三刺之法

西周時期處理疑難案件的法律程序。處理疑難案件應當一問群臣、二問群吏、三問萬民，之后再按照大家意見，決定對罪犯加重或減輕刑罰，以免造成冤假錯案。“三刺之法”是古代慎刑思想的生動體現。

The term refers to a legal procedure for handling difficult and complex cases in the Western Zhou Dynasty. In handling such cases， the court should interrogate three groups of people， namely ministers ，officials， and commoners. Their opinions were then summarized to decide on the appropriate punishment， so as to avoid miscarriage of justice. The procedure is a vivid embodiment of prudential punishment thought in ancient China.

引例 Citation：

◎ 以三刺斷庶民獄訟之中：一曰訊群臣，二曰訊群吏，三曰訊萬民。

（《周禮 · 秋官 · 小司寇》）

（通過三次訊問來使對平民訴訟的審斷正確無誤：一是訊問群臣，二是訊問群吏，三是訊問民眾。）

In hearing cases involving ordinary people， the court should conduct interrogations of three groups， namely ministers， officials and the public， to ensure correctness of judgment.（The Rites of Zhou）

（本欄目文章摘自教育部、國家語委重大工程“中華思想文化術語傳播工程”項目。）