台前与幕后:一起清代命案的真相

近年来,中国法律史研究者对清代司法档案信崇有加,部分学者甚至对司法档案进行形式主义的表层解读。事实上,司法档案当中存在制作乃至虚构的成分。以清代同治十三年广东罗定州发生的"梁宽杀妻案"为例,通过对照分析以广东巡抚张兆栋和刑部尚书崇实名义所作的一份刑科题本与本案初审官员杜凤治所写的相关日记,可以发现,与日记相比,刑科题本中存在比较明显的虚构。这一发现,旨在提醒中国法律史研究者在研究司法档案时,必须保持应有的批判态度,留意其中可能存在的制作或虚构。     

清代官员的鬼神信仰及其司法实践——从汪辉祖“刘开扬案”和蓝鼎元“幽魂对质案”的比较出发

清代官员在一些司法实践中,有时会采用到"动用鬼神"的方法。通过比较两名清代著名官员蓝鼎元和汪辉祖的动用鬼神的司法实践及他们关于鬼神的思想观念,可以发现,这种"动用鬼神"的司法实践虽然表面相似,但其背后的理念可能并不一致:蓝鼎元纯粹是在"利用鬼神",而汪辉祖则相信鬼神介入司法的力量,希望得到鬼神的帮助。实际上,清代官员的司法实践,或多或少都会受到其鬼神信仰的影响。     

人心似铁与官法如炉:“无文”视域下的清代司法审判

清代司法审判的性质和裁判依据一直以来是一个重要的问题,从中可以挖掘传统法律文化的精髓来指导今天的司法实践。把清代的司法审判还原到清代的社会现实来进行实证研究,应该从以下两个维度思考:其一,以普通人对法律的认知及司法诉求来探讨其对清代司法审判的影响;其二,以断案官员自身的理念和对普通人的思维模式及行为方式的了解为前提,并且在背景依赖的制约下来探讨官员对清代司法审判结果的影响。清代司法审判的性质和官员的断案基准是在二者的紧张关系中展现的。     

词讼与案件:清代的诉讼分类及其实践

清代立法与司法实践主要受皇帝和官方自我利益因素的驱动,将诉讼事件大致分为词讼(或细事)与案件(或重情)两大类。前者常指户婚、田土等州县官自理型诉讼,后者多为徒刑以上案件,包括人命、强盗等严重的犯罪。这种分类标准既与案情本身性质与构成要素有关,同时也包括事后判决结果及量刑轻重。这两类诉讼的告诉时间规定及裁决依据各有不同:清代法制默许官员对词讼可忽视现有法条,不依法审理,当事人的告状时间有一定限制;对于案件,则要求官员依法审理,虽然诸如刑部官员可能运用比附等法律适用方法,但依然是以制定法为依据而展开,这对案件判决有决定性影响。词讼与案件的分类以及官府贬低词讼的态度,显示了官僚集团的自利倾向。这种司法环境促使词讼当事人采取一些无可奈何的制度性回应方式。     

清代州县官的司法追求与躬践

有清一代,州县官对地方司法的有效运作发挥着重要作用。作为官员队伍中的一个群体,其中不乏庸碌或贪渎之辈,但也确有相当一部分人的为官价值在某种程度上追求司法中的"秩序"、"仁恕"、"道德"文章。这种追求与其长期被儒家文化的浸润密切关联。清代州县官结合自身职能与任职所在环境,力图通过司法活动达到"使民无讼"、"情罪相协"的效果,为此致力于"哀矜折狱"的实践。     

清代中国法律知识的传播与影响——以汪辉祖《佐治药言》和《学治臆说》为例

清代州县衙门的组织架构与制度安排,以及牧令缺乏行政技能和法律知识的状况,导致了官箴书和幕友的大量出现。清代著名幕友和循吏汪辉祖撰写的《佐治药言》和《学治臆说》被幕友和牧令视为官箴书中的典范。这两本书在清代中国流传广泛,影响巨大,其主要传播方式包括口传、抄本和刊印;而他人的引述、摘录与汇编,也对书籍的传播和阅读产生了积极的推动作用;从推荐、赠予和购买情况来看,这两本书在当时应该得到了很好的传播、阅读与接受。严格说来,清代官箴书是特殊意义上的总结和阐述州县实务知识的书籍,具有经验性与实践性的特征。官箴书的广泛传播与阅读,也导致了州县牧令在处理行政事务和司法问题上形成了相对的一致性。     

论中国封建正统法律思想及其法律化

论中国封建正统法律思想及其法律化余经林秦汉以后的封建正统法律思想，在中国古代法律思想史上占有极其重要的地位。它不但长期指导和支配着中国封建社会的立法、司法活动，而且对后来的半殖民地、半封建中国的法制也有很大影响。本文拟就封建正统法律思想的形成、特点及...     

《薛允升的古律研究与改革》述评

由上海社会科学院法学研究所研究员华友根撰著的《薛允升的古律研究与改革———中国近代修订新律的先导》（下称《先导》）一书 ,最近由上海社会科学院出版社出版。这是国内首本研究薛允升律学思想与改革主张的法学专著。薛允升 ,清末光绪年间曾两度任刑部尚书 ,主持刑部立法司法事务几达２０年 ,前后在刑部工作三十余年 ,是清代著名法律家、陕派律学之鼻祖。当时闻名中外 ,与后来的清末修订法律大臣沈家本“齐名” ,是研究近代中国法制史不可或缺的人物。但对薛允升作专门研究的却仍阙如 ,华友根同志的这部专著可说是填补了这方面的空白。…     

能动司法的模式与方法

能动司法命题的提出及其争议所反映出的不仅是当下法律人尝试着建构一种属于中国自己的司法方法与司法模式的努力,而且也反映出当下中国司法/法治只有在与西方法律话语展开对话的基础上才能够得以建构自己的法律命题与法治理论。无论能动司法的命题最终能否成为撬动中国法律发展逻辑变革的阿基米德支点,它都为我们提供了重新观察中国司法改革以及型塑中国新司法的一次机会。面对一个多元且又断裂的转型中国社会,如果能动司法能成为中国司法的一种新机制的话,那么它不仅要建立在一种整体性的司法知识观的基础上,而且在司法方法上也应更倾向于以结果为导向的实用主义。     

献疑与商榷:从“乔太守乱点鸳鸯谱”说起——《文学作品、司法文书与法史学研究》读后

《文学作品、司法文书与法史学研究》①将"乔太守乱点鸳鸯谱"的故事与清代司法文书中的妄冒为婚案例加以比较,指出文学描述根本不能反映司法实践的一般情况。事实上,"鸳鸯谱"并非妄冒为婚案件,乔太守的司法风格与明清牧令也没有本质差异。从其他描写同类案件的小说来看,文学作品固然存在虚构成分,但并不必然与司法实践相背离,同时也具有思想史和文化史研究的史料价值。妄冒为婚是否一定导致婚姻无效,明清律学家亦持不同见解;不能以刑部在个案中的主张一概推断。     

Mismatched Discourses in the Petition Offices of Chinese Courts

Based on participation observations and interviews with petitioners and petition officials in Chinese courts, this article analyzes how the petitioning discourse is organized and how it influences the dispute resolution process. It finds that the discourses between the petitioners and the petition officials are mismatched. The petitioners fight to frame their disputes in legal terms, while the petition officials use a “channeling discourse” to divert the petitioners to legal or extralegal institutions. The two types of discourse barely confront each other; nor are the substantive issues seriously debated. Since being channeled into other institutions does not resolve their disputes, petitioners start calling their petitioning experiences as injurious, blaming officials, and making new claims. Disputes are thus reproduced. The research sheds light on the petitioners’ legal consciousness and the operation of the petition system in China, and explores the contextual reasons why the phenomenon of mismatched discourses occurs in China.     

Justice Excused: The Deployment of Law in Everyday Political Encounters

This paper examines the use of legal claims by government officials and citizens in everyday political encounters involving civil rights. Data come from 580 letters sent to the federal government between 1939 and 1941, and from the replies sent by the newly formed Civil Rights Section of the Justice Department. In almost every case, the department refused to intervene and explained its refusal by making legal claims about federal jurisdiction. These legal claims masked the department's discretionary choices and thus helped depoliticize the encounters. Surprisingly, however, a substantial number of letter writers challenged the government's legal claims by deploying their own legal and moral arguments. The willingness of these citizens to challenge official legal pronouncements cautions against making broad generalizations about the capacity of ordinary people to respond effectively when government officials deploy legal rhetoric.     

Administrative Procedure Code of the Kyrgyz Republic

The 2017 Administrative Procedure Code of the Kyrgyz Republic defines legal proceedings in disputes arising between administrative bodies and their officials, on the one hand, and individuals and legal entities, on the other.     

Domestic violence and criminal justice training needs of social services workers

Domestic violence is a multifaceted problem that requires various agencies to work together to serve victims. Among other agencies that are involved in this collaborative effort, criminal justice officials must work with social services workers to ensure that cases are handled effectively. At the root of this collaborative effort, it is natural to question whether various parties have the knowledge needed to effectively respond to specific cases of domestic violence. In this study, attention was given to whether social workers possessed enough knowledge about various aspects of domestic violence, including information required to process domestic violence cases in the criminal justice system. In all, 186 social services worker supervisors in the Commonwealth of Virginia were asked to rate the level of knowledge they believed social services workers had regarding specific domestic violence topics with the level of knowledge workers they believed social workers needed regarding each domestic violence topic. Findings suggested that social services workers might have more problems dealing with the interpersonal nature of domestic violence cases than they do with the legal issues. At the same time, the supervisors suggested the workers knew less about specific legal options than they needed to know. Based on this, the authors suggest changes in training for all human services workers, including criminal justice officials and social workers.     

Accounting for the "Second Assault": Legal Organizations'Framing of Rape Victims

What organizational and community conditions influence legal officials to treat rape victims “unresponsively”? Our analysis is guided by Goffman's theory of organizational frameworks and frames of activity and March and Olsen's institutional theory of organizations. Using data from 130 m-organizations in Florida that process rape cases, we compare six types of organizations (including hospital emergency rooms and rape crisis centers) on eight criteria and review their frameworks and frames of activity relative to unresponsiveness. We use the issue of victim legitimacy to illustrate the utility of our model. Our results show that well-meaning staff in legal organizations are oriented to routinely treat victims unresponsively. Their organizations routinely orient them to be concerned with, for example, public approval, the avoidance of losing, and expediency more than with victims' needs. In our conclusion, we identify ways legal officials and rape crisis centers can promote responsive treatment of victims. We also call for research on legal organizations that are responsive to victims and for a nationwide discourse on the “politics of rape victims' needs” as a means of addressing the gender inequality issues that underlie rape crimes and laws and orient legal officials to treat victims unresponsively .     

依法反腐是提高执政能力的重要标志

执政党要维持对社会的统治,需要依靠掌握一定权力的大批官员,但少数官员又存在着以权谋私,变质为腐败分子的危险。因此,如何与腐败官员作斗争,关系到执政党的生死存亡,是对其执政能力的严重考验。而依靠法律制度来预防和反对腐败官员,是被历史证明了的最有效的手段。所以,我们辨别一个执政党的执政能力是否提高,有没有制订和实施惩治、预防腐败官员的法律制度是一个重要的标志。     

‘Sustaining the Character of a Judge’: Conflict within the Legal Thought of British India

Judicial roles provided the raj with major dilemmas. One persistent dispute related to civil servants sitting as judges. Critics argued that civil servants had a superficial legal education and lacked appropriate practical experience of work in the courts. Defenders of their judicial role contended that the best training for judges lay in administrative work on the plains of the sub-continent. Governors-general, viceroys, and others in executive positions claimed that such work provided officials with an understanding of Indian society and that this social knowledge made them effective judges. Professional judges drawn from the ranks of barristers and sitting in the major cities of Calcutta, Bombay and Madras frequently contested this view and the result was sustained disagreement. At the heart of the debate lay competing visions of justice.     

Marijuana Odor Perception: Studies Modeled from Probable Cause Cases

The 4th Amendment of the United States Constitution protects American citizens against unreasonable search and seizure without probable cause. Although law enforcement officials routinely rely solely on the sense of smell to justify probable cause when entering vehicles and dwellings to search for illicit drugs, the accuracy of their perception in this regard has rarely been questioned and, to our knowledge, never tested. In this paper, we present data from two empirical studies based upon actual legal cases in which the odor of marijuana was used as probable cause for search. In the first, we simulated a situation in which, during a routine traffic stop, the odor of packaged marijuana located in the trunk of an automobile was said to be detected through the driver's window. In the second, we investigated a report that marijuana odor was discernable from a considerable distance from the chimney effluence of diesel exhaust emanating from an illicit California grow room. Our findings suggest that the odor of marijuana was not reliably discernable by persons with an excellent sense of smell in either case. These studies are the first to examine the ability of humans to detect marijuana in simulated real-life situations encountered by law enforcement officials, and are particularly relevant to the issue of probable cause.     

Summary of precedent opinions of the General Counsel--VA. Notice

The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is publishing a summary of legal interpretations issued by the Department's General Counsel involving veterans' benefits under laws administered by VA. These interpretations are considered precedential by VA and will be followed by VA officials and employees in future claim matters. The summary is published to provide the public, and, in particular, veterans' benefit claimants and their representatives, with notice of VA's interpretation regarding the legal matter at issue.