On Shen Jiaben’s View of Law: An Investigation of Human Rights

Abstract

During the late Qing Dynasty, the switch from conventional legislation to contemporary legislation was exemplified by Shen Jiaben’s human rights-focused legal perspective. Under the background of comprehensively governing the country according to law, learning from excellent traditional legal thoughts and culture is a critical way to construct a creative rule of law. Shen Jiaben oversaw the ten years of legislation modification towards the conclusion of the Qing Dynasty, which lasted the entirety of modern China. He transformed traditional Chinese law into a Western-compatible contemporary legal framework, closely related to his excellent legal thoughts. Specifically, Shen Jiaben pushed for preserving human rights in the research and creation of the legal system in contemporary China. His reasoning was based on the actual situations of modern countries, which is quite pioneering. Focusing on the social reality at that time, Shen Jiaben’s legal thought of human rights doctrine criticized and inherited the traditional Chinese legal thought of “benevolent government” while fully absorbing the essence of foreign legal culture of human rights doctrine and promoting the gradual reform of the modern legal system. Learning from Shen Jiaben’s legal view of the rights of individuals doctrine is helpful to deepen further our understanding of human rights and the rule of law in the new era and help promote the integrated construction of a country, a government, and a society under the rule of law.