| Legal geography,or the study of law and space,focuses on the relationship between law and space,space and law,and the interaction between them.It is also a criticism of the closeness of law.Over the past three decades,legal geography research has gradually emerged in Canada,Britain,the United States and other countries.Although up to now,the research has not formed a clear theoretical schema,but through its novel method,we can see its broad theoretical vision and great theoretical ambition.The research of Chinese scholars in this field is still at the initial stage,not the initiator,nor the timely follow-up of relevant research,but this is not a serious defect: first,the accumulation of research in this field is not very much,it is still in the initial stage;second,the typical case of Chinese society can make its own unique contribution.Therefore,the author believes that this study is meaningful.Its value lies not only in the dialogue with foreign scholars,but also in the enrichment and expansion of Chinese scholars’ own understanding of the concepts and theories of law and space by means of such an interdisciplinary study as legal geography.For us,we should not only understand the basic principles of this research trend under its academic pedigree,but also identify the possible problem areas in the light of our social background,and then reflect on some of our ways of thinking about law through the interpretation of social phenomena.In order to complete the discussion of space in law,this paper is divided into four parts.The first part is to get a glimpse of the traditional spatial attributes in law,that is,if you want to understand the traditional concept of space in law,you must go back tothe legal provisions themselves and the facts of law operation.Firstly,the author combs the provisions of space in legal texts in a static way,and further divides these spaces into object space and symbol space.Some of these spaces appear directly in various legal norms in the form of "space",while others are hidden behind the language of legal norms,which need to be discovered through excavation.Secondly,through the three dynamic links of law application,law interpretation and law realization,we can observe the spatial phenomenon in the operation of law,and further understand the attributes of space in law.Finally,we summarize the characteristics of space in law which are regional,single and closed.The second part is to encounter the challenge of space problem in law.From the specific social context of our country,the author points out that there are not only many space problems between urban and rural areas,but also many space problems between urban and urban areas.With the process of urbanization,more and more space problems will arise.The traditional space view is unable to meet the challenge,while the legal geography under the "space turn" Scientific research will bring us new inspiration.The third part is to open up a new path of legal geography.This part mainly introduces how legal geography gets on the stage of history and triggers the upsurge of legal and spatial research.Thanks to the vigorous development of foreign humanities,including the rise of human geography,critical jurisprudence and the "spatial turn" of philosophy and sociology,legal geography has made great progress.The interpretation of space by legal geography makes space have more profound connotations,which play an irreplaceable role in explaining and guiding the space problems facing contemporary society.The fourth part is to look forward to the trend of legal geography,that is,legal geography can indeed bring us the spatial dimension of law and the spatial thinking in legal research,but legal geography is not a native "newborn",as an "exotic" whether it will also exist acclimatization.In addition,as far as legal geography itself is concerned,its theoretical development is not complete,so as a guide practice,there are also too "young" problems,in short,for the growth of legal geography still needs to go a long way.Finally,I would like to point out that space research since Foucault and Lefebvre is only an interface and fragment of spacethinking in the whole human society,but their theory is certainly not the end point of space theory.There are more concepts about space that need to be paid attention to.Similarly,the author’s discussion on law and space issues is very rare.The ambiguity of space lies not only in the long development of theory,but also in the dimension of understanding the concept.There are too many scholars who have expressed their views on space,some even conflicting,in order to accurately understand the attributes of space.Perhaps,from the current social environment of China,there are different results.Faced with all kinds of space theories,do we need an Occam razor? In thinking about law and space,why do people think of environmental determinism first?Or is it "one side raises one side,one side raises another side,and so on?" In the sense of space turning,more emphasis is placed on "social space",while the "natural space" which has been discussed has been neglected intentionally or unintentionally.In short,we need abstract space theory to have current social practice,but we need more space theory to explain real social life. |
