So far，there exist four editions of the texts．

    1．in the archaelogical journal Wenwu for l976，issues 6，7 and 8，entitled 云梦睡虎地释文. The texts -without the mantic texts- are transcribed in modern，abbreviated characters；they are not numbered，nor annotated；there are no photographs．

    2．in a folio slipcover，containing seven stitched fascicles，Chinese style．entitled睡虎地秦墓竹筒, (Peking，Wen-wu ch’u-pan-she，1977)．This publication contains the full-size photographs of the legal and administrative texts and of the prose writings (but again without the mantic texts)，their transcription into modern，abbreviated characters，and some brief annotations．This edition (as well as edition no．4) indicates the division of the texts into strips，which are provided with numbers．

    3．in a paper—back，small in-8 edition，published in 1978 under the same title and by the same publishers as edition no．2．This edition contains only a few photographs of the strips by way of illustration，but，beside the transcription into modern，abbreviated characters，it has much fuller notes than edition no．2，and it provides a full translation into modern Chinese．The mantic texts are here again excluded；furthermore，in the transcription the division of the text into strips is not indicated．

    4．in a large in-8 edition，where the strips form part of the archaeological report on the excavation of all the Ch’in tombs in the area, compiled under the auspices of the Hu-bei Provincial Museum，and entitled 云梦睡虎地秦墓(Peking，Wen-wu ch’u-pan-she，198l)．This publication includes photographs of all the texts，including the mantic ones，and their transcription into traditional characters，but no notes nor a translation．As mentioned above，this edition attaches numbers to the strips，but these are different from those in edition no．2!

   In the following translation，every article is headed by indications enabling the reader to find the Chinese text in the four editions listed above：abbreviations have been used as follows：

    W 7 and W 8，followed by a number and the letter a or b，indicate Wenwu 1976／7 and 8，the page number，and the left or the right-hand column．W 7．1 a therefore indicates page l，the 1eft-hand column，in Wenwg 1976／7．

    S，followed by a Roman numeral，indicates the seven fascicles of the folio edition；the following figures，accompanied by a or b，indicate the page and its recto or verso．The fascicles I and II contain the photographs, whereas III-VII contain the transcription and the notes．SI．10a and S III．22a therefore indicate that the photograph is to be found on page l0 recto of fascicle and the transcription on P．22 recto of fascicle III．

    SS followed by a figure indicates the in-8 paperback and its pages．

    CM indicates the archaeological report of the Hu-bei Provincial Museum．

    str．followed by a figure indicates the number of the strip, of which there are two：the first is the number assigned to the strips in the folio edition，the second，placed between brackets，is that provided by the archaeological report．

    Because I expect that readers will have more easy access to the journal Wenwu than the other publication,I have followed the order in which the laws and regulations have been published in that journal．This order differs sometimes from that in the other publications．but the references inserted in the heading of each article and the finding 1ist should allow easy consultation of all editions．

    The groups A-E into which the texts are divided, are divisions adopted by the editors，mainly based on the position of the strips in the coffin．The titles of these groups were partly invented by the editors (A，C and D)，whereas those of B and E are original．To these five groups I have added groups F and G．

    I have tried to make the translation correspond with the contents of each strip and to be as literal as possible：whenever this leads to a certain stiffness, I hope that this will not be held against me．In this connection I should note that I have recently been told that my rendering of tang 当 by“warranted：warranting”，is contrary to correct English usage．However，I have not corrected this．Perhaps this unidiomatic expression will remind the reader that tang basically means“to be equivalent：to outweigh：to counterbalance”，in the sense that the negative effect of the crime is neutralized by the punishment．In theory，it is the crime which is tang, and not the criminal；this meaning would not come out clearly if tang had been rendered as“to deserve：to merit”，both words with moral overtones which are wholly absent in the Chinese term．

    In my annotation I have tried to be as complete as possible．It goes without saying that the notes in the folio volume and especially the much richer remarks in the in-8 paperback have been of enormous help to me．but the editors often proved to have been too hasty and too easily satisfied with dictionary explanations．In many cases it was therefore necessary to go back ad fontes and this has inevitably led to long excursions，for which I again crave the reader’s indulgence．

    These texts contain a great many loan characters, as has been duly noted by the editors．However，they not unfrequently fail to produce convincing arguments to support their suggestions regarding the words actually intended．In order to uphold or to refute these suggestions I have constantly referred to Bernhard Karlgren’s‘‘Grammata serica recensa’’and to his "Loan characters in Pre．Han Chinese texts"．although I am well aware that his reconstructions of Archaic Chinese have been severely criticized．There was no other way，because so far no scholar -- Chinese，Japanese or Western -- has been able to arrive at a consistent and complete reconstruction of the pronunciation of Han time Chinese．

    As mentioned above, the present collection is far from being the complete Ch’in code，being only a selection made for the day to day use of a subordinate official．This official’s main task appear fo have concerned labour，performed both by free labour-conscripts fulfilling their periodical turn of duty and by hard-labour convicts，  the management and control of government granaries and the distribution of the grain stored there．The presence of the judicial material is explained by this official's duty of trying criminal suits, but it's disappointing to observe that this material is far from presenting us with at least part of the penal legislation．For，whereas the nearly two hundred administrative rules are without exception complete articles from numerous statutes，mentioned by the title，the judicial material，although as voluminous as the administrative rules，consists merely of explanations of terms and phrases，with only
sometimes a quotation from a penal statute，of which the title is never indicated．

    The administrative texts mention the titles of at least twenty-eight statutes, namely the eighteen statutes of group A and ten tatutes recorded in group C．The former are listed in the table of contents，whereas the latter are found in Cl，3，4，9，lO，16，20，22，24 and 25．To these should be added the titles of statutes referred to in passing：in A 16 the fan-ming lu犯命律，in A 56 and 88 the chi-lu 齐律，in A 87 the 平罪人律，in A 108 the辟律．Curiously enough，hardly any of these titles agree with those of known Han statutes or ordinances．

In many articles there are references to“the statutes”without further details about their contents，like e．g．，in A 64，which lays down that Controllers of works were "to be sentenced according to the Statutes" when submitting wrong estimates．The opposite phenomenon appears in the penal material sembled in group D，where complete stipulations as well as isolated terms or phrases are quoted without indicating the title of the statute to which they belonged．Perhaps this was the Statute on Robbery，tao lu盗律，known in the Han period，but never mentioned in the present texts．However this may be, complete passages from the penal statutes are found in forty-one articles．Namely -- D 1，l7-2l，25，26，4l-43，52，56，(cf. 59)，58，65，75，79，80，87，88，9l，92，96，10l，105，108，1 18，126，136，139，141-143，148，149，156-159，163．These passage allow us some insight into the judicial thinking as well as into the penal system in force in the 3rd century before our era，and perhaps even earlier．