清末法律改革中的警察法制(1902—1911)

The Police Law in the Legal Reform of the Late Qing Dynasty(1902-1911)

警察法制作为法制体系的一部分,是在清末法律改革中第一次进入中国的。在中国法走向近代的改革中,警察法制的出现开启了内政的法制建设,是对当时社会现实的实际回应。十年间取得的一系列成果,不仅是一种努力向近代转型的政治法律理想,更是尝试解决内忧外患的法制努力。清末警察法从传统上职能不清的国家统治权力中分离出了警察的基本权力,也确立了以法定警察职权为核心内容的近代多层次警察法体系。其不仅是在中华传统的政制话语中完成了警察在内政领域从零到一的突破,也同样是中国本土因素推动下的一次法制近代化的尝试。清末警察法制改革的局限性也是显而易见的:没有真正确立法治主义,过度依赖法律移植以及对警察采取工具主义的态度等。这些因素决定了清末警察法制改革不可能成功。

Police law became part of China’s legal system since the legal reform in the late Qing Dynasty.In the modernization of Chinese law,police law promoted the legal construction of internal affairs to respond to the social reality at that time.Its ten-year development was a political and legal ideal for efforts to transform into modern legal system,but also an endeavour to solve internal and external problems.Police law in the late Qing Dynasty separated the police’s basic power from the traditional state dominion,and established a modern multi-level police law system with legitimate police power as its core.Police law was not only the symbol of the breakthrough for police in internal affairs,but also an attempt to modernize the legal system driven by Chinese local factors.However,the police legal reform in the late Qing Dynasty did not succeed due to its evident limitations:no real establishment of the rule of law,excessive dependence on legal transplants,and an instrumentalist attitude towards police.