The internal morality of Chinese legalism [electronic resource] / Kenneth Winston

Author:: Winston, Kenneth
Published:: [Cambridge, Mass.] : KSG, Harvard University, 2005.
Physical Description:: 46 pages
Additional Creators:: John F. Kennedy School of Government

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KSG faculty research working paper series ; RWP05-041

Summary:

It is widely held that there are no indigenous roots in China for the rule of law; it is an import from the West. The Chinese legal tradition, rather, is rule by law, as elaborated in ancient Legalist texts such as the Han Feizi. According to the conventional reading of these texts, law is amoral and an instrument in the hands of a central rule who uses law to consolidate and maintain power. The ruler is the source of all law and stands above the law, so that law, in the final analysis, is whatever pleases the ruler. This essay aruges, to the contrary, that the instrumentalism of the Han Feizi is more sophisticated and more principled than the conventional reading acknowledges. It suggests that, by examining the text of the Han Feizi through the lens provided by American legal theorist Lon Fuller, we can detect an explicit articulation of what Fuller called the internal morality of law. The principles of this morality are elaborated and their importance explained. In this way, the Han Feizi is retrieved as a signfiicant reference point for thinking about legal reform in China today.

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Note:

"June 2005."
Title taken from title screen (viewed June 28, 2005).

Bibliography Note:

Includes bibliographical references.

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Mode of access: World Wide Web.
System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader.

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