從法律保留到法律先定

“法律保留”概念誕生在德國，後經日本轉介進入中國已近百年。但漢語翻譯丟失關鍵資訊，與德文原意有明顯落差，由此引發中國公法學對該概念的雙重誤解：或混淆於縱向的立法權專屬，或限縮在橫向的立法權專屬。追根溯源，奧托·邁耶創造這一概念是為了確立“先法律後行政”的規範關係，故應嚴格按照字面意思重譯為“法律先定”。在德國當時的君主立憲制下，“法律先定”雖只是相對、有限的先定，但從兩個不同方向有力推動法律介入君權與行政權之間，進而逐步拉開君權與行政權的距離，持續調整“君主—議會—政府”三角關係。由此可見，“法律先定”的本質是界定立法、行政幾種權力的活動空間和先後順序，它們之間誰輕誰重尚要具體問題具體分析，但誰先誰後卻是現代國家的定局。

The term ‘Gesetzesvorbehalt’originated in Germany and has been transported into China via Japan for around a hundred years. However, its Chinese translation has lost key information and is clearly at odds with the original German meaning .This has led to misunderstandings in the field of Chinese public law, which can be summarized into two problems: ‘Gesetzesvorbehalt’is either confused with the vertical exclusivity of legislative power, or restricted to the horizontal exclusivity of legislative power. Tracing back to the sources, it is clear that Otto Mayer created the concept to establish a normative relationship, namely ‘statutory law comes first, and administrative agencies act accordingly’. Thus, ‘Gesetzesvorbehalt’should be retranslated strictly in its literal sense as ‘the requirement of a statutory provision’. Under the constitutional monarchy, although ‘the requirement of a statutory provision’was relative and limited, this principle was a strong impetus for law to intervene between the monarchy and the executive in two different directions, thus gradually distancing the monarchical power from the executive power and continuously adjusting the’ monarchy-parliament-government’ triangle. In this regard, the essence of the principle of’the requirement of a statutory provision’is to define the limits and sequence of activities of the legislative and administrative powers. Which of them is given more weight varies in different fields of law, but which provides the foundation for another is a given answer in the modern state.