small as the children’s characters are developed when young. Otherwise it will be too late when they grow up. When such spoilt children grow up, they often go against the wishes of their parents. They will also easily become frustrated when their parents sometimes do not treat them nicely.

In ancient China, there was a special penalty know as [ 亲权处分 ]. It is a law that granted parents the right to request for punishments of their sons / daughters.

Parents could come to the Judge and informed that their son was unfilial and requested the Judge to give their son the death penalty. The Judge would immediately sentence their son to death without trial. This right of parents was a first degree order / priority. In the past, sons and daughters were afraid of their parents. If the parents complained, the Judge would mete out punishments for their sons or daughters accordingly without trial. If the parents requested a jail term of three years for their son, it would be approved immediately. There was no room for argument and trial was not required. Everyone in society would deem that punishment was absolutely right and appropriate. Every parents love their child. A person without the love of their parents would not be accepted by society. During the time when such a law existed, people did not dare to be unfilial as that was punishable by law. Those who were punished were not allowed to engage lawyers and there was no room for defending against their penalty. This is food for thought.