Dali Temple is an important official sign in ancient times, which specializes in hearing prison cases. Equivalent to the Supreme People's Court, it is the highest legal institution in the country. During the Qin and Han Dynasties, Ting Wei was in charge of handling cases. The punishment at that time was mainly based on the law revised by Shang Yang's political reform. Later, with the development of society, the law also changed. Because the Han dynasty followed the Qin system, so did the law. During the reign of Emperor Jing of Han Dynasty, Tingwei changed its name to Dali Temple until the Northern and Southern Dynasties. The signature of Dali temple, as an official who sentenced the prison case.

Dali means the prison of heavenly officials and nobles, so the people who can be escorted into prison by Dali Temple inspection are definitely not ordinary officials. However, if Dali Temple wants to handle a case, it must be reported to the Ministry of Punishment for review. If you encounter a major case, it is often a joint trial by three departments. The so-called three departments refer to Dali Temple, the Ministry of Punishment and the Ministry of Imperial History. Although the final decision is made by the crime department, if the temple disagrees, it must be reported to the emperor, who will make the decision himself. During the Ming and Qing Dynasties, three judicial institutions were responsible for hearing major cases. The three major judicial organs are Dali Temple, the Ministry of Punishment and the imperial court.

Although the status of Dali Temple is not particularly high, it can still participate in political discussions. The main duty of Dali Temple is to examine cases all over the country. Every year, national cases are regularly sent to Dali Temple for review, so the work of Dali Temple is not easy. Dali Temple must reject any conviction that deviates from the law. If there is injustice, we must explain the situation in detail, not frame the innocent. At first, some local officials had too much judicial power and held the power of life and death, which led some people to use their power to continue to create unjust, false and wrong cases. Later, in order to check and balance the power of these officials and reduce unjust, false and misjudged cases, Dali Temple was established to review all kinds of cases and prevent the occurrence of unjust, false and misjudged cases.

The punishment is decided by the criminal department, and all inspectors are supervisors. Dali Temple has the ability to refute this punishment. As long as the punishments don't agree with Dali Temple's statement, they can refute it, so that the case can only be handed over to the emperor and decided by him. In the era when the emperor was supreme, this system was relatively sound, but if the emperor was a bad king, then the legal system would definitely be broken. Although the ancient legal system was maintained by the so-called three divisions, it was the emperor who really had the decision.