公道是否是一种更高的正义——基于《尼各马可伦理学》V.10的研究

Is Equity a Higher Form of Justice?——Research Based on V.10 of The Nicomachan Ethics

亚里士多德在《尼各马可伦理学》第五卷提出了“公道”这一概念,认为公道是对法律正义的纠正,由此引发了后世学者对于公道与法律正义之关系的不同解读。例如,莱顿(W.von. Leyden)认为公道对法律正义的纠正体现在公道是一种独立且高于法律正义的标准。雅克(Bernard Yack)反对这种解读,认为公道和法律正义不是彼此独立的两套标准,公道依据立法者的精神对特殊案例进行变通处理,不能被称为更高的正义。根据对亚里士多德文本的分析,雅克的结论仍有强化的空间。公道对法律正义的纠正源于法律本身可能存在的错误和缺陷,而这背后隐藏着“人类实践活动的复杂性”这一贯穿全书的线索。通过梳理这一线索,可以得知人类行为的特质使法律体系无法拥有几何学式的精确性,始终需要公道来纠正,公道不会凌驾于法律之上,也不会因法律体系的日益发展而丧失作用。

Aristotle proposed the famous concept of“equity”in Volume 5 of The Nicomachan Ethics and believed that equity was a correction of legal justice,which sparked different interpretations of the relationship between equity and legal justice by later scholars.For example,W.von Leyden believes that equity corrects legal justice as an independent and higher standard than legal justice.Bernard Yack opposes this interpretation and believes that equity and legal justice are not independent sets of standards.Equity based on the spirit of legislators,adapts to special cases and cannot be called higher justice.Based on the analysis of Aristotles text,Yacks conclusion still has room for reinforcement.The correction of legal justice by equity stems from the possible errors and defects of the law itself,and behind this lies the consistent clue of“the complexity of human practical activities”that through the book.By sorting through this clue,it can be concluded that the characteristics of human behavior make the legal system unable to has geometric accuracy,and equity is always needed to correct it.Equity will not take precedence over the law,nor will it lose its effectiveness due to the development of the legal system.