司法主权与领事裁判权——晚清司法改革动因分析

Judicial Sovereignty and Consular Jurisdiction:an Analysis of Dynamic Factors of Judicial Reform in the Late Qing Dynasty

在中国近代历史发展过程中起主导作用的因素是西方文化的广泛入侵。从朝贡制度到条约制度的演变,就是这个过程的一个缩影。鸦片战争后逐步形成的条约制度下的领事裁判权制度是近代中国沦为半殖民地社会的历史产物,是中外不平等条约的司法表现。晚清司法改革的根本目的是企望通过修律新政以期挽救行将就终的晚清皇权统治,但其直接动因乃是肇始于收回因西方列强入侵而逐步形成的领事裁判权,从而维护固有的司法主权。这是一个颇为值得玩味的法权历史现象。

In the development of Chinese modem history, the widely invasion of western culture played a leading role. The evolution from the tributary system to the treaty system is a miniature of the process. After the Opium War, the consular jurisdiction system gradually formed under the treaty system is a historical product which made modem China transformed into a semi - colonial society, which is the judicial representation of unequal treaties signed between China and foreign countries. The basic purpose of the judicial reform in the late Qing Dynasty was trying to save the dying imperial sovereignty of the Dynasty, however the direct reason of it began from the recovery of consular jurisdiction after the Opium War, so as to maintain the state＇ s inherent judicial sovereignty, which is a historical legal phenomenon worthy of pondering.