论法律援助的契约性理念--兼谈对我国法律援助体系的启示

The contractual idea of legal aid:Also discuss about the enlightenment for the legal aid system in China

2022年1月1日生效的《中华人民共和国法律援助法》将法律援助的体系化工作推进到一个新的高度,然而在制度体系不断完善的背景下,我国法律援助实践依然面临着诸多困难,突破这些困难的对策可能不仅需要完善法律制度,更要厘清制度背后的法理与实践背后的理念。因此,在法律援助制度改革的背景之下,有必要重新澄清对于法律援助理念的错误认知。这种错误的认知主要包含意志性和功利性的解读。法律援助的意志性理念主要包括三种形式:贵族精神、宗教启示以及精英意识。它们将法律援助立基于道德理想之上,而存在着供给不稳定以及人格不对等的弊病。法律援助的功利性理念,则主要包括两种形式:市场行为论和政府行为论。它们将法律援助立基于现实利益之上,而对律师职业的内在伦理价值和独立性构成了威胁。法律援助理念应当是一种契约性理念,它包含了两个层次的契约,即以公平原则为核心的原初契约以及作为子契约的“律师—社会”契约和“律师—国家”契约。契约性理念解释吸收了意志性和功利性理念的优点,并摒弃了它的不足,其主要具有四个优势:第一,联结了伦理与效用价值,使律师职业在赚取收益与保持法律援助积极性之间实现平衡;第二,重构了责任的概念,使其转被动为主动;第三,实现了法律援助模式的更新,使其由单向度的国家权力施予,变为多向度的多元实现;第四,重塑了互尊的状态,保护了被援助方的自尊。我国律师制度改革的精神与契约性理念是相契合的,它可以为我国法律援助体系的建设提供有益的启示:律师帮助权的基本权利定位、法律援助的多元参与模式、法律援助实践的细则化以及法律援助意识的培育。

The Legal Aid Law of the China,which came into effect on January 1,2022,has pushed the systematization of legal aid to a new height.However,against the background of the continuous improvement of the system,China’s legal aid practice still faces many difficulties.The countermeasures to overcome these difficulties may not only need to improve the legal system,but also clarify the legal theory behind the system and the concept behind the practice.Therefore,in the context of the reform of the legal aid system,it is necessary to clarify the erroneous understanding of the concept of legal aid.This erroneous understanding mainly includes interpretations of willpower and utilitarianism.The willpower concept of legal aid mainly includes three forms:aristocratic spirit,religious enlightenment,and elite consciousness.They base legal aid on moral ideals,but there are drawbacks such as unstable supply and unequal personality.The utilitarian concept of legal aid mainly includes two forms:market behavior theory and government behavior theory.They base legal aid on practical interests,posing a threat to the inherent ethical values and independence of the legal profession.The concept of legal aid should be a contractual concept,which includes two levels of contracts,namely the original contract centered on the principle of fairness,as well as the“lawyer society”contract and the“lawyer state”contract as sub contracts.The concept of contractual interpretation absorbs the advantages of willpower and utilitarianism,and discards its shortcomings.It mainly has four advantages:firstly,it connects ethical and utility values,enabling the lawyer profession to achieve a balance between earning profits and maintaining legal aid enthusiasm;Secondly,the concept of responsibility has been restructured to shift from passive to active;Thirdly,the legal aid model has been updated,transforming it from a unidirectional state power to a multi-dimensional and diverse implementation;Fourthly,it reshaped the state of mutual respect and protected the self-esteem of the recipients.The spirit of China’s lawyer system reform is consistent with the contractual concept,which can provide useful enlightenment for the construction of China’s legal aid system:the basic right positioning of the lawyer’s right to help,the multiple participation mode of legal aid,the detailed rules of legal aid practice,and the cultivation of legal aid awareness.