在法律的边缘——部分外地来京工商户经营执照中的“法律合谋”

At the Margins of Law: The “Legal Conspiracy” of Some Rural-Urban Migrant Businessmen in Beijing

基于一系列的经验调查,本文考察为什么外地来京工商户没有遵守有关执照方面的限制性规定,特别是为什么他们倾向于向当地人租用执照。本文认为法律缺乏合法性确实使外地工商户在决定是否守法时更多地考虑功利因素。但更为重要的是,本地的商业机构、执法人员、相关管理部门因为他们自身的利益不可分割地纠缠于其中。整个法律运作过程成为一个平衡各方利益的均衡。这个个案因而刻画了一幅法律是如何影响人们行为的更为复杂的图景。

Based on in-depth interview materials, this article examines why most rural-urban migrant businessmen in Beijing do not fully comply with a discriminatory license requirement, and in particular, why they prefer license-renting from the locals. This article suggests that the lack of legitimacy of the law in this case does add weight to instrumental considerations. But more importantly, this license renting practice seems to be reinforced and sustained institutionally by local businesses, law enforcement officers, and the local authorities, because their interests are inextricably intertwined in it. The whole situation constitutes a general equilibrium through which various interests are balanced. This case study thus paints a far more complicated picture of the law's impact on people's behaviour than usually assumed.