中、德、美三国法学教育比较研究

A Comparative Study of Judicial Education in China, Germany and USA

在西方,德国是大陆法系国家的代表,美国是判例法系国家的代表。德国法学教育注重学术性和系统性,强调法学思维方式的培养,法学教育的目的是奠定理论基础,是对法律的科学研究,其独特的人才培养方式造就了一代又一代享有国际声望的法学大家;美国法学教育是培养律师的职业教育,法学教育注重社会实践和技能培训,培养和造就了一批杰出的政治领袖和律师,对美国的法治建设功不可没。中国法学教育的特点与大陆法系国家接近,实行统一司法考试制度更使得中国的法学教育与法律职业培训近似于大陆法系国家的体制。研究德、美法学教育的特点,对我国的法学教育和司法体制改革有着重要的借鉴意义。

In the West, the USA is the representative of case law countries, while Germany represents the civil law countries. In terms of nature, the two legal systems have quite different orientations and features. In Germany, judicial education focuses on academic and systematic aspects and emphasizes the development of students' way of thinking. In this sense, judicial education in Germany is aimed at laying a theoretical basis by means of scientific research. Such a unique system of judicial education has cultivated generations of world famous jurisprudents and scholars. Law schools in the USA offer a kind of vocational education for training lawyers, with emphasis on social practice and training of skills, and have trained a large number of outstanding political leaders and lawyers, who have made great contributions to the construction of legal system in the USA. Similar to those civil law countries, China adopts the system of national unified examination for judicial qualifications. Therefore, a study of the features of judicial education in Germany and the USA is of valuable significance for the development of judicial education and for the reform of judicial system in China.