法律面前人人平等:谁的面前?何种平等?

Equality before the Law:Before Whom? Which Equality?

“法律面前人人平等”被视为法律的一项基本原则,但是该原则的适用范围,以及具备何种效力却是不清楚的,并且将其具体化为同案同判原则仍然将面临冗余的怀疑。内在于法律本身的平等在概念上依赖于规则的一般性,这是因为法律中的平等原则范围只能是在适用法律中的平等,而无法完全保证法律内容中的平等,并且也不能等同于完全正当的判决。但是,平等原则在法律制度中通过抽象化的方式予以实现,并且该形式性的平等原则仍然具有实质平等无法替代的规范重要性。

Equality before the law is treated as a foundational legal principle,but its range and force remain unclear.To specify this principle as “treat like cases alike” would still cause the doubt of redundancy.The kind of equality intrinsic to law conceptually depends on the generality of rules.And since the range of this principle is confined to the application of law,it cannot guarantee the law’s content being equal,nor does it amount to fully justified decisions.However,the principle of equality is realized in legal institutions by abstraction,and the normative force of such a formal principle cannot be replaced by any substantive principle of equality.