从执法个案到一般理论:法学研究方法论反思

From Individual Law Enforcement Cases to the General Theory:Methodological Reflections on Legal Studies

传统行政执法的研究依赖规范分析方法,从规则到个案,将执法个案置于行政处罚、行政强制等行政行为概念体系中予以规范考察。这一研究方法对现实执法运行逻辑的分析过于抽象,难以有效解释发生在具体复杂社会场域中的执法运作。然而,如果从执法个案出发,则面临的最大困难是从个案中如何提炼出具有足够解释力的观点、命题、一般理论。深入分析一起交通执法的个案可以发现,空间、本土、组织、微观权力等因素可以嵌入执法个案,并在具体执法环节中发挥作用。为此,可从执法个案的嵌入因素和作用机制出发,抽象出普遍性的执法理论,并最终找到解释执法的一般性工具。从执法个案到一般理论,是理论与实践互动的关联过程,理解执法个案需要沿着“观察个案——分析经验性事实——寻找概念——比较和对照——发现一般理论”的科学研究路线展开。

The traditional research into administrative law enforcement relies on methods of analyzing norms,proceeding from rules to individual cases,and making normative examination by incorporating individual cases into the concept system of administrative acts such as administrative penalty and administrative enforcement.This research method is too abstract for the analysis of the actual law enforcement operation logic,and it is difficult to effectively explain the law enforcement operations that occur in specific and complex social contexts.However,if the process is started from individual law enforcement cases,the biggest difficulty is how to extract viewpoints,propositions and the general theory which enjoy sufficient explanatory power from such cases.It is found from an indepth analysis of a traffic law enforcement case that factors such as space,locality,organization and micro-power can be embedded in the law enforcement case and play a role in specific links of the law enforcement.Therefore,it is advisable to abstract the universal theory on law enforcement from the factors embedded in individual law enforcement cases and their action mechanisms,and finally find out a general tool to explain law enforcement.From individual law enforcement cases to the general theory,it is a process of interaction between theory and practice.For understanding individual law enforcement cases,it is necessary to follow the scientific research route of"observing individual cases,analyzing empirical facts,finding out concepts,comparing and contrasting,and discovering the general theory".