The background and prospects of the rule of law in urban-rural China
It seems to be Professor Zhu Suli’s hobby and habit to narrate the academic aspects of the rule of law and law in a stream-of-consciousness style literary language. This is once again fully reflected in his latest work "Road to the City", which makes me have to believe that he was already an enthusiastic literary young man when he was admitted to Peking University Law School.
This book was published by China Law Press in May 2004. It contains about 300,000 words. Except for the introduction, most of them are academic papers or speeches that the author has published in recent years. collection. However, as the author himself said, "Although these papers were written and published separately, they were generally carried out according to my unified plan, and when I finally edited this book, in order to form a unified whole, I also The text of many papers has been revised and some documents have been added."① This shows the author's responsible academic attitude and the process of forming and concentrating the academic thoughts of this work - the so-called "unified planning" or "unified whole". It is an "archaeological" gluing of the author's past thinking pieces on China's legal approach and legal sociology issues.
The first thing that caught my special attention is the title of the book, which is interestingly consistent with the title of Su Li’s past work "Sending Law to the Countryside" (2000 edition by China University of Political Science and Law Press). A high-profile contrast. Regarding the title of the book, the author explains that it comes from a poem by Verhaeren②, which is a metaphor about the transformation of contemporary Chinese society, and also serves as the background and basic constraints for the practice of contemporary Chinese rule of law. I do see a metaphor within a metaphor, indicating that the author's consideration of China's rule of law practice has returned from the countryside to the city. It may also mean the return and transformation of Su Li's own academic thoughts and stance. Because the title of the previous book clearly reflects that Su Li envisioned the main battlefield of China's rule of law practice in rural areas, but now he envisions cities. I think this transfer of assumptions is scientific and reasonable. The reason is that the traditional Chinese urban-rural dual structure society is undergoing changes and deconstruction. Over the past decade or so, China's rural areas, farmers, and agriculture have undergone tremendous changes. A large number of young and middle-aged farmers were liberated by advanced agricultural productivity and became the emerging and modern Chinese manual working class, which gradually increased in number in proportion to the degree of dissatisfaction with legal rights and demands. Compared with the original citizen class, In other words, they have more demands and desires for the supply of rule of law products, and they will become a strategic driving force or a tactical destructive force in China's rule of law process. China's rural areas are enveloped and seduced by radio waves emitted from cities, and are increasingly swallowed up or oppressed by octopus-like cities, thus issuing urbanization or urbanization demands for social equality in dual China, which will lead to legal The increase in demands for local self-government rights led to the emergence of federalist legal thought. China's agriculture has shifted from a self-sufficient economy to a resource-supply economy for cities. The pastoral pastoral in China's vast rural society has been choked or replaced by the noise of contracts and money. This is also a constant reminder to legislators and law enforcers. , judges and jurists such as Su Li: The family-style patriarchal society has completely melted. The trend of urban and rural integration has led to a movement from identity to contract that is beginning to take place in China, a commercial land that accounts for a quarter of the earth's population. This This will create roughly the same legal supply needs for China's urbanized villages and "ruralized cities" ③. This is the real background of the urban-rural duality of China’s rule of law practice, which is at least now becoming clearer and clearer. In this way, if Su Li's academic vision does not transform in time with the transformation of society, he will fall behind the times.
Then what caught my attention and read was the table of contents of the book. If the name of a book is "Dragon's Eyes", then the table of contents of the book is usually "Dragon's Skeleton". What the analytical eye sees is the focus of the work, while appreciating the catalog can peek into the context and structure of the author's academic thoughts. Judging from the table of contents, the book is mainly composed of four sections. The first section consists of "What Did You See?" (Preface to the Chronicle)", "Acknowledgments" and "Introduction - China's Rule of Law from the Perspective of Modernization", of which "What Did You See?" " is a "paragraph gist" written by the author in the second person for his own book. It is also a book review in the style of "he and I criticize ourselves". It is relatively pertinent and objective, especially for legal academics who like literature. After reading this preface, unless you are still very interested in the arguments and language process behind Su Li's views, there is basically no need to read the rest of the book. Of course, legal professionals and ordinary readers without legal majors can, driven by curiosity or thirst for knowledge, browse the specific pages at the back to browse the author's arguments and flowing legal (literary) writing. As for "Introduction - Chinese Rule of Law from the Perspective of Modernization", it is a rewrite of the author's published work. This article may be the source of inspiration for the author's lifelong academic thoughts. It mainly discusses the changes in Chinese society and the practice of Chinese rule of law. Interaction and intersection establish the author's rule of law concept that "the legitimacy of any law must be obtained from society."
The purpose of this concept that the author has repeatedly stated and clamored for is to constantly remind China's current rule of law practice, so that the rule of law can respond to or meet the various needs of social life; for another important purpose, Su Li has always wanted to make a contribution to the mainstream legal schools. That is to say, normative legal research is used to "correct deviations", or to compete for the commanding heights of the discourse power of contemporary Chinese legal science and the dissemination of public information.
The second section is the first part of the book, which is titled "Constitutional Government and Legislation" by the author. The title of the first chapter is "Decentralization of Central and Local Governments", and the title of the second chapter is "Decentralization of Central and Local Governments". It is "Habits in Contemporary Chinese Legislation", and the title of the third chapter is "The Supreme Court, Public Policy and Knowledge Needs".
The third section is named "Judicial System" because it is a natural continuation or in-depth and detailed argumentation of the third chapter in the second section. The author uses four chapters to talk about China's courts, judges, judicial examinations, etc. It seems that Trivial and minor issues