"乡下锣鼓乡下敲"——中国农村基层法官在法与情理之间的沟通策略

"Follow the Local Rule" --Rural Judges' Strategies for Negotiation between Law and Qingli

"情理"之干中国人,不仅是一种行为模式,而且是一种正义观。农村基层法官在审判过程中经常遭遇法与情理的冲突。为了防止矛盾激化,法官不得不在法与情理之间采取沟通策略:在具体案件中利用情理地方性知识,采取当事人容易接受的语言与行为进行说服,甚至用非正式的方式操作法定制度,用法官的话说就是"乡下锣鼓乡下敲",其实质是把审判的合法性转化为道德上的合理性,从而使审判获得当事人和社会的承认。出现这种现象的深层原因在于:中国社会中的法律与政治分化程度低下,司法往往成为政治过程。

For Chinese, qingli (reasonableness) is not only the mode of social action, but also a notion of social justice. To prevent the acuteness of social conflicts, the rural judges have to make a strategic balance between law and qingli. In particular cases, knowledge of local custom will be employed to persuade the parties in a way acceptable for indigenes. They even apply law in an unofficial way, so called 'follow the local rule' , in a judge's words. The legality of the judgement is thus translated into legitimacy, so that the judgement can be accepted both by the parties and the public. The hidden reason of these phenomena lies in the fact that the polarization of the law and the politics in Chinese society is in low degree, and the judicial activity often becomes a political course.