一、引言

随着世界范围内法律移植和网络讯息的发展，全球法律体系的分类也发生了改变。每个国家的法律制度有共通点，也带有显著的因意识形态和地缘特征所形成的差异。近期，习惯法越来越受到关注，学者Patrick Glenn列出了一份新的不同法律体系的名单，强调了新的重点，包括部落习惯法[1]、犹太教法[2]、伊斯兰教法、印度教法、亚洲法、大陆法和普通法。可见，尽管我们通常将全球法律体系划分为大陆法系和普通法系两大类，但事实上，许多国家的法律特征不能被简单地认定为归属这两大法系之一。由于每个国家有其自己的历史、文化和社会意识，受到这些社会背景的影响，不同的民族或种族有不同的社会认知，则他们的法律制度也带有着相应的特征。本文将以中国和美国为例，分析历史、文化和社会意识对于法律制度的影响。

1.  Introduction

With the worldwide development of law transplantation and information exchange, the classification of the global legal system has also changed. Each country's legal system has commonness, also has obvious ideological differences and the geographical characteristics. More recently, there was a scholar, Patrick Glenn, who made a new list of different legal systems, including Chthonic, Talmudic, Islamic, Hindu, Asia, Civil Law, and Common Law. It can be seen that although we generally divide the global legal systems into two broad categories, the common law and the civil law, in fact, the legal traits of many countries cannot simply be considered one of these two systems. This is because each country has its own history, culture and ideology. Under the influence of these social backgrounds, different ethnic groups have different social identities and their corresponding legal systems have different characteristics. This paper will take China and the United States as objects, analyze the impact of these social backgrounds on the legal system.

二、 历史沿传对价值选择的影响

第一个因素是关于历史沿传。由于人们的价值选择往往基于过往经验而做出，这一因素对于法律制度的建立有着很大的影响。下文将从立法、执法、司法三个方面来探讨历史发展是如何对中国和美国的价值取向产生影响的。

（一）美国法律制度的价值取向

美国的历史就是一部争取自由和平等的故事。[3]美国是一个年轻的国家。它是哥伦布在15世纪发现的新大陆，在随后的一两个世纪里被欧洲各国占领和殖民。1620年9月6日，一艘著名的英国轮船，“五月花号”，抵达了美洲大陆。大多数为了寻找新生活而来到这个新世界的欧洲人要么是宗教少数派，要么是在欧洲无法谋生的穷人，但是也有像乔治·华盛顿这样的富人，他成为了美国的第一任总统。

以“波士顿倾茶事件”为导火索，美国的新移民和英国政府产生了巨大的经济利益纷争，关系紧张，“美国独立战争”爆发了。1776年7月4日，北美十三个州（英属殖民地）发表了《独立宣言》，这个伟大的文献提出了一个不朽的口号“人人生而平等”。[4]这个宣言正式地提出并强调了自由和平等的价值。自1787年5月至1787年9月，55名代表举行了为期四个月的会议。在这些代表中，有像乔治·华盛顿、本杰明·富兰克林这样的政治家，还有像亚历山大·汉密尔顿、詹姆斯·麦迪逊这样精通普通法的律师。这些人创造了美国宪法，其中制约和平衡的价值被高度重视。

 因此，美国的法律制度是在追求自由和平等的过程中建立起来的，正义的获得建立在保障自由和平等的基础上。在这三种价值中，自由是第一位，其次是平等，然后是正义。

在立法方面，美国宪法及其修正案非常重视“自由”和“三权分立制度”，这个制度旨在保护自由社会。例如，美国一些州已经有了允许同性婚姻的法律，这是对个人权利和个人自由的尊重。在执法方面，美国法律制度重视私人利益高于公共利益。其制度明确区分了个人和集体，有时会忽略私人利益和公共利益之间的联系和相互影响。很多情况下，人们会认为个人自由高于公共利益。在平时，保护个人利益有助于人们追求幸福，但在特殊时期，轻视公共利益的意识形态反而会导致私人利益的受损。同时，在美国，对私人利益的优先保护也是允许民众拥有私人枪支进行自卫的立法和执法的原因之一。在司法方面，美国有一个独特的法律制度，即“陪审团制度”。反抗殖民统治的历史和经验，让美国人民对集权和权力滥用保持警惕，人们相信人民的智慧，于是建立了“陪审团审判”机制， 美国宪法第七修正案保护了人们接受陪审团审判的权利。然而，美国社会本质上是一个商业社会和精英社会，所以美国的法律制度仍然需要平衡基本价值和社会效率。

（二）中国法律制度的价值取向

中国是一个有着悠久历史的国家，它的文明已经发展了几千年。中国法律制度的发展历程包括“夏、商、周”时期的古代法律制度，“战国、秦、汉、魏、晋、南北朝、隋、唐、五代十国、宋、元、明、清”各朝代的法律变革，中国的法制现代化，和中国特色社会主义法律制度。

 自秦朝以来，中国一直是一个统一完整的国家。在这片历史悠久的土地上，居住着56个民族，它们自古生活在这里，虽然它们在历史上有过纷争，但基本情况是其他少数民族承认当时的统治民族为首领。在中国的传统文化中，各个民族之间的侵略和剥削的概念并不广泛，即使在古代的从属、番邦、外族的情况下，强大的主流族群/民族也主要以接受贡品、纳税的方式进行统领，不干涉少数民族的生活、经济和文化。因此，与美国不同，在中国悠长的历史中，国家范围内的民族斗争或民族歧视的影响是非常小的。由此，尽管中国人民也同样追求自由和平等，但当个人利益和其他价值相冲突的时候，人们往往不会牺牲其他价值。

在中国历史上的各朝代中，集权是一个非常明显的特征，对国家的管理和治理是非常重要的事情，所以有时候公共利益会优先于个人利益。人们的意识形态中有一种观点认为，对公共利益的保护有利于对个人利益的保护，一个人的社会价值的实现也是这个人的个人价值的实现。团结和牺牲是中华民族的特点之一，这也体现在中国的法律制度中。另一方面，随着西方法治观念的移植和介绍，中国在法律制度的建设中开始注重对私人利益的保护，同时也强调自由、平等和公正之法律价值。

在立法方面，中国宪法规定了“平等原则”[5]，如“中华人民共和国各民族一律平等”，“中华人民共和国公民在法律面前一律平等”，“中华人民共和国妇女在政治的、经济的、文化的、社会的和家庭的生活等各方面享有同男子平等的权利”，等。因此，法律平等地适用于所有人，是中国法律制度的一项基本原则。并且，中国也将基本人权写入了宪法，例如政治权利、宗教信仰的自由、人格尊严、人身自由、住宅不受侵犯、劳动的权利、受教育的权利，和其他基本权利。另外，平等原则、诚信原则、公序良俗原则被规定在《民法典》中，这些原则体现了中国社会的普世价值。对公共利益的保护和对实体正义的倾向是中国历史延传下来的社会特质，并反映在中国的法律制度中。例如，和美国一些州的法律不同，由于中国法律制度对社会群体意识的重视，同性婚姻暂时还没有得到公众的普遍认可，其并未被中国法律所接受。在执法方面，政府管理是中国社会运行的重要支柱，政府有很强的组织能力，人民群众也会遵守法律和政策。例如，在应对新冠肺炎疫情的过程中，中国政府发布了许多政策和法律来控制疫情，人们也自愿遵守这些规则。因为在中国的社会意识中，群体的安全可以保障个人的安全，公共利益的实现有利于个人利益的实现。在司法方面，中国法制的历史发展过程中，事实得到高度注重，而程序则相对灵活。因此，即使中国的法律制度已经引入了程序正义的概念，但实践者仍然会倾向优先考虑实体正义。随着中国法律制度的发展，相信程序正义会愈来愈受到重视，程序正义与实体正义相辅相成，互相实现。

2. The Impact of Historical Development on Value Selection

The first element is the historical development. It has a great influence on the establishment of legal system, because the people’s experience is the basic for their choice of values. The following sections will look at how the value orientation of the Chinese and American people has been influenced by historical developments from the perspectives of legislation, law enforcement and access to justice.

2.1 The Value Orientation of the American Legal System

The history of America is a story of striving for freedom and equality. As we know, the United States is a young country. This is a new continent discovered by Columbus in the 15th century, and was seized and colonized by various European countries in the next one and two centuries. On September 6, 1620, a famous English ship came to America, which was called the “Mayflower.” To some extent, most of the Europeans who came to this new world in search of a new life were religious minorities, or poor people who could not make a living in Europe. But there were also rich people, like Washington, who had become the first President of the United States.

With the "Boston Tea Party" as the trigger, the new immigrants in America and the UK government had a great economic interest in the dispute, the “American Revolutionary War” broke out. On July 4, 1776, thirteen North American colonies issued “The Declaration of Independence,” and this great document proposed an immortal slogan “All men are created equal.” This declaration formally emphasized the values of liberty and equality. During May 1787 and September 1787, 55 delegates held a four months conference. Among these delegates, there are politicians such as George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, and lawyers who are professional in common law such as Alexander Hamilton, James Madison. These people created the United States Constitution, in which the checks and balances are highly valued.

Therefore, the U.S. legal system is established in the process of pursuing freedom and equality, and the justice acquisition is based on the guarantee of freedom and equality. In order of these three values, freedom comes first, followed by equality, and then justice.

In regard with legislation, the U.S. Constitution and its Amendments pay a great attention on “freedom,” and the “separation of the three powers” system is designed to protect a liberal society. For example, some states of the U.S. already have laws that allowing gay marriage, which is respect for individual rights and private liberty. In regard with law enforcement, the U.S. legal system values the private interest over the public interest. This system makes a clear distinction between the individual and the collective, sometimes ignoring the connection and interaction between private and public interests. In many cases, people tend to prioritize individual freedom over the public interests. In ordinary times, the protection of private interests helps people to pursue happiness. However, in a special period, the ideology of degrade public interests will in turn harm private interests. Meanwhile, in the U.S., the priority protection of private interests is also one of the reasons for the legislation and law enforcement of allowing people to have private guns to defense themselves. In regard with access to justice, the U.S. has a unique legal system, which is “Jury Trial.” During the process of struggling against colonial rule, the American people feared centralization and abuse of power, then the mechanism of “Jury Trial” was established. People believe in the wisdom of the people, and the seventh Amendment of the U.S. Constitution protects the right to trial by jury. However, the U.S. society is essentially a commercial society and an elite society, then the U.S. legal system still need to balance between fundamental values and society efficiency.

2.2 The Value Orientation of the Chinese Legal System

China is a country with a long history, and its civilization has been developing for thousands of years. The development history of Chinese legal system includes the “ancient legal system of the Xia, Shang, Xi and Zhou Dynasties,” the “Reform of the Warring States Period, the Qin, Han, Wei, Jin, Northern Dynasties, Sui, Tang, Song, Yuan, Ming and Qing Dynasties,” the modernization of Chinese legal system, and the evolution of new Chinese legal system.

Since the Beginning of the Qin Dynasty, China has been a unified and complete Country. In this ancient land, there are 56 ethnic groups living, although there have been disputes in history, but basically is the situation that other ethnic minorities admitted the main ethnic group is the leader. In traditional Chinese culture, the concepts of aggression and exploitation are not supported. Even in the case of subordination in ancient times, the powerful mainstream ethnic group only accepted tribute, and did not interfere in the ethnic minorities’ life, economy and culture. Therefore, in the long history of China, unlike the United States, the influence of ethnic struggle within the country is very small. Then, even though Chinese people also pursue liberty and equality, they will not always sacrifice other values at any time when private liberty are in conflict with other values like the United States. Instead, Chinese legal system will balance the proportions among all values.

In the dynasties during the Chinese history, centralization of power was a very distinct characteristic. The management and governance of a country is a very important issue, so sometimes the public interests tend to take precedence over individual interests. There is an opinion in people's ideology that the protection of public interests is conducive to the protection of individual interests, and the realization of a person’s social value is also the realization of this person’s individual value. Unity and sacrifice are the characteristics of this nation, and they are reflected in China's legal system. On the other hand, with the transplant and introduction of the western concepts of the rule of law, China has begun to pay attention to the protection of private interests in the process of the construction of the new legal system, and also emphasized the legal values of liberty, equality and justice.

In regard with legislation, China has stipulated the requirement of equality in the Constitution, that “all ethnic groups in the People's Republic of China are equal,” “all people of the People's Republic of China are equal before the law,” and “women in the People's Republic of China enjoy equal rights with men in political, economic, cultural, social and family life.” Thus, the equal application of the law to everyone without privileges is a fundamental principle of Chinese legal system. In addition, China has also incorporated the fundamental human rights in the Constitution, such as political rights, freedom of speech, freedom of religious belief, personal dignity, personal freedom, inviolability of citizens' homes, right to labor, right of education, and other basic rights. On the other hand, the principle of protecting public order and good customs has also been written into Chinese law, which is the basic concepts of the society. The protection of the pubic interests and the appreciation of the facts (or truth) are the characteristics handed down from Chinese history and reflected in China's legal system. However, Since China's legal system pays attention to the social group consciousness, and gay marriage has not been recognized by the public, it has not been accepted by the Chinese law. In regard with the law enforcement, as government management is an important source for Chinese society’s operation, the government has a strong organizational capacity, and the people will also abide by laws and policies. For example, in dealing with this COVID-19 outbreak, China has issued many orders and laws to contain the epidemic, the Chinese people followed these rules with willing attitude. Because in people's ideology, the safety of social groups can guarantee the safety of individuals, and the realization of public interests is helpful to the realization of individual interests. In regard with access to justice, in the course of the development of China's legal history, we attach great importance to facts and the procedure is relatively flexible. Therefore, even though the concept of procedural justice has been introduced into China's new legal system, the practitioners still give priority to substantive justice.

三、文化传统对法律制度的影响

美国是一个移民国家，人们来到这片新大陆，带来了新的观念，这些文化可以追溯到希腊文明。美国的法律制度也受到了古希腊哲学家的影响，最著名的是柏拉图和亚里士多德。美国的国父们从英国政治家约翰·洛克和法国法学家孟德斯鸠那里学到了“有限政府”和“分权制衡”的思想，这些理论最早来源于希腊的哲学思想。因此，美国的法律制度追求自由和平等是建立在自然法学派和伦理原则的基础之上。并且，乘坐着“五月花号”到达美洲大陆的许多人是基督徒，由此，基督教信仰和《圣经》对美国文化产生了巨大的影响，并反映在法律制度中。

中国传统文化以儒家思想和道家思想为基础，强调“天人合一”、“法与自然和谐”。在中国，人们对天和地有很深的感情，追求和谐，因为人们相信只有达到和谐才能获得幸福和内心的平静。在几千年的社会意识中，人们有神，但并不盲目崇拜神灵。在中国神话中，神灵也分善与恶，人可以成为神，神也可以变成人。世间万物都是流动和变化的，相对应的，人们更相信自然。在古代，人们不喜欢讼争，他们倾向于保持关系和联系。因此，调解是我国法律制度中解决纠纷的一种重要方式。其次，礼义和道德是中国传统文化的重要部分。有一句谚语为“修身齐家治国平天下”，人们注重自我修养和规则的合理性。所以，在纠纷中，哪一方更合理，事实情况是什么，都是人们关注的部分，这些特点也体现在了中国法律制度中。

3. The Impact of Culture Background on Legal System

The United States is a nation of immigrants, people who came to this new continent, brought with them a culture that can be traced primarily to the Greek civilization. The U.S. legal system was also influenced by ancient Greek philosophers, most notably Plato and Aristotle. The founding fathers of the U.S. learned the thought of “limited government” and the thought of “Separation and restriction of power” from England politician John Locke and France Jurist Charles-Louis de Secondat, which are from the Greek philosophical ideas. Therefore, the U.S. legal system pursuing liberty and equality is on the basic of the schools of natural law and ethical principles. In addition, many of the people who came to America continent with the “Mayflower” were Christians. Then, Christian belief and the Bible have a great influence on U.S. culture, and is reflected in the legal system then.

Chinese cultural tradition is based on Confucianism and Taoism, people emphasize that "harmony between man and nature,” and “harmony between law and nature." In China, people have a deep feeling for the sky and the earth, and have a pursuit of harmony, because people believe that only by achieving harmony can they achieve happiness and inner peace. In the ideology of thousands of years, people have gods, but they do not blindly worship gods. In Chinese mythology, gods also have good and evil, people can become gods, gods can also become people. Everything in the world is fluid and changeable. Instead, people believe in nature more. Chinese people don't like litigation in ancient time, they would like to keep the relationships. Therefore, mediation is an important method of dispute resolution in China's legal system. In addition, etiquette and morality are an important part of Chinese traditional culture. There is a saying in China that “self-cultivating, family-regulating, state-ordering, then the land great governed.” The ideas of people focus on the Self-discipline and reasonable principles. Thus, which party is more reasonable in a dispute, what are the facts, are the issues that people concern about, and that are reflected in China's judicial system.

四、结语

通过上述分析和比较，可知历史沿传和文化传统对一个国家社会意识和人民的意识形态有着重要的影响，从而体现在其法律制度中。法律制度是社会治理的一种工具，也是文化和文明的一部分。每个国家的法律制度有其自身的民族印记，没有绝对的对和绝对的好的制度，适合的才是最佳的。笔者认为，法律的要义之一是接受不同的社会和文化，接受世界上存在着不同类型的行为模式和观念，承认世界是多元的，我们应该在不同的制度中找到共通点。世界在不断地发展，也许在遥远的将来，会出现大同社会。然而，这并不意味着我们必须是一样的，人类文明的多样性和多元化才是我们在宇宙和时空的长河中留下痕迹的方式。

4. Conclusion

Through the above analysis and comparison, we know that the historical development and cultural background have a crucial impact on the ideology of a country's people, which will be reflected in the country's legal system. The legal system is a tool for social governance, and will also promote the development of civilization. Each country's legal system has its own national stamp, there is no absolute right and absolutely good system, suitable is the best. In my view, one of the basic values of law is to embrace diverse societies and cultures, to accept that there are various types of behavioral patterns and opinions in the world, to admit that the world is multi-element and we should find our common ground among different systems. The world is developing, and maybe in the distant future, there will be a world government. It doesn't mean, however, that we need to be the same. The diversity of earth civilization is how we leave our mark on the universe.

注释：

[1] 部落习惯法，基于土著部落的法律、习惯与文化所形成。我们可以在印度尼西亚、马来西亚、斯堪的纳维亚半岛北部的因纽特部落找到这些传统的法系。

[2] 犹太教法，基于犹太教法典主要文本和宗教律法而形成。

[3] 从本质上讲，美国对自由和平等的重视是建立在相互竞争的利益基础上的。

[4] “我们认为这些真理是不言而喻的：人人生而平等，造物者赋予他们若干不可剥夺的权利，其中包括生命权、自由权和追求幸福的权利。”

[5] 在中国，宪法不能直接适用于案件（裁判文书不直接引用宪法作为裁判依据），但其体现的原则和精神可以在说理部分予以阐述，且中国的法律体系在具体的法律中对这些基本权利进行了规定和细化。此外，中国宪法在法律制度上具有提纲和主导的作用，当事人、法院、检察院都要遵守宪法规定的原则和精神。