How to recognize the significance of the spirit of the rule of law in the thought of Legalism to the construction of modern rule of law

It is well known that the Legalists advocated the "rule of law" and emphasized the role of law in politics and society. So, for the modernization of China's legal system today, is ancient legalism still a valuable traditional cultural resource? This article first explores the aspects in which the legalist thought has a progressive and positive significance, which is compatible with the modern rule of law that we need to build urgently; and then discusses the aspects in which the tradition of the legalist thought has defects or limitations, so that it has to be reformed in order to continue to exert its vitality in modern life.

1. Introduction to Legalist Thought

The Legalists, among the pre-Qin scholars, emphasized the law and its coercive role the most, and studied jurisprudence the most. They explored the origin of law, its essence, its role, and the relationship between law and social economy, the requirements of the times, the state power and even the population, human nature and other basic issues, and they were very effective.

1.1 Opposition to Rites

The Legalists emphasized the law and opposed the Confucian "rites". They believed that legislation should be made according to the will of the emerging landlord class, and only the law made according to the will of the emerging landlord class can be called "law", reflecting the idea that the emerging landlord class demanded to be equal to the aristocrats before the law.

1.2 The human nature theory of "good benefit and evil harm"

The Legalists believed that all human beings have the nature of "good benefit and evil harm" or "avoiding harm by taking advantage of it". It was Shang Yang who concluded: "People have good and bad qualities, so the people can be ruled. Han Fei further developed the human nature of "good and evil" into selfishness and self-interest.

1.3 Historical View of "Not Following the Ancient World, Not Following the Present Day"

The Legalists were against the conservative idea of restoring the past, and advocated reform. They believed that human history is moving forward, all the laws and systems should be changed accordingly with the development of history, neither retro retrogression, nor stubbornly stuck in the old ways.

1.4 Combination of "Law", "Art" and "Potential" Strategies for Ruling the Country

Shang Yang, Shen Zhi, and Shen Buhai advocated the combination of Law, Potential, and Art respectively, each with its own characteristics. Each of them had their own characteristics. Law refers to a sound legal system, power refers to the power of the monarch, to be in sole control of the military and political power, and art refers to the strategy and means to control the ministers, to master the power, and to implement the decree.

1.5 Attaching Great Importance to the Role of Law

According to the Legalist, the first role is to "set points and stop disputes", that is to say, to clarify the ownership of things. The second function is to "promote merit and fear of violence", i.e., to encourage people to make achievements in war, and to make those who are not lawful feel fearful.

Here, I would like to talk about the role of law from another angle, that is, the formal significance of law as a strategy for governing the country. The Legalists emphasized that the law had a universal restraining effect, binding not only the subjects, but even the monarch himself. They emphasized the codified nature of the law and the high degree of predictability in the operation of the law, believing that this would help to prevent favoritism. All this shows that the Legalists emphasized the role of law backed by state violence. The Legalists advocated a combination of "law", "art", and "power" as a strategy for governing the country, but their "law", "art", and "power" were not the same as their "law", But its "law", "art" and "potential" do not have any ultimate value connotation, and they are only the means to govern the country. It always emphasizes that the key to rule the country is "law", not "people", which fully explains the legalist's respect for "law" to rule the country.

2. Positive influence of Legalism

The class base of Legalism was the emerging landlord class, which was formed along with the emerging landlord class and then came into being, and it was also the spokesman of the emerging landlord class. It played an important role in the transformation of slavery and the formation of feudal unification in China, and also had a profound influence on the development of the rule of law in later generations.

2.1 Legalists attach importance to the objectivity of the law

Two thousand years ago, the legal thinkers already recognized that the law is an objective and fair criterion used to regulate and measure people's behaviors, and therefore compared the law to the weights and measures. The "tube" said: "size is also, ink and rope is also, the rules are also, weighing stone is also, dubu is also, angle measure is also, called the law"; "law and order, officials and people rule ink and rope is also".

2. 2 Legalists emphasize the mandatory nature of the law

Legalists put great emphasis on the combination of "law" and "punishment". They realized that the most important feature of the law, which distinguishes it from the norms of behavior such as morality or "rites", is that the law is backed up by the coercive power of the state, and the consequence of violating the law is the imposition of punishment by the state. Han Fei Zi said: "The law, the constitution and order in the government, reward and punishment must be in the hearts of the people. Reward is stored in the prudent law, and the punishment is added to the treacherous order."

2.3 Legalists attach importance to the stability and unity of the law

Since the law is a medium for transmitting information about behavioral norms to people, if the requirements of different legal provisions are contradictory, or changeable, people will be at a loss as to what to do, and the goal of the law can not be achieved. Legalists have a full understanding of this, so they emphasize the unity and stability of the law.

2.4 The Legalists pay attention to the authority of the law

One of the key features of the Legalist thought is that it strongly advocates the authority and constraint of the law, and emphasizes that the people, officials, and even the king of the country should abide by the law and act according to the law. The Guanzi says: "There is the law of birth, the law of observance, and the law of law. The ruler is the one who creates the law, the minister is the one who keeps the law, and the people are the ones who abide by the law. The ruler and his ministers, the upper and lower classes, the nobility and the lowly are all from the law, this is called the great rule."

2.5 The Legalists emphasized the universality of the law

One of the core ideas of the Legalists was that the law should become a culture and be made known to the world, and that it should be known to all, which was of great progressive significance in the historical environment at that time. The Legalists believed that the law should be cultured and publicized, and that it should be strictly enforced, and that it should operate with a high degree of predictability and should not be used arbitrarily by officials.

From the positive values of the Legalist tradition discussed above, it can be seen that the Legalists attached great importance to law. They strongly advocated the authority and constraint of the law, emphasizing that the people, officials, and even the king of the country should abide by the law and act according to the law; advocated that the law should be made public, clear, and easy to understand, thus advocating that the law should be made into a culture and made known to the world; emphasized the predictability of the law's operation, advocating that "reward should be punished"; attached importance to the coercive nature of the law, and advocated that the "law" and "law" should be used by officials at will, and that "law" should not be used by officials in an arbitrary manner. "Law" and "criminal" combination; focus on the objectivity of the law, that it is fair, honest and objective criteria; emphasize the unity and stability of the law, against frequent changes in the law and so on, these are with the current urgent need to build the modern rule of law have a place in common In particular, they all emphasize that the law should be highly standardized in the political and social operation. But in essence, legalism and the modern concept of the rule of law is different, the modern rule of law is democracy, freedom, equality, human rights, rationality, civilization, order, efficiency and legality of the perfect combination. Therefore, in our country, in order to establish the modern rule of law, it is necessary to carry out modern reflection on the legalist thought.

The rule of law thought of the Legalists has influenced today's system of ruling the country according to the law and opposing the system of rituals The Legalists emphasized the law and opposed the "rituals" of Confucianism. They believed that legislation should be enacted in accordance with the will of the emerging landowning class, and that only legislation enacted in accordance with the will of the emerging landowning class could be called "law", reflecting the idea that the emerging landowning class demanded to be equal to the aristocracy in front of the law.

The Legalists believed that all people have the nature of "good benefit and evil harm" or "avoiding harm by taking advantage of it". It was only when Shang Yang concluded that "people have good and bad qualities, so the people can be ruled" that the Legalists opposed conservative and retro ideas and advocated radical reforms. They believed that human history is moving forward, and all laws and systems should be changed accordingly with the development of history, and should neither be retrofitted, nor be stuck in the old ways.

According to the Legalists, the first function is to "set points and stop disputes", that is, to clarify the ownership of things. The second function is to "promote merit and fear of violence", i.e., to encourage people to make achievements in war, and to make those who break the law feel fearful.

Here, I would like to talk about the role of law from another angle, that is, the formal significance of law as a strategy for governing the country. The Legalists emphasized that the law had a universal restraining effect, binding not only the subjects, but even the monarch himself. They emphasized the codified nature of the law and the high degree of predictability in the operation of the law, believing that this would help to prevent favoritism. All this shows that the Legalists emphasized the role of law backed by state violence. The Legalists advocated a combination of "law", "art", and "power" as a strategy for governing the country, but their "law", "art", and "power" were not the same as their "law", But its "law", "art" and "potential" do not have any ultimate value connotation, and they are only the means to govern the country. It always emphasizes that the key to rule the country is "law", not "people", which fully illustrates the legalist's respect for "law" to rule the country.

The positive influence of Legalism

The class base of Legalism was the emerging landlord class, which came into being after the formation of the emerging landlord class, and it was also the spokesman of the emerging landlord class. It played an important role in the transformation of slavery and the formation of feudal unification in China, and had a far-reaching influence on the development of the rule of law in later times.　Legalists attach importance to the objectivity of law

More than 2,000 years ago, legal thinkers already recognized that law is an objective and fair criterion for regulating and measuring people's behavior, and therefore compared law to weights and measures. The tube said: "size is also, rope and ink is also, rules are also, weighing stone is also, dubu is also, angle measure is also, called law"; "law decree, officials and people rule rope and ink is also".　Legalists emphasize the mandatory nature of the law

Legalists put great emphasis on the combination of "law" and "punishment". They realized that the most important feature that makes the law different from morality or "ritual" and other behavioral norms is that the law is backed by the coercive power of the state, and the consequences of violating the law is the imposition of penalties by the state. Han Fei Zi said: "The law, the constitution and orders in the government, reward and punishment must be in the hearts of the people. Rewards are stored in the prudent law, and punishments are added to those who violate the law."　Legalists attach importance to the stability and unity of the law

Since the law is a medium for transmitting information about behavioral norms to people, if the requirements of different legal provisions are contradictory, or changeable, people will be at a loss, and the goal of the law will not be achieved. The Legalists were fully aware of this and emphasized the unity and stability of the law.　One of the key features of the Legalist thought is that it strongly advocates the authority and constraint of the law, emphasizing that the people, officials, and even the king of the country should abide by the law and act according to the law. The Guanzi says: "There is the law of birth, the law of observance, and the law of law. The ruler is the one who creates the law, the minister is the one who abides by the law, and the people are the ones who follow the law. The ruler, the minister, the superior, the inferior, the superior, and the inferior are all subject to the law, and this is called the great rule."　The Legalists emphasized the universality of the law

One of the core ideas of the Legalists was that the law should become a culture and be made known to the world, and that it should be known to all, which was of great progressive significance in the historical environment at that time. The Legalists believed that the law should be cultured and publicized, and that it should be strictly enforced, and that it should operate with a high degree of predictability and should not be used arbitrarily by officials.

From the positive values of the Legalist tradition discussed above, it can be seen that the Legalists attached great importance to law. They strongly advocated the authority and constraint of the law, emphasizing that the people, officials, and even the king of the country should abide by the law and act according to the law; advocated that the law should be made public, clear, and easy to understand, thus advocating that the law should be made into a culture and made known to the world; emphasized the predictability of the law's operation, advocating that "reward should be punished"; attached importance to the coercive nature of the law, and advocated that the "law" and "law" should be used by officials at will, and that "law" should not be used by officials in an arbitrary manner. "Law" and "criminal" combination; focus on the objectivity of the law, that it is fair, honest and objective criteria; emphasize the unity and stability of the law, against frequent changes in the law and so on, these are with the current urgent need to build the modern rule of law in our country have a place in common In particular, they all emphasize that the law should be highly standardized in the political and social operation. But in essence, legalism and the modern concept of the rule of law is different, the modern rule of law is democracy, freedom, equality, rationality, civilization, order, efficiency and legality of the perfect combination. Therefore, in our country, in order to establish the modern rule of law, it is necessary to carry out a modern reflection on the legalist thought.