從「依法治國」到「有限政府」？──中國法制道路的路徑依循分析

From“Rule by Law”to“Limited Government”?—Path-dependent Explanations of Legal Reform in Mainland China

從建政到改革開放，中國大陸政法領域的所有實踐和理論可說是從肯定到否定，再到否定的否定之道路。其中的關鍵就在於黨組織與國家制度間的衝撞，以及革命政黨與政權體制的平行發展。由於政策取代法律與人大的式微，使國家權力機關的功能被忽略或被取代，除了造成黨權與行政權的膨脹，亦使黨的領導得以不經正式程序來實現，其結果就是整個政治結構的變質與制度從屬關係的顛倒。黨的傳統與既有的制度安排，除了體現組織設定前提與干預之能力，相同的運作模式持續發揮影響力，也成為演化的對立因素。由於中共對其政治遺產的模糊態度，使改革侷限於一種無力卻固執的新生狀態。黨的「十五大」雖然強調「依法治國，建設社會主義法治國家」的目標，但仍必須在「四個堅持」的框架內運作，使得「黨大」或「法大」？政策與法律的關係至今仍是學界討論的議題，而中共在「有效治理」與黨支配權之間的矛盾，也成為黨的「法制」（rule by law）走向制度的「法治」（rule of law）必須跨越的門檻。

Since becoming a ruling party in 1949, the chronic problems of legal system were conflicts between the Party organization and the state institution, and the Party work departments that overlapped government departments at the same level. However, due to the ambivalence of the rulers towards the political inheritance in which past disasters, this inconsistent attitude towards the past has rendered the political reforms in a dilemma where a dynamic stagnation has been fomented between involution and progress. Although rule by law and institutionalization have been the main goals since the demise of Mao and the CCP has made“rule of law”and“construction of a socialist country with legality”a top priority in the 15th Party Congress, all changes and adjustments have to be carried out under the premise of“four cardinal principles.”Consequently, whether the party should be subject to the authority of laws remains a quandary. The contradictions to the institutional dilemma that the Party faces: It could not hope to rule the country effectively without a legal system, and yet it could lose its dominance if a legal system was full developed. It has altered the attitudes and behaviors of the elites and made the transition from the rule by law to rule of law harder.