法律东方主义语境下对传统中国法无法性的反思与辩解

Reflection and Explanation of the Inablity of Traditional Chinese Law in the Context of Legal Orientalism

东方主义话语作为中世纪宗教斗争的思想凝聚,为欧洲十字军东征提供了强大的精神动力。作为一种文化预设,欧洲东方主义者根据自身的利益需要,在完全脱离东方的情况下,构建起一套针对东方的话语体系。启蒙运动及工业大革命过后,西方列国生产方式改良,生产力显著提升。面对新兴的近代国际法秩序与对外殖民掠夺的矛盾冲突,西方开始构建新的话语体系,欲在此语境之中,寻求掠夺东方的新途径。自此,法律东方主义在带有浓烈偏见的前提下,不断塑造东方。而法律东方主义的核心偏见就是对于古代中国法的无法性描述,至今还在影响着对于中国传统法文化的评价。

As the thought of the religious struggle in the middle ages,the orientalism discourse provided a powerful spiritual impetus to the european crusade.As a cultural precondition,the european orientalists,in accordance with their own interests,set up a system of discourse orienting toward the east completely out of the East.After the enlightenment and the industrial revolution,the ways of production in the western countries improved and their productivity significantly improved.In the face of the contradiction and conflict between the emerging modern order of international law and the predatory foreign colonization,the west began to construct a new discourse system in the hope of seeking a new avenue to plunder the east.Since then,legal orientalism has constantly shaped the east under the precondition of intense prejudice.The core prejudice of legal orientalism is the inability to describe the ancient Chinese law and correct it,saying that the traditional Chinese law"heavy ceremony and light law"and"criminal harshness and cruelty"should be examined.Reasons are inevitably too stubborn.