Social Sciences in China (Chinese Edition)

No.2, 2021

The Issue of the Rule of Law from the Perspective of Marx’s Historical Materialism

(Abstract)

Zhang Dun

The core issue of law-based governance is the rule of law. The rule of law means the dialectical unity of the idea of law and reality. Based on Marxism’s understanding of the rule and historical materialism, and guided by Marx’s critique of legal philosophy, following the intrinsic dual structure of the idea of law and reality and combining the actual historical process of the development of modern rule of law, this paper mainly discusses the following three theoretical issues of the rule of law. Firstly, the foundation of the social material relations of the rule of law is the market economy. The rule of law itself is the product of the interaction between the reform of economic relations and legal relations. To be specific, it is the abstraction of property relations in the capitalist market economy that gives rise to modern law, and produces the formal justice of law embodied in the principles of freedom and fairness, and rights and obligations. Secondly, Marx’s critique of the limitations and essential defects of the formal justice of law based on his historical materialism reveals higher goals or ideas for the modern rule of law. This is “social justice as substantive justice.” More specifically, it aims to eliminate the oppression of bourgeois property rights and realize the social liberation of proletariat with the achievement of public welfare as the supreme goal of the rule of law. Thirdly, the theoretical effect of Marx’s critique of legal philosophy on contemporary Western legal philosophy is reflected in contemporary Western philosophers’ understanding of the modern rule of law. To a large extent, this understanding follows the theoretical direction revealed by Marx and transcends the Western tradition of the rule of law in the doctrine of formal justice. In addition, it emphasizes the status and significance of social justice as substantive justice in the rule of law, thus making the formal justice of law inherent in substantive justice as much as possible.