摘要： 代人受刑现象在中国古代较为普遍。根据其发生的不同动因，替身代刑可有经济考量类、伦理考量类和政治考量类。从历代的官方态度和法律规制来看，除极少数代刑获得特定许可外，禁止代刑是当然的法律精神，并通过诏令、条例等表现出来。从司法境遇来看，司法官的腐败或贤明，直接决定着代人受刑的作法能否得逞，而肩负天命的君王更倾向于对其进行打击。从种类特点、情法冲突、专制根源、本性身体、司法惰性与伦理审判等不同方面进行评析，可以深化我们对代人受刑现象的认识及从中获得启示和镜鉴。

关键词: 代人受刑, 替身, 顶凶, 本性身体

Abstract: There was a common phenomenon of replacing punishment in ancient China. According to the various motivations, it could be divided into three kinds that based on economic considerations, ethical considerations, and political considerations respectively. From the view of official attitude and laws, prohibition on the replacing punishment became the law’s spirits except for a few specific permissions, and was displayed by imperial edicts,regulations and other ways. Under the judicial environment, judicial corruption determined directly whether the phenomenon of scapegoat took place, while emperors who shouldered the destiny tended to strike it. Based on the above analysis, this paper makes some evaluations about the complex sorts of replacing punishment, conflict between emotion and law, its autocratic origin and nature body, and judicial inertia of and ethical judgment on it.

Key words: Replacing Punishment, Scapegoat, Political Body, Nature Body