美国制度的起源与本质:从公司到国家

The Origin and Essence of American System:From Corporation to State

关于美国制度的主流叙事是西方二战后价值观和社会科学话语的基石。它往往掩盖了美国制度诞生和发展的两个重要方面:其一,美国代议制并非产生于自然法理论或英国制度的移植,而是产生于殖民地实践中的封建特权和公司股权,是一种“天下为私”的制度;其二,源自威尼斯的商业公司−国家制度,经尼德兰和光荣革命后的英国,在美国宪法中发展成熟。公司−国家的性质决定了美国三权的结构和关系以及有限责任的政府特征。对美国制度之优劣及其发展演进的理解均离不开公司−国家的视角。

The mainstream narrative of American system is the cornerstone of Western values and social science discourse after World War II.It neglects or conceals two important aspects of the origin and development of American system.First,American representative system is not generated from the natural law theories or the transplantation of British system,but from the feudal privilege and corporation equity structuresof colonies.Therefore,it is a System of Private Rights.Secondly,the commercial corporation-state system originated in Venice,developed in the Netherlands and Britain after the Glorious Revolution,matured in the US constitution.The nature of corporation-state determines the structure and relationship of the three powers of the United States and the characteristics of limited liability government.Both the advantages and disadvantages of American system and its development cannot be understood without the perspective of corporation-state.