英国宪政传统的历史成因

The Formation of the Constitutionalism Tradition in England

英国早在盎格鲁 -撒克逊时代就滋生了“王在法下”的法治传统和政治协商传统的最初萌芽。诺曼征服后 ,在强大王权和贵族联合势力大致平衡的力量对比条件下 ,封建法历史地充当了推动法治传统成长的“不自觉工具”。随后形成的普通法以其特有的判例法形式、相对独立的法庭组织、司法职业化以及富有理性的审判方法 ,进一步巩固了英国法治传统的制度基础。与此同时 ,古代的政治协商传统发展到了具有一定代议性质的政治协商新阶段。到中世纪末 ,以普通法制度和议会制度为支柱的宪政传统在英国确立起来。总而言之 ,促成英国宪政传统形成的根本原因还在于国家和社会的适度紧张关系与相对均衡结构。

As early as the period of Anglo-Saxon the tradition of rule of law that the king had to also obey law and the political consultation tradition had been in embryo. Given the social structure of the roughly balance between the powerful Crown and the Baron alliance after Norman Conquest, the Feudal Law acted as “conscientious tool” which pushed the tradition of rule of law to develop historically, The following Common law, which had its special case law form, relatively independent law courts, judiciary professionalism and reasonable trial method, made the institutional foundation of the English tradition of rule of law stronger, At the same time, the ancient political consultation was developed to a new political consultation stage that had some representative kind. In short, the basic reason of the facilitating British constitutionalism tradition lies in the tense relation moderately and relative balance of power structure between the state and society,