莅民理政之要——《五朝法律索隐》的政治思想史解读

Essentials of Administrative Governance——An Analysis on Research on Laws in Five Dynasties from Political and Ideological Perspectives

章太炎1908年发表的《五朝法律索隐》一文,表面上是在钩沉、考证魏、晋、宋、齐、梁五朝法律遗文,实则在其中他阐述了自己关于如何制定良好法律的意见,以及对清廷改革法律的批评。他指出立法应与中国的历史与现状接榫,使得法律条文能和广大民众的生活习惯相吻合。他通过疏解五朝法律相关内容,强调制定法律应从平民的立场出发,以保障平民权益为旨归。就此而言,五朝法律中所体现的"平吏民"、"恤无告"诸特色,尤值得后人充分参考借鉴。此外,伴随着中国被卷入全球资本主义经济体系,章太炎对中国国内中西资本力量的扩张十分警惕,担心在创办新政、发展工商业的名目下,广大平民遭受新式压榨与剥削。因此他表彰五朝之法颇有"抑富人"的特征,其根本精神足以为当下如何通过法律形式抑制资本的力量提供思想资源。

In 1908, Zhang Taiyan published his book of "Research on Laws in Five Dynasties", which appears to be his exploration on laws in Five Dynasties, while in fact it was his way to criticize the law reformation in Qing Dynasty. In the book, he pointed out that laws should be connected with Chinese history, so as to match people s life. In addition, he also stressed that the protection of people s right should be taken into consideration in the process of law-making. As a matter of fact, law features in Five Dynasties, such as "equality between officials and common people","compassion towards the weak", etc. are supposed to win respect from modern people for reference. During his years, Zhang Taiyan worried about capital expansion in China with the involvement of global capitalist economic system. Under the name of establishing a new policy and developing industry and commerce, vast majority of common people would suffer from new forms of oppression and exploitation. For this reason, he praised in his book the law feature of "restraining the rich" in Five Dynasties. Therefore, the root of his idea in the book was to satirize the present through past records.