如何理解法律面前人人平等

How to Make Sense of Equality before the Law?

毫无疑问,法律面前人人平等是现代公共政治话语中一个无可争辩的共识。然而,在理论上去界定法律平等概念时,我们将面临诸多棘手的争议。第一个争议涉及法律适用平等,即法律平等概念要么被认为是多余的,要么会引发实证法与自然法之争;第二个争议涉及法律内容平等,即法律平等究竟规定的是消极权利还是积极权利;第三个争议涉及法律可得性平等,即如何保障公民获得法律事实上的平等保护。值得注意的是,从理想的条件出发还是从现实的条件出发对于理解这些争议迥然不同。换言之,此理论上棘手之争议,在实践层面基于诸理由即可得到解决,并能给出清晰明确的底线规定。此外,受此底线规定约束的法律平等实践,可以不通过“哲学王”而实现其“权威应奠基于知识而非暴力”的理念。

To some extent,everyone is equal before the law(hereinafter legal equality)is an indisputable consensus in modern public political discourse.However,theoretically speaking,as how to define the legal equality with this importance,we face several difficult disputes.The first controversy is about the equality of law’s enforcement.It is either considered to be superfluous or aroused the dispute between the positive law and the natural law.The second controversy lies in the equality of legal content.Whether the content of legal equality should establish negative or positive rights.The third controversy is about the availability of legal equality.How can we ensure that everyone really get equal protection of the law?Shall we set up to solve it against the background of ideal conditions or the actual conditions?However,the theoretical difficulties can be overcome in practice for several reasons and get some consensus.Moreover,the consensus about the practice of legal equality can realize the ideal behind“the king of philosophy”without the“king of philosophy”,i.e.how to get authority of state based on knowledge rather than violence,which has always been a tricky problem for thousands of years.