Legal Function Theory

Author: Fu Zitang
Publisher:
Publish Date: 1999-08-01
Features:
A low-functioning legal system cannot form true rule of law. The study of legal functions is one of the core topics of legal sociology, holding significant practical implications for building a modern rule-of-law society. This research first analyzes the basis of the emergence of legal functions, then primarily employs functional theories in sociology to explore the connotation of legal functions. Legal functions reflect a law-society relationship, representing a state in which law interacts with society based on its structural attributes, demonstrating law's adaptability to society. This book establishes basic classifications such as explicit and implicit legal functions, positive, negative, and non-functional aspects of law. The author argues that the coercion of law over a minority is precisely to incentivize the majority; the will embodied by law is actually determined by various interests. Therefore, legal functions manifest as incentives for behavior itself and regulation of the interests behind behavior. In legal sociology, the study of the forms or mechanisms of legal functions should primarily focus on behavior incentives and interest adjustments. This book particularly proposes that the principles of law lie outside the law, with law being grounded in society. Legal functions extend to the entire society, and attempting to bring about social change through law is a fundamental characteristic of the modern world. Law influences the course of history precisely through its functions in the economic, political, and cultural spheres. However, legal functions are merely the capacity of law to act, a state of possibility. The life of law lies in its realization. Thus, the author further examines the realization of legal functions and its outcome—the issue of legal order. In contemporary China, the significance of using law is greater than that of obeying law. Legal order does not necessarily equate to rule-of-law order; rule-of-law order is the highest realm of legal order development. Only with a correct understanding of the status of legal functions in rule-of-law order and the obstacles to their realization can we strive for a rule-of-law state and build a socialist rule-of-law country.