多元并存与分权制衡:古罗马社会结构政制机制初探

Constitutional Pluralism and Counterbalancing of Power: A Study of Ancient Roman Social Construction and Political Mechanism

所有中国与西方的政制区别根源在积习已久的古代。古罗马政制的特点是国王和元老来自三个而不是一个特权皇族部落。王权自古软弱,从未形成金字塔似的朝廷机构。民间长期存在独立自治组织,阶级斗争曾一度盛行非暴力不合作而不是血腥革命。共和国设置多个议会和并列官职分享国家最高权力。双监察官地位显赫。保民官不仅不是朝廷命官,反而是为保护平民利益专门监督和对抗各级官吏的。法律不能由贵族政府单方面制订,而平民法却可以兼具国法效力。

All the modern differences between China and the West derived from their underlying distinctions in the ancient constitutions. In the ancient Rome, the rexes and senators came from three tribes, not a privileged one; The kingship was weak and Romans never established a pyramid - like court; there existed some independent autonomous organizations for a long time; The plebeians struggle against patricians with the non-violent and uncooperative actions like ＂secessions＂ rather than the bloody revolutions; Setting up diversified councils and offices in dual collegiate system in the early Republic to share state＇s powers for ＂checks and balances＂; The two censors were top officials instead of president; The plebeian tribunes were not appointed by the Senate, instead, their main responsibilities were to safeguard the interests of the plebeians and fend off the Roman official encroachments; The patricians government could not set up any laws unilaterally, but the plebiscitum （plebeian laws） used to be the national laws.