制定法解释中的立法意图 以英美国家为中心的考察

Legislative Intent in Statutory Interpretation An Investigation Centered on Anglo-American Law

法律文本模糊不清或存在歧义之际,法官应该关注解释是否符合立法意图,这种立场在英美法上一度居于主流地位。“立法意图”是一个相当灵活多变的概念,在不同语境下可以指代不同的含义。实践和学理对这一概念的讨论,经常涉及意图与目的、个体意图与集体意图、语义意图与适用意图的区分。立法意图虽然是偏重主观心理的概念,但却可以经由相对客观化的解释技术予以辨别。法官可以通过法律文本的显明含义获知立法者明确表述的意图,通过立法背景资料获取发生学意义上的意图,通过想象性重构的方法获取估算的意图,通过解释准则获取推定的意图。针对立法意图的批判表明,这一解释方法在运作上必须注重实用方面的考虑和论证方面的融贯性。

When the legal text is ambiguous,the judge should pay attention to whether the interpretation is in line with the legislative intent,which once prevailed in common law."Legislative intent”is arather flexible concept that can refer to different meanings in different contexts.Discursions of legislativeintent often involve a distinction between intent and purpose,individual intent and collective intent,semantic intent and application intent.The reason why judges should adopt legislative intent as the standardin the interpretation of law can be proved from the perspective of communication intention and legislativeauthority.Although the legislative intent is somewhat a subjective psychological concept,it can be distinguished by the relatively objective interpretative technique.Judges can acquire the expressed intention oflegislators from the plain meaning of the legal text,genetic intention from legislative history,imputed intention by means of imaginative reconstruction,and presumptive intention by interpretive canons.Therefore,interpretation with reference to legislative intent should pay attention to pragmatic considerationsand argumentative coherence.