Studies In Zhang TaiYan's Thought Of Law

Zhang TaiYan holds that tradition has it's own rationality, and based on it he has made many unique criticism of traditional legal institutions. Summarize those criticisms, we can find it clearly that the tradition can be cherished and should be criticized. At the same time, if we can tie Zhang TaiYan's analysis by the thread of thought which including the principle of Confucianism, the method of FaJia and the attitude of Taoists, we can find that it is not only blaze new trails which is of great value to us, but also keep. Zhang TaiYan regard equality as a dialectical concept, in his view nation's equality on the positive side while personal equality on the negative side, and all of them come into a harmonious situation which will overstep the nation's equality. Based on criticism of traditional legal institutions and resolve of problem of equality, Zhang TaiYan in order to emphasize the importance of the relationship between morality and law, and the urgent of the relationship between freedom and order. Based on the importance of the relationship between morality and law, we should to recognize it clearly that there are exist a difference between the private morality and public morality in our traditional context, and the private is the fountainhead while the public is the end. Furthermore we should to recognize it that is the private morality which act as the principal regulate method, the prosperous of the public morality must be depend on it's perfection. Although the prosperous of the public morality unattainable,inorder to overstep public morality and achieve rule of law which lashed by the concept of rule of law and democracy, we have abandoned the cultivation of the private morality, the outcome is we have to listen to the funeral bell of public morality and rule of law. Based on the urgent of the relationship between freedom and order, Zhang TaiYan divide two approaches: the colony is as same as a living pattern or a some kind of resources, so the legislator's task is not to create specific order but to establish some condition which benefit for the order; individual person may be more like a motive power which can change the used pattern of the colony, the independent individual character and individual charm can promote the colony's unity and surmount the difficulty by his individual power ensuring it that he can keep his independence. Based on them, the criticism of the representative system expresses Zhang TaiYan's discernment as this: if only to emphasize the representative system but not to care of the background fact of the colony and the value of the individual action which sustained by independence and freedom, it will be harmful to the harmonization of the freedom and order.