一面司法领域的多棱镜：社会学视角下的法官素质

近年来法官素质问题成为中国法院、法学界乃至社会关注的焦点。纵观社会各界对法官素质问题的认识，可发现“法官素质低”已成为常识性命题。这一认识导致社会对法官公信力怀疑乃至否定。而法官作为现代社会纠纷最终的裁判者，如果在大众心目中缺乏权威，其裁判结果便难于为社会所接受。事实上，近年来法院工作报告与相关文件内容，始终贯穿这样一种基本思路：法官素质整体偏低，已成为法院改革的瓶颈。在社会转型时期，此问题能否解决成为法院定纷止争这一司法功能能否充分发挥的关键。但如果追问，会发现“法官素质低”这一似乎不证自明的常识性命题背后其实存在诸多问题需要研究，如，法官素质低这一认识始于何时？社会何以这样认为？法官素质究竟包括什么？——专业素质、道德素质还是其他？判断法官素质高低的标准是什么？——大学学历、法律专门教育、司法职业经验、还是判决得到当事人的肯定？这一问题是中国特有还是各国皆有？其实质是什么？又如何解决？事实上，“法官素质低”引发的上述“问题群”迄今为止并未得以深入研究。本文以此为研究的出发点，试图对这些问题有所探究。全文共分七部分。前言部分从“当代中国法官素质低”这一社会事实出发，分析这一事实背后所蕴涵的多种问题，提出法官素质问题研究的必要性。第一部分“导论”，此部分首先讨论了法官素质问题的研究范围、分析框架、研究方法与思路。当代中国法官素质问题非常复杂，恰如一面多棱镜，折射出当下社会特别是司法领域的种种问题。既有研究也观点纷呈，并未达致统一。法官素质问题表现为事实状态与理论层面双重的复杂性，研究难度相当大。因此，建立清晰简明的理论概念对其研究便显得十分必要。本文认为法官素质，是指法官的审判能力或资格。在研究方法上，本文主要采用了法社会学、历史学与比较法学的方法。因为性质不属于填补空白，本文必须立基于既往研究。已有研究与此问题相关的内容可归为两个方面，即法官素质问题本身以及法官素质与相关问题的研究，后者包括法官素质与法官管理制度、审判制度、法院权威、司法公正、法官地位、法学教育等关系。因为法官素质本体问题的研究是研究与法官素质相关的其他问题的基础，只有将前者研究清楚，才有对后者深入研究的可能性。因此，论文最终确定以研究法官素质本体问题——概念、标准等为主要任务。而在法官素质本体问题的研究方面，以往的分析视角皆为一元思维，即按照单一标准来衡量与思考这一问题。一元标准的视角虽对认识法官素质问题有所助益，但这一助益却具有相当的局限性：未能充分反映出这一问题的复杂性。为弥补单一视角研究的不足，本文提出了二元标准（即“法官职业标准”与“法官职业外部评价标准”的简称）的分析框架。二元标准理论的提出立足但突破了已有研究，可谓本文的创新之一。需要说明的是，本文通篇采取的是“整体性”方法研究，即虽涉及个别法官素质的分析，但始终关注的是整体意义上的法官素质。第一章“法官素质若干理论分析”，主要讨论了法官素质的具体内容、分类、标准（重点是二元标准及其相互关系）、影响法官素质的外部与内部因素。法官素质具体包括法官专业素质与法官道德素质。法官专业素质即法官法律素质，又包括：第一，知识水平，可分为文化与专业水平。文化水平是一个人理解、接受新知识的前提条件，但专业知识才是法官素质知识水平的核心。第二，专业经验，分为普通生活经验与专业审判经验。法官道德素质是对法官在道德方面的要求，可分为个人道德素质与职业道德素质。二元标准是本文研究法官素质问题的分析框架，具体而言，二元标准即法官职业标准与法官职业外部评价标准。职业标准是指法官职业本身对法官素质的认识标准。法官职业标准立基于法官职业内部视角，也可称为内在标准。法官职业标准是从法官这一职业的角度来观察、审视与测量法官素质，具体包括：第一，专业素质标准，又可分为知识标准与专业经验标准。第二，法官职业道德素质标准。法官职业外部评价标准是法官职业外部的人对法官素质评价标准，因其视角基于法官职业之外，也可称为外部标准。法官职业外部评价标准中的“法官职业外部”在这里特指除法院人员之外的一切社会群体。与法官职业标准不同，法官职业外部评价标准具体内容难以准确、全面地概括。就彼此关系而言，二元标准并非泾渭分明，截然不同，而是相互影响、渗透，甚至冲突。人类社会法官素质的发展历史表明：二元标准之间的关系经历了一个从趋同到剧烈冲突之后再次回归趋同的这一否定之否定的过程。法官素质的具体内容随时空变化而有所不同，其影响因素可归为两个方面：从外部而言是社会，从内部而言即法官制度。社会变化是导致法官素质问题产生与演变的根本原因，同时法官制度与法官素质也密切相关。在现代社会，法官职业素质保障与法官制度建立与完善密不可分。人类社会历史发展证明，实现法官独立审判原则是达致审判结果公正的必要条件。法官身份保障制度与法官素质现实关系错综复杂、互为因果。主要体现为两个方面：一方面，各国情况表明，只有法官素质状况良好，社会才能赋予法官身份保障制度；另一方面，法官身份保障制度是确保法官良好素质的前提。法官遴选制度是有关法官选拔的制度，即初审法官选拔与在职法官晋升制度。法官惩戒制度是针对法官失职行为而设计的处罚性制度，与法官素质关系密切。法官培训制度可确保法官任前初步具有审判经验，任职后不断补充新知识以适应审判的需要。第二章是“现代西方主要国家法官素质考察”。本章开始论文从理论分析转向实证研究。法官素质问题各国皆有，论文重点考察了已被公认为法治建成的西方国家的情况，原因在于这些国家可为中国问题的分析提供更为明确的参照。英、美、法与日本等国法官素质的现实情况与历史演变表明法官素质问题具有如下规律：第一，职业法官人数远远少于非职业法官。第二，法官素质包括专业素质与道德素质两方面的具体内容。第三，非法官群体的认识对法官素质影响巨大。第四，法官素质与其法院设置密切相关。各国法院情况虽各具特色，但法官素质的要求都与本国法院实际情况相适应。第五，通过法官制度直接保证法官素质。第六，在制度上或实际中，整体而言法官是所有法律职业者中素质要求最高的。第三章是“当代中国法官素质的历史追溯与现实考察”。从本章开始，论文将视角从国外转向中国。追本溯源，当代中国的法官素质问题肇始于苏维埃革命根据地时期。本文将中国法官素质问题的发展历史划分为三大阶段：第一阶段（1927年—1946年）、第二阶段（1946年—1976年）与第三阶段（1976年——2006年）。中国法官素质问题发展的三个历史阶段出现了一个令人困惑的悖论现象，即在第一、二阶段，以法官职业标准为视角，中国法官素质的事实层面的情况均不理想，需要改善；但以法官职业外部评价标准为视角，法官上述历史过程中（从1927年起至今共计80年）绝大部分时间（截止到80年代中期约有60年）并非问题。换言之，以二元标准为视角，两个标准各自对中国法官素质的实际情况所做判断并不一致。第四章“当代中国法官素质问题探析”，本章开始对上述的历史考察中发现的悖论现象做出分析。论文首先详细分析了二十多年来中国法官素质面临的客观情况变化。具体而言，自改革开放以来，中国社会逐渐进入快速转型期，其变迁引发了包括经济、政治、文化等全方位的变化。中国法官面临的诸多客观情况的变化表现为：在外部，社会变迁引发的社会纠纷增多案件数量上升（通过二十余年来的诉讼类型与数量图表来反映），立法又以前所未有的速度发展；在内部，法院为适应上述客观情况的变化，不断进行法院体制、审判方式乃至人事等改革。因此，法官素质问题的出现与社会变迁密不可分，甚至可以说，社会变迁是法官素质凸显为问题的根本原因。论文分析了中国法官制度——法官遴选制度、惩戒制度、培训制度等具体情况的变化对法官素质状况的影响。与西方国家相比，中国目前法官身份保障尚无专门性立法，法官享有有限的身份保障。论文认为当代中国法官素质问题的特殊性主要表现为：第一，职业法官人数过多。第二，法官职业标准具有特殊性，表现在，按照法官职业标准，与西方相比，中国法官素质具有以下特征：首先，法官文化素质与专业素质一直不尽如人意。其次，法律对法官专业素质中对法律经验要求并不严格，并未体现法官职业的特殊性。最后，不同等级的法官素质要求几乎无差别。其四，法官职业尚未建立真正独立的完善的职业道德。其五，政治素质一直是法官素质最为重要的内容，对它的强调贯穿中国法官素质发展整个历史。第三，法官职业外部评价标准具有相当的复杂性，表现为法官职业外部的群体评判法官素质选择的标准出现多样性与不统一的倾向，其中中国法官素质的职业标准、西方法官素质理想标准，传统法官标准等相互混杂，不易区分。此外，无法律知识的普通民众还会从法官行为乃至审判结果作为标准来评价法官素质。在此情形下，当代中国法官素质低这一结论的评价标准便难以查明。第五章“当代中国法官素质问题解决路径”，本章主要分析了包括法院在内的社会各界对法官素质问题认识及其解决措施，提出了本文对此问题的解决思路。社会各界看来，中国当代法官素质问题已成为一个相当严重的问题，法官素质低乃不争的事实。论文分别考察了法官职业外部及各级法院对法官素质问题的认识以及相关建议，认为法官素质问题是司法与社会在新的历史时期不相适应的反映，其直接原因在于现代法官制度尤其身份保障制度尚未完全建立。论文提出从“提高法官素质”到“改善法官素质”这一思路，认为在当前情况下，解决法官素质问题可从以下两方面努力，第一，对法院而言，要有所为有所不为。第二、非法官职业的社会群体也要认识到法官素质的改善需要他们的支持与参与。关键词：法官素质；法官职业标准；法官职业外部评价标准AbstractIn recent years，quality of judges becomes the concerned focus of the court，the legal circle and the society.In the view of all the above parties，they all agree that the competence of Chinese judges is in question.Moreover，this opinion almost becomes a common sense.And the opinion results in the fact that the whole society suspects or even denies the authority of the judge.However，if the judge who arbitrates a dispute has no authority in the society，it will be impossible to accept his judgment.In fact，in the reports about the work of court and other documents of recent years，there is a common point going like that：the poor qualifications of judges in the whole become the bottleneck of the reform of the People's Courts.During the transitional process of the society，the proper resolution to this problem becomes the key to the courts' exercising the function of settling disputes.There are so many questions behind the issue which need to be studied.For example，when did the opinion come into being？Why did people think so？What elements should quality of judges cover？What are the criteria for deciding it？In other countries besides China，does the same problem exist？How to find a way out？In fact，the problem and its following questions have not been fully examined until recently.In the thesis，my attempts are made to answer these questions.The thesis consists of seven parts：The first part centers on the issue about the poor competence of judges，discussing the field of research，the frame of the analysis and the methodology in the research.Just as a coin has two sides，around the focus，there are also other questions and other different views.Thus，it is essential to set up simple and distinct concepts concerning with the focus in order to further the research on it.The thesis defines quality judges as：the judge's capacity and qualifications of the judicature.The researching methodology is as follows：the legal sociology，history and comparative law.As to the research contents，there are two main parts：one is the making of a judge itself and the other is the matters concerning with it，such as the relations between quality of judges and corresponding management system，hearing system，court authority，judicial justice，judge's status，legal education and the rules and so on.Because the first part is the basis of the latter，the main task lays on setting up the simple and distinct concepts and criteria concerning with the making of a judge.Instead of using the single angle，which only helps in a limited way，the thesis uses a new angle of view—Professional Criteria for Judges and the Non-professional one.The dualcriteria make a breakthrough in the present research，which marks one of the innovative theories of this paper.Although some individual judges'calibers are analyzed，it is necessary to point out that the caliber of judges is studied as a whole in the thesis.The first chapter，“Theories about the Making of a Judge”，discusses the contents、classification and criteria、the internal and external factors which can influence the making of judges.Quality of judges consists of two parts：the professional caliber and moral caliber.The professional caliber refers to the judge's knowledge of the law and his judicial experience，in which there are two parts—life experience and judicial experience.The moral caliber includes individual moral caliber and professional moral caliber.The dual-criteria，which refer to professional criteria for judges and criteria for assessment by people outside the profession，form the framework of the analysis.Professional criteria for judges are made from the Court's point of view，which are also called the internal standards because the angle is from judge's profession.And the professional criteria observe and check the qualifications of a judge from the angle of the judge's profession.The criteria include two parts：the professional caliber and the moral standard of a judge.Other criteria refer to the ones beyond the judge's profession，which were set up by people outside of the law circle as to the caliber of judges，which are also called external criteria.It is necessary to note that the two kinds of criteria are not entirely separated from each other，as they sometimes conflict，influence and learn from each other.Quality of judges has different components in different times.The two influencing factors are the changes of society which play a dominating role，and the judge system closely related to the caliber of judges.The history of human being tells us that justice calls for the independent judicature.Therefore the relations between the safeguard system of the judge's status and caliber of judges are complicated and their influence on each other is formidable，which are already proved by many countries' practices.Besides，the safeguarding system of the judge's status is a major premise for the caliber of judges，and it concludes the selection system，the punishment system，the training system and so on.The selection system of judge is the one which chooses the capable judge，inclu-ding granting qualifications and promotion.The punishment system of judges is devised to punish the conduct of dereliction of duty，which has a close relationship with the caliber of judges.The system of judge training gives a judge some judicial experience before he takes up his profession.The second chapter is“Examining quality of judgesin the Main Western Countries”.In this chapter the thesis changes from analyzing theories to specific practices.In western countries such as Britain，America and France，the situation of the caliber of judges has some distinctive characteristics which help us to analyze the situation in China.Firstly，the number of the professional judges is smaller than the nonprofessional judges.Secondly，the caliber of judges includes professional and moral calibers.Thirdly，the views of people outside the law profession play a great role in improving the caliber of judges.Forth，the quality of the judge of each country is connected with its own organization establishment.Fifth，the good caliber of judges was ensured by the judge system.Sixth，the requirement of a good judge is higher than other law profession.The third chapter is“the Influencing Elements of the Contemporary Caliber of the Judges in China”.The issue of quality of judgesin China can be traced back to the time of the former Soviet Union.The thesis divides the period into three parts：the first period（1927—1946），the second period（1946—1976），third period（1976—now）.There is an embarrassing phenomenon in the first two periods that the criteria for caliber of judges are solely determined by the judges themselves，which is rather unscientific.Because seen from the view point that is outside the law circles，the situation would be different.Therefore，dual-criteria should be upheld.The forth chapter is“Analysis of the Contemporary making of a Judge in China”，and this chapter analyzes the paradoxical phenomena in the history of China.Since the reform and opening-up of China，the society has undergone a fast-speed transitional period，which causes changes on every side involving politics，economics，culture and so on.The Chinese judges are confronted with problems home and abroad.For example，the number of law cases has increased and legislation developed at an amazing speed.For another，in order to meet the changes，the court has been carrying out all kinds of reforms.Therefore we can learn that the change of the society is the most affecting reason of the problem of low qualifications of judges.The thesis analyzes the systems of the judge in China selection system，punishment system and training system which play an important role in the competence of the judgeship.In comparison with the western countries，there is no specific law that guarantees the judge's status in China.There are following distinctive characteristics of the making of contemporary judges in China：firstly，the number of professional judges is excessive.Secondly，the judge's professional caliber is rather low：a.the cultural and professional calibers are always not satisfied；b.in legislation，there is no requirement for the judge's judicial experience；c.judges of different ranks have the same caliber requirement in law；d.the professional morals have not been fully developed；e.the political caliber of the judge has been emphasized throughout the history.Thirdly，other criteria for assessment by people outside the profession are far more complicated.Different people have different opinions as to the contents of caliber of judges，and they do not agree with each other.Furthermore，their appraising standards are entirely different.In this circumstance，it is hard to find out the clear standards by which they make the conclusion that the caliber of contemporary judges in China is low.The fifth chapter is“How to Solve the Problem of the Low Caliber of Jud ges”.Regarding to the problem，the chapter analyzes the opinions and solutions coming from all walks of life，and puts forward the specific solutions of this thesis.According to the opinions，the low caliber of contemporary judges becomes a serious problem and an undoubted truth in China.The paper investigates different views and opinions from all walks of life and gets the conclusion that the disharmony between legislation and the society is a reflection of the low caliber of judges which is directly caused by the lack of efficient laws.The thesis suggests that we should enhance caliber of judges and improve caliber of judges.Currently，there are two ways：the court should mind its own business and people outside the law circles should realize that the problem should be resolved by the whole society.Key words：the Quality of Judges；Professional Criteria for Judges；Criteria for Assessment by People Outside the Profession

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