民国时期司法职员的薪俸问题

The Salary of Judicial Officials during the Period of 1912 to 1949

司法职员的薪俸被认为直接关系到司法独立,研究者甚多。普遍认为民国时期司法职员薪俸偏低,并将其视为斯时司法未能独立的重要原因。实际上,与享受国家薪俸的其他政府部门职员相比,至少从官等俸级之制度设定这一角度观察,司法职员薪俸并不低下,加上司法部门名目繁多的"法收",其待遇应属差强人意。尽管国家对司法部门财政投入不多,却没有厚此薄彼。不能领取十足薪俸并遭遇货币贬值,实际生活水准下降,是政府各部门职员面临的共同困境,并非司法职员的特殊际遇。民国时期司法不能独立的根本原因,在于军阀及国民政府对司法的肆意干扰,离开这一方向去探究,显然不得要领。

A lot of researches have been done on the salary of judicial officials for it is considered to have a direct relationship with judicial independence. It is generally agreed among the researchers that the salary of judicial officials in the period of the Republic of China was comparatively low and may thus serve as an important reason of the failure of judicial independence at that time. In fact, the salary of judicial officials was not so low when compared with other government officials who also received national salary-or at least not so low according to the setting of salary hierarchy among officials. Moreover, the judicial department also enjoyed various channels of income so their status should be acceptable. Although the country did not invest a lot in judicial department, it was not partial. Unable to guarantee adequate salary, encountering the devaluation and suffering from a degrading living standard were difficulties faced not only by judicial officials, but also by all government officials. The root cause of the failure of judicial independence in the period lies in the arbitrary interferences of administration of justice by warlords and national government. If the research is not based on this orientation, one should fail to grasp the main points of this issue.