基层民众的法治尊崇状况研究

随着社会治理重心逐渐向基层下移，基层社会成为法治运行的重要场域。基层民众法治尊崇状况的优化已然成为当前法治社会建设的一项重要议题。基于余杭法治指数2007—2018年12年持续调查的数据可得出如下结论：基层民众法治尊崇状况的优化提升进路包括以司法权威重铸民众法治信任、以依法行政推进民众法治认同、以诚信文化唤起民众法治意识、以共治理念带动公民参与法治社会建设。

Grassroots Reverence for the Rule of Law: A Study Based on Twelve Years of Yuhang Rule of Law Index

As the focus of social governance gradually shifts towards the grassroots, the grassroots society has become a crucial field for the operation of the rule of law. The increase in the reverence of rule of law by the grassroots people has become an important issue in the construction of a society with rule of law. “Reverence for the rule of law” is an essential indicator in the evaluation of the project of “Yuhang Rule of Law Index”. Continuous and deep research on it may summarize the experience of the rule of law, objectively evaluate the status of the rule of law, analyze the dilemma of the rule of law practice, discover the pattern of the rule of law development, and effectively improve the level of rule of law and the efficiency of governance. This research is based on the first rule of law index in mainland China which is Yuhang Rule of Law Index. It is based on the data of its continuous survey in Yuhang County from 2007 to 2018. This study collected four-fold evaluation data and classified the research objects into four groups of people. They are the general public, direct participants in the political and legal system (internal group), indirect participants in the political or legal system (external group), and legal researchers (expert group). They evaluate and score the level of reverence for the rule of law by the grassroots, and use four sets of evaluation data to examine the status of the people’s reverence for the rule of law, and then, look for external and internal factors that hinder the promotion in reverence for the rule of law. It proposes to recast people’s trust in the rule of law with judicial authority, promote public’s recognition of the rule of law through administration according to law, arouse people’s awareness of the rule of law with a culture of “credibility”, and use the concept of “co-governance” to drive citizens to participate in the construction of a society under the rule of law. Among them, by administering according to law and improving judicial authority to enhance and optimize the public’s reverence for the rule of law, it can be used as an external force to strengthen the public’s recognition of the rule of law. Through the creation of a culture of “integrity” and the concept of “co-governance”, it can be used as an internal force to enhance and optimize the public’s reverence for the rule of law. The combined force of internal and external forces can produce a “superimposed effect”, which involves both the direction that can be improved (rule of law) and the magnitude of the effectiveness (quantification). Therefore, a quantitative analysis of the public’s reverence for the rule of law provides a way for further researches on the society of the rule of law in the future.