中国传统法律文化中的宪政资源

Constitutional Government Resource in Traditional Chinese Law Culture

宪政的根本精神就是对权力的限制。中国传统法律文化中存在着大量限制君主权力的宪政因子,如法律理论、先例习惯以及祖宗家法、先皇故事等。这些因素某种程度上起着与西方宪政学说中的"限制权力"理论相类似的作用,是传统法律文化中可资利用的宪政资源。中国本土没有生发出宪政的制度,根本原因不在于中国传统法律文化当中没有宪政的因素,而在于传统中国没有出现适宜宪政基因生长发育的"生态环境"。

The basic spirit of constitutional government is to restrict the power. In traditional Chinese law culture, there exist a lot of factors restricting monarchic power. For instance： law theory, habit, family rule in a feudal household, case of predecessor emperor, etc. The effect of these factors is similar to the constitutional government theory in the western countries and resources that should be made use of. China gave no birth to constitutional government system, not because traditional Chinese law culture bears no constitutional government factors, but because there was no suitable eco-environment to constitutional government gene in traditional China.