试论《江楚会奏变法三折》的宪制意义

On Constitutional Significance of Three Memorials from the Governor-General of Jiang and Chu Provinces to the Throne for Reform

《江楚会奏变法三折》(以下简称三折)是晚清新政的基本蓝图,此点已为学界所周知。但《三折》在中国早期现代的历史中,其意义却并不以此为止。从政治宪法学的视角来看,《三折》是清政府政治决断能力衰弱化的标志,同时,它还蕴育了一种立宪主义的枢机。以《三折》为转捩点,清政府再也不能独断专行式的做出政治决断(即"上令下行"模式),而必须将决断的方式调整为"上下合议"模式。而且,自《三折》以降,"上下合议"的范围一直处在不断扩张之中:江楚会奏尚且只是朝廷与疆臣合议,其后则逐渐扩张为与士绅精英们合议,最终在革命主义的浪潮中,在名义上,合议的范围被扩张为"国民全体"。所以,《三折》确实是晚清集权体制趋于崩解的重要象征,在某种意义上,甚至不妨认为它已经初步呈现了立宪主义的端倪。

＂Three Memorials from the Governors--General of Jiang and Chu Provinces to the Throne for Reform＂ （hereinafter referred to as ＂Three Memorials＂） is the basic blueprint of the New Deal of late Qing Dynasty, but its significance in the early modern history of China transcends the blueprint itself. From the perspective of the Jurisprudence of Political Con- stitution, the memorials signified the weakening of the ability of the Qing Government to make political decisions, and gestated the element of constitutionalism. With the memorials as a turning point, the Qing government could no longer make political decisions arbitrarily （the mode of order--and--execution）, and had to change its way of decision to the mode of discussion be- tween the upper and the lower. Further, since the memorials, the scope of the discussion between the upper and the lower kept expanding： the memorials was only a discussion between the court and governors of provinces, the latter discussions included the elite gentlemen, and finally, the scope expended as ＂the whole people＂ in the waves of revolutions. Thus, the memorials is the symbol that the late Qing regime went to deterioration, and in a sense, it can he considered as the presentation of the ap- pearance of constitutionalism.