State And Society: The Principle Of Autonomy And Historical Change

The rule of autonomy of the will has been one of the fundamental principles of civil law in the west since the contemporary times. When it belongs to the theory of civil law, it is also part of the theory of philosophical jurisprudence. Defined simply, the rule of autonomy of the will means that every member in society, based on their own rational judgment, is entitled to defining their own rights and obligations and managing their own business. In the process of it, such a member as an actor has a right to choose, participate and behave independently while he/she should be responsible for his/her behavior. Thus, its essential significance is to endow every social member with the right of equality and freedom. With the theory of state and society as the analytical instrument, this paper, from the perspective of the contradictory movement of state and society, attempts to analyze the process, causes and essence of the emergence, establishment, development and the changes, which the rule of autonomy of the will has undergone in the western society. During the period before contemporary and modem times in the west, the emergence of the rule of autonomy of will could only be formal and ideological, due to the high-level functional uniformity of state and society then. However, in the contemporary western world, with the gradual separation of state and society in function, the rule of autonomy of the will was finally established as one of the basic principles of the civil law in the statute books of the western countries. And in the modern world, the relationship between state and society is undergoing a change towards inter-infiltration and inter-development. Accordingly, the rule of autonomy of the will is changing in that a citizen society's eagerness for and promotion on freedom and equality contribute to the dual competition and interaction between state and society, consequently helping the rule of autonomy of the will to establish and develop. Finally, the present paper, through the investigation on the development of state and society in present-day China, expounds the establishment of the rule of autonomy of the will in present-day Chinese law is the necessary choice. Furthermore, an empirical case study has been offered to prove the fact that the rule of autonomy of the will has been established in the present-day Chinese legislation and judicature and to point out its practical significance to the modernization of Chinese legal system.