近代文艺作品中的法律伦理反思——以菲尔丁和荷加斯为中心

Reflections on Legal Ethics in Modern Literary and Artistic Works:Focusing on Fielding and Hogarth

17世纪末至18世纪初,英国刑法领域中的经验主义风向渐强,对罪犯信息的关注趋重。同时,宪政变革促进英国的法治实践由“上帝之法”转为“人之法”,逐渐步入现代性轨道,向资本主义法制过渡。菲尔丁和荷加斯作为同时期的文艺家,对英国的法治进程有着相同的关怀。在关注社会犯罪现象时,他们将现实主义考量融入对罪犯人物的刻画,强化了刑法实践中的证据意识。他们关注英国法治的现代性转向,反思或质疑传统神学秩序,建构法律权威,表征资本主义法制萌芽。两人运用文学或绘画的修辞策略,或隐或显地反观历史坐标中的法律缺陷,形成对法律伦理的反思,彰显出对法律改良的愿景。

From the end of the 17th century to the early 18th century,the criminal law in England witnessed a robust trend of empiricism,giving an increasing attention to the criminal information.Meanwhile,constitutional reform promoted the transformation of England’s rule of law practicefrom"the lawof God"to"the lawofman,"initiating it to step on the track of modernity and the transition to the capitalist legal system.Fielding and Hogarth,as artists of the same period,share concern for the rule of law process of England.When paying attention tosocial crime,they map the realistic perspective into the portrayal of criminal figures,emphasizing the concept of evidence in criminal law practice.They are concerned with the modern turn of British rule of law,reflect on or question about the traditional theological order,and construct the authority of law,which represents the burgeoning of capitalist legal system.They employ poetic or pictorial rhetorical strategies to reflect,implicitly or explicitly,on the legal defects in the historical context,so as to form anintrospection on legal ethics with a vision of legal improvement.