作者：中南財經政法大學法學院教授　羅洪洋

　　原文出處：

　　《環球法律評論》(京)2015年第20156期第8-16頁

　　內容提要：

　　學界將西方法律和法治傳統追溯到古羅馬的觀點是大可質疑的，有必要重新思考古羅馬與近現代西方法治的關系。古羅馬政制在相當長的時段里體現出國家至上的特點，缺乏個人自由、平等、權利保護等近現代法治的基本要件；羅馬法的繼受是歐洲中世紀政教權力斗爭和絕對主義國家的產物，羅馬法所提供的最重要資源是君主的絕對權力理論；作為一種制度的法治是近現代西方價值選擇的結果，與傳統關聯不大。西方主要國家確立資本主義法治后，希臘羅馬成為其可資利用的重要資源。近現代西方一整套法治理論是幾代歐洲學者人為建構的一個精心編織的“無視歷史”的法治神話和故事，神話的源頭是洛克等人擬就的自然狀態論和社會契約論，為西方現代國家政權奠定了合法性基礎；黑格爾等人則是神話和故事的續寫者，他們承擔了將西方法治文化絕對化、普遍化的任務。

　　Academia generally traces modern rule of law back to ancient Rome,which is by no means without doubt.This thesis rethinks the relationship between ancient Rome and the rule of law in the modern West.While supremacy of the state or sovereign rights characterized Roman law for a long time,traces are scanty in the Roman legal system of such basic elements of modern rule of law as personal freedom,equality and protection of rights.The acceptance of Roman law was due to the power struggle between the church and the state in the Middle Ages,during which Europe heavily drew on the notion of the absolute power of the sovereign that constituted the theoretical basis of Roman law.Rather than born out of Roman traditions,the rule of law,as an institution,was the result of the value choice of the modern West.Ancient Rome and Greece became important resources available for leading European countries after the establishment of a capitalist rule of law.The entire set of modern Western legal and political theories are in fact a myth purposefully constructed by generations of European academics.While John Locke and others created the myth with their concepts of the state of nature and social contract as the legal basis for modern Western states,it was Hegel and others who continued the myth by absolutizing and generalizing the culture of Western rule of law.

　　關 鍵 詞：

　　古羅馬/西方/法治/法治神話

　　論及西方文明，言必提希臘羅馬成了學術界的一種慣例，中文學界尤其突出。比如，人們毫不懷疑“完全揭開西方憲政法律發達的歷史序幕，仍然應當從古代希臘起筆”；“西方憲法史其次應對羅馬憲政制度進行闡述……將希臘和羅馬的憲政思想貫穿起來……”①類似看法幾乎成了學界的通識。