中世纪西欧的城市特许状

The City Charters of Medieval Western Europe

中世纪西欧的城市特许状是国王或大封建主颁发给城市和市民的一种法律意义上的权利认可证书。它的出现是中世纪西欧封建经济发展和社会历史发展的必然结果,其内容主要是确认城市的自治权和其他特权,明确市民享有的各项自由、各种经济和法律上的特权等等。它在本质上是一种"特别授权"的法律,是近代资本主义宪政制度的起源和基础。它不仅促进了中世纪西欧城市和商品经济的发展,而且也促进了整个西欧封建经济的发展,从而推动了西欧封建社会向近代社会的转型。

The city charter of medieval Western Europe is one kind of legal right certificate granted to the cities and the citizens by Kings and Feudal lords in the Middle Ages. As the inevitable result of the development of feudal economy and social history in medieval Western Europe, the contents of city charter mainly confirmed the autonomies and other privileges of the cities, defining all kinds of liberties, economic and legal privileges among others that the citizens enjoyed. In essence, it is a law ＂Specially Granted＂, which is the origin and foundation of the constitutional institution of the modern capitalist constitutionalism. It has not only promoted the development of the Western European cities and commodity economy in the Middle Ages, but also boosted the development of the whole feudal economy of Western Europe, which has effectively promoted the transition of the medieval Western Europe, from feudal society to modern society.