革命传统与西方现代司法理念的交锋及其深远影响——陕甘宁边区1943年的司法大检讨

陕甘宁边区1943年的司法大检讨,是两种不同司法理念的交锋,一种是以工农干部为代表的革命传统之司法理念,一种是以白区来延安的知识分子为代表的西方现代司法理念。在这次交锋的过程中,不仅仅有思想理念、理论的提出,更有行为与制度的实践。两种司法理念的不同主要体现在以下问题上,即几审终审更合理、司法是否应独立、司法干部是否以专业能力为必备条件等。这对当今的司法理念和司法实践也有所借鉴和帮助。     

法官借助习性空间展现其角色定位

习性可善可恶。加强法治与德治的目的都是改善习性,抑恶扬善。法官习性的形成源于古代的政治责任与贵族责任以及自然法理念。我国的司法伦理从来没有要求法官是精神贵族,法官在我国历来是被归入国家干部的范畴,对法官的要求是平民精神。有什么样的法官习性结构就代表着什么样的法官思维方式、认知结构和审判模式。法官信奉正义的习性可以作为一种有效的手段来推进法官的观念。法官习性是司法权力通过法律使自身合法化的机制,它使得法官受制于塑造他们的环境,从而使现存的司法制度深入人心地正当与合法化。     

省级统管地方法院法官任用改革审思———基于实证考察的分析

对于地方法院法官的任用,实践中已经发展出一套独特的机制:绝大部分法官任用的实质性决策权主要由法院内部及本级党组掌握,法院外部的权力主体及上级法院仅参与法院领导的任用;任用标准表现为以职业化为主,兼顾领导管理能力;任用程序上则形成多元化、有限竞争的选任格局.从效果层面分析,这套机制具有相当的经济性,通常能够选拔出具有一定业务能力和领导管理能力的法官及法院领导,但其存在的问题也较为明显.这套机制的形成主要与中国整体的干部任用制度以及司法制度建设、改革的进程有关.整体上看,目前着手推进的省级统管地方法院法官任用的改革,会在一定程度上解决以往地方法院法官、院长任用过程中可能存在的“地方主义”甚至“山头主义”、“保护主义”等问题,但也可能存在信息收集能力较差、任用成本过高等不足.“有限集中,分层授权”是既可解决上述问题,又能兼顾地方法院法官任用机制改革基本出发点的有效改革方略.     

罪刑法定司法化研究

在罪刑法定的语境中,司法权具有限制性,从而与具有绝对性司法权的罪刑擅断明确地划清了界限。在罪刑法定原则下,司法主体只有具有了这种自主性,才能严格根据法律规定对行为是否构成犯罪作出正确的判断。法官独立,法官只服从法律而不屈从于权力,是罪刑法定司法化的重要保证。在罪刑法定司法化当中,刑事司法体制的建构当然是至关重要的;但与此同时,司法理念的引领同样是必不可少的。在某种意义上可以说,司法理念是罪刑法定司法化的思想保障,只有在法治的司法理念指导下,罪刑法定司法化才有可能实现。同样,只有发展出一套娴熟的司法解释技术,才能为罪刑法定司法化提供手段保障。     

现代司法理念与法官的选择

本文简要介绍了目前学界对“现代”一词的两种理解与使用,从而进一步界定了对现代司法理念的理解,并论证了现代司法理念对法官的选择所带来的影响。     

寻求一种温和的司法能动主义——论疑难案件中法官的司法哲学

在面对疑难案件时,法官的司法哲学是案件的最终裁决者。信奉司法能动主义的法官倾向于通过创造性司法来回应社会需求,而司法消极主义则将自己定位为立法者的代理人,反对通过司法途径来解决重大社会问题。在当下的中国法治建设中,基于社会转型的现实,法官在审理疑难案件时应当秉持一种温和的能动主义的司法理念,通过创造性司法来回应社会变迁,实现社会正义。     

现代司法能动的完善——以传承司法能动传统为视角

中国司法能动性具有古老的历史,当代中国司法应当让这一优秀传统延续下去,本文以法之起源及司法能动性的传统为切入点,结合中国法传统,从让法官独立、使法官能动、树立法官的民本思想、建立有限的司法审查机制、提高民众素养几方面来浅谈让司法能动之源永恒流淌于中国司法实践之中的方略.     

21世纪中国法官的新理念

依法治国要求司法现代化,而司法现代化则需要通过司法改革来实现,司法改革包括司法观念和司法制度的变革,其中,制度的建构和顺畅离不开司法理念的先行和共识.从这个意义上讲,司法现代化必然要求法官角色的转换和法官形象的重塑.因此,从司法价值理念的角度来探讨和认识21世纪中国法官这一职业群体在完成角色转换过程中所应具备的基本属性,就显得尤为重要.     

法官审判技能是追求真善美和幸福的职业艺术

法官审判案件是否可以成为诱发美感和幸福感的职业艺术呢?答案是肯定的!法官的司法审判活动是一种实践性、经验性、知识性、技术性很强的法律职业工作,法官审判不仅仅只是做一个"法匠",机械地根据法律来消弥纠纷,而是要按照立法的精神和原则创造性地适用法律,通过司法审判维系社会的公平与正义.法官审判技能当然也是一门职业艺术,而且是...     

论法官的选择——谈学习社会主义法治理念的体会

社会主义法治理念,是我国法官在处理个案时应遵循的指导性原理,这具体表现在辩证处理调解与判决、客观真实与法律真实、严格规则主义与司法能动主义、裁判文书的审美价值与说理价值等各种复杂关系的过程中。这需要强化和提升法官的司法素养、司法能力和司法伦理水平。     

High‐End Demand: The Legal Profession as a Source of Judicial Selection Reform in Urban China

Most studies of comparative judicial politics suggest that judicial autonomy emerges from democratic competition, but despite its authoritarian political system, China has introduced reforms that increase merit‐based competition, transparency, and modest professional autonomy in local courts. Variations in judicial selection procedures across urban China reflect differences in local markets for professional legal services: when mid‐ranking judges can easily find lucrative local employment as lawyers, court leaders strategically reform appointment and promotion mechanisms to retain these young, but experienced, judges. These findings are based on nearly fifteen months of in‐country fieldwork, conducted between 2012 and 2014, including forty‐nine interviews with judges across three different cities: Shanghai, Shenzhen, and Chengdu. Employing the subnational comparative method, this article not only builds theory regarding the legal profession's role in authoritarian states, but also offers new empirical detail regarding the selection, performance evaluation, and behavior of judges in urban China.     

The Right to Counsel in Juvenile Court: The Conundrum of Attorneys as an Aggravating Factor at Disposition

In re Gault provided procedural safeguards in juvenile courts, including the right to counsel. Decades later, judges continue to resist appointing lawyers. And, when they do appoint counsel, lawyers appear to be an aggravating factor when judges sentence youths. In 1995, Minnesota enacted law reforms, including mandatory appointment of counsel. As a cost‐saving strategy, the law also converted most misdemeanors into status offenses and restricted judges’ sentencing authority in order to deny juveniles a right to counsel. This study compares how juvenile courts processed 30,270 youths in 1994—the year before the changes—with how they processed 39,369 youths in 1999 after the amendments. We assess changes in appointment of counsel and their impact on sentencing practices. We report inconsistent judicial compliance with the mandate to appoint counsel and a positive decrease in the number of youths removed from home.     

Why Is the Equal Merit Principle (Almost) Straightforwardly Wrong?

This article challenges the ‘Equal Merit Principle’, introduced to the judicial appointment process by the Crime and Courts Act 2013. The author argues that this principle does not take diversity seriously enough and none of its possible justifications stand up to close scrutiny. The author also claims that the doctrine that judges should be appointed solely on the basis of merit is either wrong, for the very same reasons as the Equal Merit Principle, or rather uninformative because it fails to give sufficient guidance to those who select judges.     

保障法官素质的标准和方法:法官资格考核与培训

我国法官素质已经引起了社会各界广泛的关注。如何使我国法官成为法律职业群体中的精英 ,不仅是一个实践问题 ,而且是一个涉及到根本宪政体制的理论问题。从这个意义上讲 ,提议中的统一司法资格考试不仅会对提高法官素质产生积极影响 ,而且会对一些宪政制度的方面 ,特别是司法改革 ,产生潜移默化的影响。但考试制度的改革这只是保障法官素质的基本措施之一。从统一司法资格考试开始 ,各种考核法官的方法都应当跟上 ,必要和经常性的法官培训制度应当逐步健全 ,严格和公开的法官任命制度也必须建立。     

The establishment of the Judicial Appointments Commission in Malaysia to improve the constitutional method of appointing the judges of the superior courts: a critical study

The Judicial Appointments Commission was established in Malaysia in 2009 to ensure unbiased selection of judicial candidates for the consideration of the Prime Minister, who has the final say regarding the appointment of judges to the superior courts. But the provisions concerning Prime Minister’s power to appoint the majority of the members of the Commission and his unfettered power of removing four of the five appointed members without assigning any reason, have calculatedly been devised for ensuring the selection of judicial candidates having right political patronage in accordance with the covert wishes of the Prime Minister. Furthermore, the Prime Minister’s power of rejecting the Commission’s recommendations of multiple candidates renders the undertaking of a lengthy process of selection unproductive and useless. Thus the Judicial Appointments Commission has become a superfluous body with an ineffective modus operandi to attain the stipulated objectives of improving and complementing the constitutional method of appointing judges to the superior courts. Since the Federal Constitution of Malaysia has not empowered the Parliament to enact a law providing for the establishment of a Judicial Appointments Commission, it also appears that the Judicial Appointments Commission Act 2009 is an invalid piece of legislation.     

荒诞不经与法律真实——论鬼神观念与古代司法中的事实认定

法律真实渗透着参与主体的主观因素,具有历史性。在中国古代,司法官员会因鬼神观念而影响自己对事实的认定并据此作出判决;同时为了主流价值观的发扬,他们又会利用民众的鬼神观念,让民众接受他们构造出的＂事实＂,从而接受法官的判决。古代中国这种＂法律真实＂是社会规则作用下的结果,既有符合司法权运作普遍规律的成分,同时又有自己的特点。     

从制度上保证审判独立——以司法独立的国际标准为参照

司法独立的国际标准要求法院和法官在行使审判权的时候不受干预,有关各方也不得进行干预,并且还应当为法院和法官独立审判提供积极保障。我国的审判独立原则包含了法院集体独立和法官个体独立的内涵,但无论是在立法上还是在实践中,都与国际标准存在着一定差距。只有以国际标准为指导,对我国不符合审判独立要求的制度和做法进行改革,才能够达到从制度上保证审判独立的目的。     

民事判决中的非法证据排除规则

在民事诉讼中排除非法取得的证据,是最高人民法院通过司法解释确立的一条新的证据规则,该证据规则实施已近10年。由于该规则本身蕴含着程序公正与实体公正等价值与目的的冲突,审判实务中适用该规则遇到了相当大的困难。审判实务中较为普遍的做法是,根据规则所确立的"侵害他人合法权益"和"违反法律禁止性规定"这两条非法证据认定标准,采用利益衡量的方法,结合案件中收集证据的具体情形来作出排除与否的决定。法院在适用该规则时,尽管对部分取证方法为非法已经取得了广泛的共识,但对另一部分取证方法合法与否,仍存在着较大的分歧。     

情理推断在刑事证明中的规范运作 以事实证成理论为分析框架

情理推断是以经验知识为前提的推论,其在司法证明中的作用是必要但危险的。我国现行印证证明模式中并没有包容情理推断的空间,但其却在实践中隐性运作,同时因缺少约束机制而易于导致权力滥用甚至恣意裁判。为化解合法性与正当性危机,有必要规范情理推断在司法证明中的运作。然而,传统印证证明理论的外部视角,无法描摹司法证明的全貌,可以引入一种内部观察视角作为补充。司法证明在结构上是包含价值判断的论证式经验推论,事实认定因而具有似真性。在似真性证明的制度语境中,情理推断作用于从证据命题推导出案件事实的证明过程之中,辅助裁判者认定并证成对事实的确信。在该事实证成的理论分析框架中,情理推断的规范运作需要以认知开放的竞争性论辩程序为场域,以包容性的证明方法体系为前提;为防止权力滥用,还应给裁判者施加事实证成义务。     

It’s a man’s world: barriers to gender transformation in the South African judiciary. Perspectives from women advocates and attorneys

The judiciary in South Africa has made great strides in creating a diverse bench. However challenges continue as regards the appointment of women, some of which are attributable to the nature of the legal profession. Currently, there are 86 women judges in the Superior Courts nationally out of a total of 243. Judges are drawn from the professions of advocates, attorneys, magistracy and academia. Women in these areas of law are confronted with issues that have a bearing on any aspirations of future accession to the judicial bench. The aim of this article is to analyse two specific challenges faced by women advocates and attorneys that were identified over the course of the last three years through legal sector meetings. These are the unequal distribution of work and discriminatory perceptions of women’s abilities. I argue that the two factors are directly related to the inadequate representation of women on the bench. My argument will be informed by, amongst others, dialogues from the legal sector meetings, observations of the judicial appointments process and desktop research. I conclude that failing to engage with the identified obstacles will negate any efforts to further increase the number of women judges.