论现代宪法概念的生成

The Formation of Modern Constitution Concept

循着宪法(constitution)语词的使用痕迹,可以看到现代宪法概念萌芽于古希腊politeia一词向罗马共和国时期constitutio一词演化时的语义收缩,即从泛指一切政体缩小到特指混合政体。罗马帝制时期及中世纪,constitutio一词被教会和世俗国家征用之后,它的语义域随之发生了迁移,不仅从政治领域转移到法律领域,而且成为一个竞争性的概念,表达某种立法的重要性、权威性或根本性的旨趣。近代以来,constitution所蕴涵的"根本性"或"基本性"内涵呈现出开放性特征,衍生出现代宪法概念具有的-诸如政府组织规范、权力限制和权利保障等基本意涵。这些丰富的意涵促使现代宪法概念最终在北美英殖民地的政治实践中确立下来。现代宪法概念生成的标志:一是constitution一词的用法开始由复数形式变为单数形式,其所指固定在一个独特的国家法典上,旨在重要性上与其他法律渊源区分开来。二是宪法(constitution)由一个含义并不固定的语词演变为一个特定的政治法律术语,它的涵义生成于对一个基本法典所承载的意义的表达。

Following the usage of"constitution",we can see that the modern constitution concept sprouted from the semantic contraction of the evolution from"politeia"in ancient Greek period to"constitutio"in the Roman Republic period,specifically speaking,from a general reference to all regimes to a specific reference to mixed regimes.During the Roman imperial period and the Middle Ages,after the word"constitutio"was expropriated by churches and secular countries,its semantic domain shifted from political field to legal field,and became a competitive concept,expressing certain legislative purpose of the importance,authority or fundamentality.Since modern times,the connotation of"fundamentality"or"elementary"implied by Constitution had manifested the characteristics of openness,which grew into the basic connotations of modern constitution concept,such as government organization norms,power restriction and right protection.These rich connotations led to the establishment of modern constitution concept in the political practice of British North American Colonies.The symbols of the formation of the modern constitution concept are as follows:firstly,the usage of the word constitution changed from plural to singular,and its meaning was fixed in a unique national code,aiming at distinguishing its importance from other legal sources.Secondly,the word constitution evolved from an unstable word to a specific political and legal term,whose connotation derived from the expression of the meaning implied by a basic code.