Philosophers, Confucian teaching was seen (in something of
the same light as equity in English legal history) as a
relief from the tenets of strict legalism.62 Confucius
asserted a major weakness of the rule of law in the following
key passage in the Analects:
"Lead the people by laws and regulate them by penalties and the people will try to keep out of jail but will have no sense of shame. Lead the people by virtue and restrain them by the rules of decorum, and the people will have a sense of shame and moreover, will become good.
83
16.
"North-Asia"
lays
Not
Not upon the
This book asserts that the ethic of
emphasis not upon the individual but upon the community.
upon individual rights, but upon obligations.
The
rule of law but upon government by Man or virtue.
growing economic ascendency of Confucian societies will
therefore require international recognition and understanding
of the different
Whilst they will go along with (and sometimes pay lip service
to) Western notions of human rights and the rule of law, and
even adhere to the institutions and treaties which safeguard
them, they do so without conviction, because the basic rules
which they embrace have for more
two millennia been
quite different.
values which motivate such societies.
than two
Against this background, it comes as no surprise to
read of denunciations in China of western notions of human
rights and the rule of law. These denunciations are not new
or peculiarly communist in character. They must be seen in
the context of longstanding Chinese teachings on ethics and
philosophy. In that context, the future relevance of western
notions of basic human rights and of respect for the rule of
law in Hong Kong after 1997 must be questioned. These are
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