This study examines the typology of the legal manuscripts excavated from Zhangjiashan Tomb No. 336—specifically the Gongling (功令) and Hanlü Shiliuzhang (漢律十六章)—while providing a foundational analysis of their textual and contextual characteristics. By investigating archaeological and contextual data, this paper reconstructs the local setting of the tomb and infers the social status of its occupant. Through a rigorous examination of textual evidence—including palaeography, modes of transcription, patterns of transmission, and the circumstances of deposition—it elucidates how these legal texts were produced, revised, and ultimately interred. The findings suggest that these manuscripts were functional administrative tools actively utilized during the tomb occupant’s lifetime. The Gongling was compiled through successive editorial stages by more than five scribes between the late reign of Empress Lü and the early reign of Emperor Wen, exhibiting continuous revisions and additions for contemporary administrative exigencies. The Hanlü Shiliuzhang, while largely overlapping with the Ernian Lüling (二年律令), contains several newly inserted or revised clauses in distinct hands, reflecting legislative amendments enacted after Emperor Wen’s accession. These texts remained valid until approximately the second year of Emperor Wen’s reign (178 B.C.), about five years prior to the tomb’s construction in 173 B.C. Consequently, they represent personal working manuscripts selected for burial, offering one of the most definitive archaeological examples of legal documents used by active officials in the early Western Han period.
Jaewon Keum (2025) studied this question.