The comprehensive legal spirit of the Han era was given its fullest development under the prime minister Dong Zhongshu, a Confucianist who served in the reign of the emperor Wu Di. He required that every legal decision be accompanied by an explanation. Moreover, drawing on the essence of classics such as the Spring and Autumn Annals, he introduced a consciousness of the value of the human individual into the law.
漢代整體法令精神，在武帝時代董仲舒任宰相時發展的更完善，由於他要求每個案例怎麼判定都應加以分析，並援引《春秋》等經典精義解讀，法律也因此具有對人性價值的自覺。