本文以刘瑾罚米法为例考察刘瑾专权与赎罪制度二者的关系。明代赎罪制度建立初衷是“以济法之太重” ,降低对犯罪者的刑罚。刘瑾专权时滥用赎罪制度 ,以罚米法的形式大肆处罚朝臣 ,一方面固然是出于当时国库空虚的客观需要 ,体现了罚米法佐国缓急的功能。另外又成为刘瑾打击正直朝臣的手段之一。罚米法行用过程中挟带索贿及罚米所获部分落入此辈手中 ,因此 ,罚米法也是刘瑾辈贪污的渠道之一。 This article takes Liu Jin’s penalty law as an example to examine the relationship between Liu Jin’s privilege and the system of Atonement. The original intention of the atonement system in the Ming Dynasty was “too much by the economic law” to reduce the penalty to the perpetrators. At the time of authorizing Liu Jin, he abused the system of atonement and abused him in the form of a penalty law. On the one hand, it was out of the objective need of the state treasury at that time, which reflected the priority of punishment in the law of rice and law. In addition, it became one of the means by which Liu Jin hit the courtiers honestly. Penalties with law enforcement in the process of taking bribes and part of the penalty falls into the hands of this generation, therefore, penalty meter method is one of the channels of Liu Jin generation of corruption.