Comment on China's Traditional Legalist Thought of Rule of Law

Legalist school is one of the most important people in pre-Qin philosophers. They are famous for advocating the "rule of law" of "ruling the country according to law" and put forward a set of theories and methods. This provided an effective theoretical basis for the later establishment of the centralized Qin Dynasty. The later Han Dynasty inherited the centralization of authority and legal system of the Qin Dynasty and was the political and legal subject of the ancient feudal society in China.

Legalists have made great contributions to jurisprudence, and made fruitful discussions on the origin, essence and function of law and the relationship between law and social economy, requirements of the times, state power, ethics, customs, natural environment, population and human nature.

But legalists also have shortcomings. For example, it exaggerates the role of the law, emphasizes the use of heavy punishment to govern the country, and "punishes punishment with punishment", and also imposes heavy penalties on misdemeanors and superstitious about the role of the law. They believe that human nature is to pursue interests, and there is no moral standard, so we should use interests and honors to induce people to do it. For example, in the war, high rewards are given for meritorious service, including official positions, so as to motivate soldiers and generals to fight bravely together. This may be one of the reasons for Qin Jun's strong fighting capacity. The role of Legalists in destroying the six countries and unifying China should be affirmed, although there are still some shortcomings.

Legalist thought is briefly introduced as follows:

Oppose the ritual system

Legalists attach importance to law and oppose Confucian "rites". In their view, the emerging landlord class at that time opposed the hereditary privilege of monopolizing economic and political interests by nobles and demanded private ownership of land, which was a fair and correct proposition. The etiquette system of maintaining aristocratic privileges is backward and unfair.

The role of law

The first function is to "settle disputes", that is, to clarify the ownership of things. Shen Dao, one of the legalists, made a very simple analogy: "A rabbit went and a hundred people chased it. Accumulate rabbits in the market and ignore them. No rabbits, no arguments. " A rabbit ran away, and many people chased it, but they didn't look at so many rabbits in the market. It's not that you don't want rabbits, but that the ownership has been determined and you can't argue any more, otherwise you will violate the law and be punished.

The second function is to "make meritorious deeds and fear violence", that is, to encourage people to make meritorious deeds and make those who are lawless feel afraid. The ultimate goal of prosperity is to make Qiang Bing rich and win the war of annexation.

The theory of human nature of "likes and dislikes"

Legalists believe that all people have the nature of "liking advantages and avoiding disadvantages" or "seeking advantages and avoiding disadvantages". As Guan said, a businessman runs around day and night, driving thousands of miles doesn't feel far, because interests attract him ahead. Fishing people are not afraid of difficulties and dangers, and they don't care if they sail against the current. It is also the pursuit of fishing interests. Based on the same idea, Shang Yang came to the conclusion: "There are likes and dislikes in life, so the people can cure them."

Historical view of "violating the past and not following the present"

Legalists oppose conservative retro ideas and advocate reform. They believe that history is developing forward, and all laws and systems should develop with the development of history, neither retrogressive nor conformist. Shang Yang clearly put forward the idea of "violating the past and not following the present". Han Fei further developed Shang Yang's proposition that "time-shifting chaos is difficult to cure", and he satirized the conservative Confucianism as a fool waiting for him.

The general plan of governing the country by combining law, technique and situation

Shang Yang, Shen Dao and Shen Buhai advocated attaching importance to law, potential and technique respectively, each with its own characteristics. When Han Fei, a master of legalism, put forward the idea of combining the three closely. Law refers to perfecting the legal system, and potential refers to the power of the monarch, and it is necessary to monopolize the military and political power. Art refers to the strategies and means of controlling ministers, mastering political power and enforcing laws and regulations. It is mainly to detect and prevent the crime of rebellion and maintain the status of the monarch.

Legalist thought is fundamentally different from the form of democracy and rule of law that we advocate now. The biggest thing is that legalists strongly advocate the centralization of monarchy, and it is absolute. Pay attention to this. We can selectively learn and make use of other legalist ideas.