This Article examines rules of procedure and process that structure the Buddhist legal system in the Theravāda tradition, the dominant tradition of Buddhism in South and Southeast Asia. Drawing on important Buddhist texts written in Pāli as well as evidence from monastic legal practices in contemporary Sri Lanka, it argues that one can find within the Theravāda tradition a robust body of what H.L.A. Hart would call “secondary rules,” which determine how monks ought to apply prohibitions, manage disputes, and administer sanctions. These include detailed guidelines for making accusations, classifying legal cases, conducting hearings, settling disputes, examining litigants, evaluating evidence and witness testimony, appealing cases, prescribing penalties, and rehabilitating offenders. While these rules share similarities with other systems of state and religious law, Buddhist “rules about rules” not only ensure that disputes are settled properly but that the process of legal action itself both reflects and engenders favorable moral dispositions among monks. Underscoring both the similarities and differences between Buddhist law and other legal systems, this Article invites non-specialists to look (again) at the importance of Buddhist law—one of the oldest and most wide-spread systems of nonstate law—for the broader field of comparative legal studies, from which it has been largely absent.

中文翻译：

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关于规则的佛教规则：（上座部）佛教法律体系中的程序和过程

本文探讨了在南亚和东南亚佛教的主要传统上座部传统中构建佛教法律体系的程序和程序规则。借鉴巴利文的重要佛教文献以及当代斯里兰卡寺院法律实践的证据，它认为人们可以在上座部传统中找到 HLA Hart 所谓的“次要规则”的强大主体，它决定了僧侣应该如何实施禁令、管理纠纷和实施制裁。其中包括关于提出指控、对法律案件进行分类、举行听证会、解决纠纷、审查诉讼当事人、评估证据和证人证词、上诉案件、规定处罚和改造罪犯的详细指南。虽然这些规则与其他国家和宗教法律体系有相似之处，但佛教的“规则规则”不仅确保争端得到妥善解决，而且法律行动的过程本身既反映并产生了僧侣中有利的道德倾向。本文强调佛教法律与其他法律制度的异同，邀请非专业人士（再次）审视佛教法律（最古老、最广泛传播的非国家法律制度之一）对于更广泛领域的重要性比较法律研究，它在很大程度上是缺席的。