中国古代权威秩序中的法统——一个结构与功能的分析

Legal Authority in Ancient Chinese Authority Order:a Structural and Functional Analysis

中国古代社会的大一统秩序,是由政统、道统、法统、社统等四个子系统共构而成的权威秩序。在此共构的大系统中,政统发挥着整合的功能,在整个权威秩序中居于主导地位;法统得到政统的支撑,体现道统的价值理念,在国家公共领域建立强制性的规范秩序,在社统区域维持最低限度的规范秩序。根据社会秩序各子系统的相互关系,法统可分为三个结构性区间:暗弱区,在秩序体系的上层区域,政统发挥主导作用,法统的规则不明确,发挥的功能弱小;强力区,在秩序体系的中间层,规则明确、功能强大;衰弱区,在秩序体系的下层,有规范而难以执行,法统功能越是靠近边缘区域越是衰弱。本文通过对中国古代社会权威秩序的解析,进而阐释中国古代法统与政统、道统、社统的共构机理,客观认识其内在合理性和局限性。

Grand unification of ancient China is an authority order composed of politics, Confucian orthodoxy, legal authority and social system. In the grand unification, the politics plays an integrating function, dominant throughout the authority order; legal authority based upon politics, reflecting Confucian orthodoxy, establishes mandatory normative order in public domain, and maintain a minimum normative order in social field. According to the relationship between the various subsystems of the social order, legal authority can be divided into three structural zone: dim area, in the upper region of the order system, in which politics plays a leading role and legal authority plays a weak function; powerful area, in the middle layer of the order system, in which the rules are clear and powerful; weak area, in the lower level of the order system, in which norms are difficult to enforce. This paper explains the constitutive mechanism of politics, Confucian orthodoxy, legal authority and social system by analyzing the ancient Chinese authority order, in order to understand its inherent rationality and limitations.