春秋决狱与法律解释——以董仲舒春秋决狱案例为中心的考察

“Adjudicating Lawsuits in Line with the Spirit of Spring and Autumn” and Legal Interpretation: An Investigation Centered on Dong Zhongshu’s Cases

根据目前存世的董仲舒春秋决狱的案例来看,董仲舒以春秋经义决狱,实际上是用儒家思想观念来分析案情、解释法律,并非传统主流意见所认为的春秋经义取代汉律成为断案的标准和法律适用的依据。而其中“原心论罪”的法律推理方式,其思想基础是儒家“守经”与“权变”的辩证关系理论,这表明中国法律解释的方法开始了从先秦形式解释到汉代实质解释的过渡,这同时意味着,中国人的法治观念发生了从形式法治到实质法治的转变。

Judging from the extant cases of“adjudicating suits in line with the spirit of Spring and Autumn”,Dong Zhongshu actually analyzed the cases and explained the law with Confucian concepts,which runs counter to the traditional mainstream opinion that the classic meaning of Spring and Autumn is the standard for judging cases and the basis for applying the law instead of the Han statutes.Within it,the legal reasoning mode of“sentencing by balancing criminal motives”was based on the dialectical relationship theory of“adhering to the classic”and“making adaptions”,indicating that the method of Chinese legal interpretation had begun the transition from formal interpretation in the pre-Qin era to substantive interpretation in the Han Dynasty.Moreover,it means that the Chinese concept of rule of law had changed from formal rule of law to essential rule of law.