“高墙”不是墙,是明代建于中都用于囚禁犯罪宗室的特殊监狱。这样的监狱在中国数千年封建社会史上是绝无仅有的,在法制史上也占有特殊的地位。然而,对于历史上持续了二百多年的高墙,史籍中的记载一直是语焉不详,我们有必要根据一些零散的史料将其勾勒出一个大概的轮廓。 The “high wall” is not a wall and is a special prison built in the Ming Dynasty to captivity criminals. Such prisons are unique in China’s history of feudal society for thousands of years and occupy a special place in the history of legal history. However, for the high walls that have lasted for more than 200 years in history, the records in historical records have always been absent. We need to sketch out a rough outline based on some scattered historical materials.