Legal values in Western society

Author: Peter Stein / John Shander / Wang Xianping
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2004-11-01
Features: The notion that our law is the best law has long been a thing of the past. Today's law students, compared to their predecessors and elders, are more likely to ask such questions when encountering specific legal provisions in a particular area of law: "What is the ultimate purpose of this provision? Why was it formulated? How can we measure whether it has met the expected standards?" This book does not attempt to provide concrete answers to these questions. Its purpose is to offer a framework for thinking about them. The traditional method of first systematically explaining the values that Western law has traditionally strived to achieve in a didactic manner, and then citing examples from contemporary law where these values are realized, has long been tiresome. Western law, partly derived from Roman law and partly from Germanic customary law, exists in the form of common law. The civil law system and the common law system developed independently in their respective contexts, but in the private law domain—i.e., the legal field that regulates relationships between citizens—they share certain fundamental value concepts. Order, fairness, and individual liberty are not merely rhetorical slogans; they hold a recognized position in Western legal thought. In the early chapters of this book, we will examine and explain this status, and through examples from both legal systems, demonstrate to what extent these fundamental values have been realized and can be realized in the legal field. Among lawyers, though they come from diverse cultural backgrounds, their values are largely consistent, and they tend to act in similar ways. This observation, following the preceding questions and content, reveals some insights into the nature of legal procedure. In the later chapters, the main focus will be on the key areas where various values converge and interact, thereby restricting one another. Therefore, the central theme of this book shifts more toward discussing the role of law in our society today. We believe that law students will find that without thorough research and discussion of these issues, they will miss a crucial part of their legal education. In reality, through years of legal study, anyone will develop some views on the role and purpose of law. However, these views are often vague, and students may merely dimly perceive them. In the field of law, the famous saying, "The only difference between a 'philosophical' person and a 'non-philosophical' person is that the latter knows what their philosophy is," is deeply profound. We hope this book will be beneficial to those engaged in or about to engage in the legal profession in their deeper research and discussion of legal values.