| Abstract: | 晚清法律的近代化，肇端於清光緒 28 年以迄宣統三年（1902-1911）的變法修律，開展於民國初期（1912-1928）的立法過渡與司法實踐，在1930-1946 年間，陸續確立了刑法、民法、商法、民事訴訟法、刑事訴訟法、憲法等六部主要法典的基本原則、立法體例與實質內容。孰料1949 年以後，「六法全書」花果飄零於台灣。回顧以往，這段學步於近代歐陸、日本乃至美國法制的歷程，即將屆滿一百一十個年頭，今後法律的興革方向，當由純粹的「繼受」，轉而進入「後繼受」時代。要深切思考的是，如何讓法律在地化與深層化？亦即，要如何使外來的法律與本土的文化和社會價值觀互相調和，乃至內化於官僚體系與黎民百姓的深層意識之中？而想要確立將來法制的興革走向，使之在地化、深層化，首要之務，自須先瞭解現實社會的發展實態，並準確地掌握現行法制的實質內涵。為達此目標，不能不對過往法制的生成與發展脈絡，進行全面且深入的釐清。此外，就法解釋學的方法論言，「主觀理論」認為解釋的依據，必須探求立法者於立法當時的真意，「客觀理論」則強調法律本為適應社會之需要而產生，解釋的依據，應推究立法者處於今日的社會情境下，所可能產生的不同詮釋觀點。然不管採取哪一種方法，從事法律闡釋時，都必須重視法案當時的立法理由，不能任意扭曲，以致違背立法者的實際觀點。是以，立法史料的整編與研究，在此意義上，有其重要性。目前，在憲法、民法、刑法、商法、刑事訴訟法、民事訴訟法等較具歷史性的幾部主要法典中，以憲法及刑事法史料的彙編與研究較為完整，民、商事法則明顯欠缺。為此，本研究計畫擬將就晚清以至當前為止（1902-2012），民法與商法的歷次立法草案、法典、立法理由，以及立法過程的相關議事記錄、官方文獻等珍稀史料文獻，進行全面性、體系性的整編、校釋與研究。相信，透過本計畫的史料整編成果，將能促使法學研究者進行相關法規範釋義或論述時，益加貼近歷史事實，避免主觀臆測而忘卻其所以然；尤其，也希望能夠在當今司法實務界的運用上，以及將來民、商法制的修訂過程中，提供完整而有力的史料資訊。
In the beginning of the twenty century, the Qing Dynasty made unprecedented and fundamental reforms to the Chinese legal system to cope with internal and external pressures, creating a violent and spectacular fusion of the legal thinking of the Western world and traditional Chinese society. During this period, Shen Jiaben (1840-1914) was a talented scholar who earned honors for leading the legal reforms. Thanks for Mr. Shen’s courage and insight and his great legal ability with respect to traditional laws, the two thousand year old traditional Chinese legal system finally stepped out of its old rut and instead, an extensive, heterogeneous mix of different legal systems of the European Countries was imported and put into place. Since the initiation of the legal reforms during the late Qing Dynasty in 1902, through the early R.O.C. period and post-1949 Taiwan, over one hundred years have passed in which the legal system Taiwan has inherited has been adopting foreign laws. We have accumulated lots of experience and information during this period of time, sufficient to look into the current legal system in detail and further localize and deepen it. In order to ensure the direction of further reforms, we have to examine the current legal system closely. However, in order to examine the current legal system, the first priority is to we trace the origins of the legislation and the historical materials closely associated with the current legal system. In addition, it is important for us to analyze the materials in a systematic and comprehensive manner in order to realize the pros and cons of the current legal system. Furthermore, according to the methodology of the Legal Interpretation Theory, “Subjective Theory” asserts that the basis of an interpretation has to conform to the original thinking of the legislators who created the legislation. However, “Objective Theory” stresses that the legislation is produced according to the needs of the society and therefore, the basis of the interpretation has to consider the different opinions which would be produced if the legislators were facing the current atmosphere of the present day society. No matter which theory is adopted, we have to take into account to the original legal thinking of the legislation without distortion or inconsistency with respect to the actual reasoning of the legislators when we conduct the legal analysis. Therefore, the importance of compiling and researching historical legal materials is evident. So far, among the legal codes with extensive histories, including the Constitution Act, Civil Code, Criminal Code, Commercial Law, Criminal Procedure Act and Civil Procedure Code, we discover that compiling and research on the historical materials relevant to the Constitution Act and the Criminal Procedure Code is much more comprehensive, while compiling and research relevant to the Civil Code and Commercial Law is less comprehensive. This Research Project intends to conduct an overall systematical compilation, annotation and research on the historical legislation drafts, the legal codes, the legislative reasoning, the meeting minutes relevant to legislation process and other valuable official archived materials associated with the Civil Code and Commercial Law from the late Ching Dynasty up to now. We believe the results of the compiling of historical materials in this study will encourage legal researchers to conform closely to the historical facts and the original reasoning and avoid any distortion due to their subjective conjectures when they make interpretations and analysis of the laws. Particularly, this study also intends to provide complete and helpful historical |
