冯象：好律师能不能也是好人
我报考法学院的时候，王浩先生曾赐信劝阻，坦言他不喜欢律师这个行业，认为于人生无大意义，赚钱而已。王先生与先父抗战期间在昆明有同学之谊(王先生一九三九年入西南联大，同年先父自延安抵昆明)，视我如子侄，所以才这么教诲。
其实在美国做律师未必赚钱。多数赚钱的律师都很辛苦，一周上班六十小时还自称偷懒，加上出差办案赶期限的不安定和心理压力，赚来的那点钱，比起许多行业例如拔牙的医生和安达信的会计，根本只是小钱。但王先生的意思是，不仅赚钱不应是人生的目标，律师工作本身也“无大意义”。自古以来，圣贤哲睿贬抑律师者居多。我便没有去细想。入学后，合同法第一堂课，克朗曼先生(现在已是院长)布置我们讨论一道刺配沧州吃“杀威棍”似的题目：律师为什么不幸福？说是许多功成名就的律师回首学生时代，都会感到失落和遗憾。原来他正在写一本书《失律师》，后来在哈佛出版(1993)，研究“律师政治家”(lawyer-statesman)的理想在当代美国衰落的原因。克先生的兴趣在政治哲学。华尔街律师行流传一个笑话，耶鲁的合同法，亚里士多德当案例读，说的就是他。他拿“政治家”作理想，并非鼓励学生将来做官——虽然毕业生约有一半进了政府、法院、国会和各色政治团体，故有论者批评，克先生那本书不过是宣扬耶鲁的“地方文化”(西蒙《正义的实践》，页24)——他的“政治家”，是人作为“政治动物”的理想展现，具有一种普通法传统培育的注重历史和生活经验的“实践理性”，亦即亚里士多德赞赏的“智慧之节制”(sophrosyne)。所谓“幸福”(eudaimonia)，也不是物质欲望的满足(亚氏斥为“野兽般生活”)，而是一种富于善德的行动的生活(euzoia)。克先生认为，律师的本色是自由职业，独立代理公民、法人或政府机构的法律业务。因此对客户/被告人，须保持一种“既同情又超脱”的立场。可是这讲究节制的政治与伦理态度，到了后工业时代，却腹背受敌而瓦解了：一边是巨无霸律师行彻底公司化而利润驱动的运作方式；另一边则是学院派主流理论，例如法律经济学作为科学主义话语的宠儿，对法律业务的经验性智慧不断贬低。受其影响，律师便难以继续独立执业，变成受雇于金钱与权势的枪手或“法律技工”了。
我想起王先生的教诲，突然觉悟，律师幸福不幸福云云，问的实际是律师的职业理想和伦理立场。说白了(借用老百姓揶揄律师的笑话)便是：好律师能不能也是好人？ » 继续阅读 冯象：好律师能不能也是好人 全文
冯象：从前没有律师的时候
从前没有律师的时候，制度极不健全。吃饭要粮票，穿衣要布票，副食品凭证供应，仅限于城市户口。那个火红年代的人，鼻子灵敏得大山背面寨子里杀猪他能闻见肉香。不过干部比现在廉洁，官僚主义才冒头便揪出来割了。而且晓得身体是革命的本钱：忠字舞跳完，打鸡血针，还时兴喝凉水憋尿练气功。后来风气变了。记得首先是为解决子女参军和知青病退回城等问题，纷纷送礼托人走后门。现在学者认为，这和当时没有律师有直接的关系。
后来平地一声春雷，拨乱反正，恢复了律师，叫作“国家法律工作者”，吃国家粮。人们生活一天比一天富裕，市场上一样不缺，狸猫人乳没有吃不到的。外国的高档名牌满街走，不全是假冒。只有贪污腐败的风气制止不了，大案要案层出不穷；犯罪分子通过种种手段把国有资产往自己的兜里塞，一天一个亿不止。揭露出来逃不了的，就逮捕法办了。
于是地狱里灵魂大增。那些从前因贪图资本主义吃了枪子儿的，见到新来的后脑带窟窿的，听说他们犯的这样那样的罪状，差点妒忌死了。可是那些新灵魂叹着气说：我们算什么呀，真正了得的人不会来！老灵魂问什么意思。新灵魂说：他们有律师！
再后来，下地狱血淋淋的队伍里居然有了律师。说是阳世律师太多，职业化不够，门槛低，农民都考得上；客户却越来越难拉了，吃不饱还恶性竞争，不得不铤而走险。大家听了，默默无语。不久，地狱里打架咬脖子的现象明显减少。有权有势的都雇了律师代理；没钱的每人发一本《阎罗六法》手册，让他们请律师打官司维护灵魂权利。阎王爷还下诏办法学院培训判官宣传法治，接下来还准备延聘专家起草宪法。
一开始，人间禁止报道地狱改革，凡捏造、散布或听信谣言者一律收容审查，知情不举者追究责任。然而不出仨月，还是透露出一点风声。一说网上可以查到；互联网接通地狱，是中央情报局的阴谋。一说阎王爷出了大价钱，要挖人间的法律人才。总之，现在明里不说，但圈内人士已经在传：一旦地狱建成法治，下不下地狱便无所谓了。
选自《政法笔记》
哈罗德·伯尔曼 (Harold J. Berman) 教授去世
中国法学界较为熟悉的美国法学家、哈佛法学院退休教授哈罗德·伯尔曼 (Harold J. Berman) 教授于11月13日去世，享年89岁。伯尔曼教授的《法律与革命》、《法律与宗教》等书在中国法学界曾有较大影响，去年他还来中国访问。以下是哈佛法学院的官方新闻稿：
Harold J. Berman, expert in Soviet law, legal history, and law and religion: 1918-2007
November 13, 2007
Professor Emeritus Harold J. Berman, an expert on comparative, international, and Soviet law as well as legal history and philosophy and the intersection of law and religion, died November 13. He was 89.
Berman recently celebrated his 60th anniversary as a law professor. In 1948 he joined the faculty of Harvard Law School, where he built a reputation as one of the world’s best-known scholars of Soviet law, and held the Story Professorship of Law and later the Ames Professorship of Law. He was a frequent visitor to Russia as a guest scholar and lecturer, even during the height of the McCarthy-era.
He left HLS in 1985 for Emory Law School, where he was the first person to hold the Robert W. Woodruff Professorship of Law—the highest honor Emory can bestow upon a faculty member. After the fall of the Soviet Union in 1989, Berman consulted leading Russian officials on proposed legislation and led seminars for political leaders and academics on the development of legal institutions.
In recent years, Berman worked to redress global societal inequalities and to establish systems of trust, peace, and justice in developing countries. He co-founded and co-chaired the World Law Institute, an organization that sponsors educational programs in global law. The Institute opened the first Academy of World Law at the Central European University in Budapest in 2000 and a comparable program in Moscow in 2001.
Berman was also one of the pioneers of the study of law and religion, writing extensively on the subject and playing an integral role in the development of Emory’s Law and Religion Program, now the Center for the Study of Law and Religion.
A prolific scholar, Berman wrote 25 books and more than 400 scholarly articles, including “Law and Revolution: The Formation of the Western Legal Tradition” and the “The Nature and Functions of Law,” which is in its 6th edition.
Born in 1918 in Hartford, Connecticut, Berman received a bachelor’s degree from Dartmouth College in 1938 and a master’s degree and J.D. from Yale University in 1942 and 1947, respectively. He served as a cryptographer in the U.S. Army in the European Theatre of Operations from 1942 to 1945 and received the Bronze Star Medal for his service.
