唐代的伍保制，源自先秦的軍法運坐，繼受秦漢魏晉南北朝之遺規，以維護地方 制序，建立集體安全網絡，鞏固統治權威為目標。然因該制之連防互保，出於官府的強制規 定，而非人民的自由意願，故其要求與懲處，終不脫苛酷的一面。五家互保的伍保制，是唐 代最基層的地方制度，史料上「四家為鄰」的「鄰」，僅指方位、地界上的相鄰關係，並非 在伍保制下另有一稱為「鄰」的組織。伍保制的成員，主要是一般民戶年十六歲以上之男夫 ，老小疾及婦女並不承擔責任，而官人之家、僧道之徒與賤民階層，原則上亦不列入。唯中 晚唐因政治社會情勢複雜，政府往往於要緊時刻，另行組織團保、保社等，以彌補伍保之不 足。伍保制的傳統功能，主要是警政治安，政府要求其查核戶藉，糾告逐捕盜賊等責任，以 防盜禁奸。伍保制的功能，隨後也向財經方面擴大，如代耕逃棄田、代輸稅賦、防止經濟犯 罪等。伍保有時也具司法認證功能，但這基本上只是警政事務的延續。做為地方基層的伍保 制，並不負責債務擔保，只是債務保人可能就是伍保制中人。

　　　　　The wu-pao system 伍保制 in the T'ang dynasty originated from the military talion, and influenced by regulations of the Ch'in, Han, Wei, Chin, and the Northern-Southern Dynasties aiming to maintain local order and establish group safety network, and secure the judicial authority. Nonetheless, the allied defense and mutual protection under that system stemmed from the officials' mandatory regulations, not from the people's free will. Thus the demands and punishments were usually cruel. The wu-pao system called for guarantee among five households, and was a most elementary form of the local system in the T'ang dynasty, while there was no so-called lin 鄰 structure beneath it. The wu-pao system primarily consisted of men of at least 16 years of age in general civilian households, and women, elders, children, and the diseased were excluded from it. However, during the middle and late T'ang, owing to complicated social and political situations, the government often at critical moments set up t'uan-pao 團保, pao-she 保社 and the like to compensate the deficiency of the wu-pao system. The traditional function of the wu-pao system lay primarily in maintaining social order, while the government demanded it to engage in activities for verifying household records, prosecuting and arresting criminals and thieves. The functions of the wu-pao system had later expanded into the domain of state finance and economy, such as cultivating the escapees' farmalands, apying taxes on the escapees' account, preventing financial swindling, etc. In addition, at the occurrence of a judicial case, the members of that system might be required to testify. But the system used at the local elementary level did not serve the guarantee of liabilities, yet the liability guarantors might have been those from the wu-pao system.