生活与逻辑的交汇——詹姆斯·C·霍尔特论大宪章

英国当代著名史学家詹姆斯·C·霍尔特以研究大宪章知名,他的《大宪章》一书是20世纪大宪章史学的杰作,被认为是20世纪后半叶大宪章研究领域最重要的一部著作。霍尔特的大宪章研究在方法上的突出特色,是将法律或原则还原为生活,通过比较,即通过对大宪章与欧洲中世纪其他同类文件的对比研究,以及对英王国与欧洲其他王国的对比研究,从实际生活过程解说大宪章的产生和特点。他致力于去除辉格派史学传统带来的那些时代错乱的历史解释,从生活与逻辑的交汇点阐释大宪章的内容和性质,依据大宪章的内在特点与时代发展的关系说明大宪章的历史与神话的联系。

Where Life and Logic Meet:James C.Holt on the Great Charter

J.C.Holt is known for his study of the Great Charter.As a result of research of that famous document,his Magna Carta is praised as a masterpiece.The main concern in Holt’s work is with law,but it is with law as historical process.For him,law is not doctrine,but fact.In his work,he sought to do away with the anachronisms of Whig history,set the Great Charter in the concrete conditions of the England and Europe in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries.He made much effort to practice F.W.Maitlands’ aphorism that law is the point where life and logic meet.