通過對兩周金文資料進行系統分析可發現,西周至春秋時期的禮器銘文具有鮮明的宗族性特征,法令銘文亦具此屬性。鼎的功能和銅器銘文的性質在戰國時期出現變動,這是由社會組織結構的變革引發的。《左傳》所載孔子反對鑄刑鼎的言論,正發生在劇變的前夜。探討春秋時期鑄刑鼎事件,應在此種背景下理解論爭言辭的真實含義。戰國以后,青銅銘文的性質更加走向平民化、生活化。不體現宗族性的法令銘文在戰國后成為常態,以致中古以降的學者為《左傳》作注時,徑以自身時代之特征加以分析,從而誤解了古代文獻的含義。春秋晚期鑄造刑鼎爭論的真正價值在于,它顯示出宗族治理社會的模式行將崩潰,立法者的身份亟需重新界定,法令適用群體亟需超越宗族范圍,此時宗族禮器及其銘文無法承載更多的社會功能。這是法律治理模式的轉變問題,而不是成文法律首次制定或公布的問題。宗族法令時代將結束,集權律令時代將到來,這才是鑄刑鼎爭議產生的原因,而鑄刑鼎事件本身與法律公開問題并無關聯。

Research on Eastern and Western Zhou bronze inscriptions shows that up to the Spring and Autumn period,the inscriptions on ritual vessels marked family and clan characteristics,and this was also true of inscriptions recording written law.The function of the tripod dingand the nature of such inscriptions changed in the Warring States Period due to changes in the structure of social organization.Confucius’ opposition to casting ding bearing penal regulations,recorded in the Zuozhuan,occurred just before this upheaval.In discussing the issue of casting such dingin the Spring and Autumn period,we need to understand the true implications against the background of this controversy.After the Warring States period,the nature of bronze inscriptions became more popular and down to earth,and legal inscriptions unrelated to family and clan became the norm.Thus,when scholars annotated the Zuozhuanin middle antiquity,they analyzed it in terms of their own age,misinterpreting the significance of the ancient writings.The real value of the controversy over casting ding bearing penal regulations in the Spring and Autumn period lies in its demonstration of the decay of the model of clan governance in society.Lawmakers’ identity urgently needed to be redefined,and groups applying the law needed to go beyond the bounds of family and clan.Ritual vessels and their inscriptions could no longer perform multiple social functions.This was a question of changes to the model of legal governance,not of the first issuance or promulgation of written law.The imminent end of the age of clan law and the coming of age of centralized law are the reasons for the controversy over casting ding bearing penal regulations;the controversy bears no relation to the promulgation of written law.