Law regulates all aspects of society, so it is bound to be related to the nature and principles of the national government, natural conditions, freedom, climate, religion, law and so on. It takes law as the center, studies and discusses a series of topics such as jurisprudence, constitutional law, criminal law, civil law, international law and so on in a unique way, especially in the fields of economy, religion, history and geography, and discusses the relationship between these fields and law. Unfortunately, Montesquieu did not clearly reveal the true spirit of law to us. However, he put forward the great and immortal proposition of the spirit of law, and the way of thinking he explored and the thinking method of universal connection became valuable cultural wealth of mankind. Let's take a look at Montesquieu's talk about? Law? Understand. Grotius, one of the representatives of natural law school, once said that human nature is rationality, and this rationality is the origin of natural law. The effectiveness of natural law is neither authoritative nor mandatory, but the rational consciousness of human beings. Law is the relationship between this fundamental reason and various beings, and it is also the relationship between beings. Montesquieu believes that? In the broadest sense, law is an inevitable relationship arising from the essence of things. ? Under this definition, everything is inseparable from the law. If law exists in society, we can't look at it in isolation, but we must look at it through the connection between law and other things. Human beings are influenced by many factors, such as geography, geology, climate, race, customs, habits, religious beliefs, laws, government, morality and so on, which constitute the overall spirit of a country. He believes that the general law is human reason, and the laws of various countries are the application of human reason in various special occasions. On its right? Law? In his definition, although he is concerned about the relationship between law and reason like other enlightenment thinkers, his uniqueness lies in that he examines the relationship between law and reason through the construction of social theory to reveal it? Law? The connotation of law is that law is essentially a universal connection between things, which can be recognized and controlled by human beings. Human beings can understand the nature of society and law through their own rationality, thus making law meet the requirements of justice.

Montesquieu's? Law? Spirit can be summarized as follows: law is the definition of freedom, and no prohibition of law is the scope of free activities; The guarantee of freedom lies in the restriction of power, and the mutual restriction between powers is the only feasible scheme to control power; Understanding legal phenomena must be combined with the relationship between certain social phenomena; The change of social phenomenon stems from the change of a certain factor in the internal structure of society, so the law changes with the change of society, and the law can also drive the change of society.

Since in Montesquieu's view, law is the product of reason, the spirit of law must contain the ultimate understanding of reason. It is extremely important for us to clarify the spirit of the law. However, in real life, we often only rely on the instrumental role of the law, hoping that the law can solve all the problems we are facing now, while ignoring the firm belief in the law brought by the spirit of the law.

? The law is closely related to everyone. It is with us, from cradle to grave. It is the way to guide us to our destination. Even after we join the vast majority of souls, it is decided by law. What can we do with the legacy? American lawyer Zan described this very well. This fully embodies the modern form of human civilization's special understanding of social life norms and order concepts, and also greatly shows the basic connotation of modern civilization: legal civilization. It shows that one of the most basic experience achievements in the development of human society today is that civilization must rely on the power of legal concepts. On the one hand, the creation and maintenance of human civilization must rely on the universal and effective role of law, because only in this way can disputes and conflicts be resolved, thus ensuring social control and good social life order. In modern society, it should be said that this has become a universal concept: law has its important position, and people expect and are used to living under it, because it is? The only feasible means to achieve a better life? .

But, unfortunately, people just regard the law as? Deification? All creation, all obeying the law, blindly believing in the law, showed a serious tendency of over-control, and eventually became a captive of the completely instrumental view of law (governance), arbitrarily legislating, trying to cover and control the whole social life with the law. Therefore, some scholars exclaim that today, the rule of law has become a downpour of law. If the law is only regarded as an instrumental product of secularism, then it will inevitably be followed by a suffocating legal landscape such as omnipotent law and legal hunger. Therefore, we are always shocked to see that people who have good wishes for the rule of law always endure? Rule of law? The expected society ruled by law is not presented as expected, but is often replaced by tyranny and dictatorship under the instrumental view of the rule of law.

Therefore, such anxiety or confusion is not so much anxiety or confusion about the law as a kind of effect-? The law itself is one thing, but the real effect of the law is another? -and the anxiety and loss of the legal spiritual home, a rootless reflection and self-awareness: what is a happy life for people? What's the secret between a person's possible happy life and a successful life? What is the reasonable promise that the law can give people, to borrow a word from the philosophical circle, that is? There is no standard choice. Unbearable existential anxiety in life? .

It suddenly occurred to me that Wang Jin's book, which we read at the last reading meeting, was mainly about the research on the legislative value pursued by environmental legislation. The reason why we want to do this kind of research is to explore the gist of our legislation. Only when we have a strong foundation and spiritual support in essence can our environmental legislation continue to spark. Now many legislators are too utilitarian and regard the law as a cold tool without flesh and blood. Legislation is to understand the urgent need, and to legislate to protect a certain water area at every turn. Various laws and regulations emerge one after another, regardless of the hierarchy and order between laws, let alone whether they conform to the real legal spirit. The actual consequences may be greater confusion. Not to mention whether utilitarian legislation can really play a role, even if it can curb some immediate problems, if there is no long-term vision and thinking, this effect will certainly be only a flash in the pan. But now we rely too much on the law. Should we consider whether there is a better way to solve a problem before legislation, because the cost of legislation and law-abiding is much greater than people think. Our legislation should not only meet the needs of the current social situation, but also make us believe that the internal spirit of the law can lead us to happiness and beauty through the effective operation of the law. Although China is now facing very serious environmental problems, this is no reason for us to legislate at will. A chaotic and disorderly legislation will only lead to chaos that cannot be cleaned up in the future. All roads lead to Rome, and law is not the only way. When you think you can only resort to the law, this fear and confusion about whether the law can produce practical results will devour your faith. Once the faith is shaken, all legal activities will have no roots to follow and will not glow with real brilliance. Law must return to people's life world, or life style and style, and study for the purpose of people's happy life. In other words, it must transcend the limitations and temporality of the empirical world or secularism, strive to establish a connection between human life and an eternal spiritual world, carry humanistic significance, and ask the meaning of life, so as to seek consciousness and eternity. This eternal power comes from the spirit of law. Without faith, what do we have?

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