The Eight Deliberations were established by the Cao Wei dynasty during the Three Kingdoms period and originated from similar regulations in the Rites of Zhou.
These suggested that criminals qualified under the following eight conditions could be considered for a commutation of sentence: The earliest records of the whole set of Eight Deliberations existing nowadays can be found in the Tang Code, with its Article 7 exactly entitled the same name.
According to it, permission from the emperor was required before any kind of interrogation or judgement could be carried out towards the offenders of the legally favored categories.
Deliberation for Ability (simplified Chinese: 议能; traditional Chinese: 議能; pinyin: Yì Néng) included people of great talent, able to lead armies, manage the affairs of government, correct the course of the emperor, and serve as a model for human relationships.
Deliberation for Diligence (simplified Chinese: 议勤; traditional Chinese: 議勤; pinyin: Yì Qín) included military and civil officials who have displayed great diligence in their work through thorough occupation of public affairs or experiencing dangerous difficulties.