中国法律史叙事中的“判例”

"Precedent" in the Narrative of Chinese Legal History

中国法律史叙事中,以西方概念体系为基本框架的填充式方法,值得深入反思。中外学者关注的"判例"堪为典型。这一近代概念很可能来自日文汉字,用以迻译西文。回顾西欧英、法两国的历史和现实,判例作为以个案方式凝聚法律群体共识、指引未来案件裁决的形式,始终具有重要作用。这一功能,与中国古代法中的相关制度有部分共通之处,可以成为构建普适理论体系的基础之一;同时,中国的相关制度具有特定的体制背景和功能。将普适功能与特定功能相结合,"双向功能主义"可能可以避免西方中心和概念纠结,转向功能性问题的探讨和解释,以逐步构建中国法律史叙事的新框架。

The traditional way of describing the history of Chinese law,i.e.,fitting Chinese historical materials into the basic framework of the Western conceptual system,needs to be thoroughly reconsidered.'Precedent,' which has attracted academic attention both in China and abroad,can serve as an example in this regard.This concept,which may have originated from Japanese kanji in the nineteenth century,was used to translate its Western counterpart.A review of the historical and modern practice of the Western European countries of England and France shows that precedent has always played an important role in achieving a legal community consensus and guiding future rulings by means of case law.This function,which has something in common with the relevant portions of ancient Chinese legal institutions,can serve as a foundation for constructing a universal theoretical system.At the same time,the relevant Chinese institutions had specific institutional contexts and functions.By combining universal and specific functional analysis,'two-way functionalism' may be able to avoid the Western-centric approach and futile conceptual discrimination and turn towards the exploration and elucidation of functional issues,so as to eventually establish a new framework for the narrative of Chinese legal history.