法律文明视域下的中世纪英格兰罚金刑

Fines in Medieval England in the Context of Legal Civilization

在中世纪英格兰,罚金刑是以金钱赔偿作为一种刑罚方式,从而让罪犯承担罪责,确保实现社会和平与正义。在这之前,英格兰施行血亲复仇解决社会冲突,而罚金刑通过让罪犯承受经济惩罚来达到维护受害者利益的目的,进而维护社会安全与秩序。此种从肉体折磨到物质赔偿的转变是法律文明进步的表现。罚金刑在人的生命价值与特定货币金额之间建立联系,它可以将复杂的冲突简化为不同的罚金刑数额,可让法律政策顺利推进,帮助解决冲突。正如齐美尔(Simmel)强调的,罚金刑作为货币经济的产物来组织社会,并改变了社会法治秩序。1中世纪英格兰世俗习惯法中对罚金刑的普遍使用,表明人的生命地位不断上升。

Fines were a very common financial penalty in medieval English judicial judgment,levied by the courts in accordance with customary law jurisprudence.After the Norman Conquest,the system of fines replaced the Anglo-Saxon system of compensation,and the earliest records of fine governing commercial offence appeared at the end of the 12th century.The Magna Carta of 1215 clearly set out the principles and manner in which fines were to be levied,that is,the fine should be consistent with the crime,and that it must be assessed in order to be levied when there was a lack of jurisprudence.Fines have as their main juridical reference the checks and balances between rights and obligations under different secular legal systems.From the point of the rule of law culture,fines are objectively levied in accordance with the law,and they are judicially progressive in lieu of blood feud.