律师群体与美国镀金时代的“司法达尔文主义”

Lawyers Group and“Judicial Darwinism”in the Gilded Age of the United States

镀金时代的美国最高法院在案件判决时,经常奉行“司法达尔文主义”理念,保护强者,压制弱者。学界认为法律形式主义和联邦最高法院法官的思想保守是引起这一现象的重要原因,却忽视了律师群体在案件判决中的关键作用。工业化时代经济发展的复杂性,更突显了律师在政治经济生活中的重要作用。他们不仅与法官保持着紧密关系,又是大公司的雇员;而且其司法理念受到斯宾塞和托马斯·库利思想影响,在案件判决中,律师成为“司法达尔文主义”理念的解释者和践行者。

In the Gilded Age,the Supreme Court of the United States protected the strong and suppressed the weak in the trials of some economic cases.This phenomenon was regarded as“judicial Darwinism”by scholars.The scholars attributed the cause to the rising of legal formalism and conservative supreme judges.However,lawyers assumed an important role in the development of the society in American history.Due of the complexity of the economic development of industrialization age,highlighted the important role of the lawyer.They not only were the alliance of the judges,but also were employees of the company;beside that reasons,lawyer’s judicial ideas were influenced by Herbert Spencer and Thomas Cooley,and they became the important force in the prevailing of“judicial Darwinism”.