近代刑事法学思想的先声——霍布斯刑事法学思想述评

一般认为,是贝卡利亚首先将启蒙思想引入刑法领域,贝氏也因此被称之为"刑法学之父"。其实,早在贝氏之前(早于贝氏113年),霍布斯就完整地提出了罪刑法定和罪刑相适应的刑法基本原则,并论述了犯罪的概念与原因、刑罚权的来源、罪恶与罪行、不得自证其罪、反对刑讯逼供等刑法学思想。这在中世纪欧洲的刑事法学发展史上起到了承前启后的作用。霍布斯不是一位职业刑事法学者,这可能也是他的刑法学思想至今未被人们充分理解的重要缘故。但他关于刑法的一些基本理论与见解,给后人以重大影响,如果说贝卡利亚的《论犯罪与刑罚》是近、现代意义上刑法思想的启蒙,那么霍布斯的《利维坦》就是其启蒙之启蒙。

A Pioneer of Modern Science of Criminal Law

People tend to regard Beicalia, who first introduced the initiatory theory into the field of criminal law, as the Father of the Science of Criminal Law. In fact, 113 years prior to the birth date of Beicalis, Hobbes had systematically put forth the fundamental principles of "prescribing a punishment legally for a specified crime" and "suiting a punishment to a crime".Besides,he disserted the concept of crime and its cause, the origin of the power of punishment, the idea of vice and crime, right against self-incrimination, etc., which serves as a link between past and future in the history of the science of criminal law in medieval Europe. Hobbes was not a professional criminal justice, which is probably the reason why his thinking of the science of criminal law didn't attract much attention. But some of his basic theories and viewpoints about criminal law have great influences on the later generations. If Beicalia's On Crime and Criminal Punishment were the torchbearer of modern criminal law theories, Hobbes' Leviathan would be the teacher of this torchbearer.