Wang Ruizhi, former director of the trial hall of the Liaoning High Court and now director of the Northeast Judicial Committee, who also admired the young marshal very much, was inspired by this, and together with Wu Jiaxiang, who was the secretary of the young marshal, director of the Xinmin Judicial Committee, and now secretary of the Discipline Inspection Commission of the People's Party, at the initiative of the Northeast legal circles, they launched a large-scale, long-lasting, and far-reaching discussion: the relationship between party rule and the rule of law.

The influence of the People's Party is getting bigger and bigger, and there is basically no doubt that it will finally gain power in the northeast, and it is not impossible to seize the national power in time, but when that day comes, under the premise of "the party leading the country" in Zhang Hanqing's founding purpose, which is the greater party power or legal power?

After the Qing Dynasty, "European wind and beauty and rain galloped east", and theories and political systems, including constitutionalism and separation of powers, were introduced into China, and a constitutional experiment began. In line with this, a set of Western-style judicial concepts and systems with judicial independence as the main theme has also begun to be developed in China. After the establishment of the Republic of China in 1912, it continued. Many of the laws and constitutions of the Beiyang government also have the same or similar provisions, reflecting the country's demand for judicial independence and transcending partisan politics in the Beiyang period.

However, from the 1920s onwards, with the rise of the National Revolution and the establishment of the Kuomintang party-state system, the "non-party" judiciary advocated during the Beiyang period was gradually "incorporated" into the Kuomintang party-state system, and the judiciary began to be "Kuomintang". After the founding of the People's Republic of China, this system design was continued, and although the establishment of the courts and procuratorates to handle cases independently enabled China to gradually enter the track of legalization, the posts of secretaries of political and legal committees set up in governments at all levels still brought some troubles to the construction of the rule of law. Many contemporary Chinese are also asking: Party Congress or Law University?

Zhang Hanqing felt the need to give an explanation to the Chinese people, although he himself had been entangled from before and after the crossing.

He admired the rule of law in countries such as Britain and the United States, which have formed quite perfect systems due to years of construction; However, due to the residual poison of 2,000 years of feudal society in China, the idea of rule by man is deeply rooted, and the phenomenon of power exceeding the law has been repeatedly banned.

The reason why the Chinese in later generations will have the feeling that the party's power is greater than the legal power is because it reflects some phenomena that actually exist: Some party-member cadres, especially leading cadres, do not have a strong sense of the rule of law, do not pay attention to procedures in decision-making, do not act in accordance with laws and regulations, and even substitute words for law, use power to suppress law, and bend the law for personal gain.

But if you look deeper, "the party congress or the law university" is actually a false proposition. Because logically speaking, the essence of the party is a political organization, and the essence of the law is the rules of conduct, and there is no question of which of the two is greater than the other, otherwise they will fall into the trap of discourse. If the party is greater than the law, it is to admit that the rule of law and the rule of law are fake; On the contrary, it seems that there is a problem with the leadership of the party!

This is also what Zhang Hanqing has been solving and has now made a breakthrough in standardization: using the rule of law to regulate party members and using the party constitution to lead the rule of law, the two are not in conflict. When it is principled, it embodies the party's leadership, and when it is concrete, it embodies the spirit of the rule of law. The so-called concreteness means that as an individual member of the people's party, no matter how big his position, as long as he violates the state law, he cannot be dealt with by party discipline alone, and the state law must also be taken into account. In a word, the punishment for party members who violate the law is the same as that for non-party members.

Therefore, Zhang Hanqing not only affirmed the party's leading role in the building of the legal system, but also avoided the possible interference of party power in the rule of law, and resolutely did not set up secretaries of political and legal committees to manage the public, procuratorial, legal, and judicial departments in the practice of Xinmin's administration, but had the party's deputy secretaries "liaise" the four sets of teams.

As long as there are people, there are rivers and lakes. To embody the party's leading role in the building of the legal system, it is not necessary to appoint a secretary of the political and legal committee to manage it, but it can be replaced by an institution or organization. For this institution or organization, Zhang Hanqing chose the parliament.

Since the parliament fully embodies the party's intentions, it is very good that the courts and procuratorates at all levels are accountable to the parliaments at all levels, and they will not deviate from the general premise of the party's leadership. The parliament is originally to supervise the government, so the courts and procuratorates that carry out the task of supervision in the legal sense can exercise legal supervision over government employees without being constrained by the main body of the government, and this is true supervision. Otherwise, if the secretary of the political and legal committee who manages the court or procuratorate at the same level commits a crime, how can he restrain and supervise his superiors as a subordinate? What's more, there is a long stage, and the secretary of the political and legal committee is also a member of the party standing committee at the same level, which determines the promotion fate of many party members and cadres in the two courts at the same level?

According to this line of thinking, the principles for handling violations by party members in the "Charter of the Discipline Inspection Commission of the Chinese People's Party" were later formed, which was also the foundation of the later theory of the rule of law with Chinese characteristics. It continues to ferment in the legal circles of Northeast China, and colleagues in the customs have also smelled the aftertaste.

Perhaps because the people's enthusiasm for the protest against the Duan government in the aftermath of the May Fourth Movement had not diminished, or because they felt that Feng's statement had been supported by domestic public opinion, the central government finally chose to solve the problem of damage to its reputation within the framework of the law after thinking about it for several days.

The Shanghai Public Concession Trial Court accepted the complaint of the Anfu government and issued summons to Shao Lizi, general manager of the Republic of China Daily, and Ye Chuling, editor-in-chief, and the two hired Lin Baijia as their defense lawyer. The trial was held on October 3 of the same year, with the presiding judge being the British Vice Consul and the jury being the Chinese judge Yu Yingsun. On Chinese territory, the cases of the Chinese government against Chinese civilians were tried by foreign colonists, which sounds unreasonable, but in that chaotic era it happened several times, and in 1903 the "Su Bao Case" also happened in the Shanghai Concession, where the country was weak and would be powerless to resist being bullied by foreign countries.

In court, the defendant Ye Chuling said righteously: "I have been writing the newspaper for ten years, and I am currently the editor-in-chief of the "Republic of China Daily", and I should bear the responsibility for publication, but I do not bear the responsibility for the alleged defamation and insult of the president and incumbent officials in the indictment. "The Explanation of the Anfu Lineage Table is actually a criticism of the policy in the game text, and has no insulting meaning. This newspaper has the same intention as the author, which is to have a good government in the hope of rejuvenating China, making it prosperous and strong, and enjoying peace, freedom, and happiness for the people. ”

The defendant's lawyer, Lin Baijia, defended the two, saying that the evidence presented by the plaintiff could not be sufficient to accuse insult and slander for the following reasons:

"1. In accordance with the provisions of the Constitution of the Republic of China, the people have freedom of speech;

2. The plaintiff should have the Beijing government send personnel to Shanghai to present sufficient evidence;

3. The defendant's words are permitted by law and are intended to be a good government in China, so they are not insulting. ”

Accordingly, the case was dismissed and acquitted.

Mu Ansu, a lawyer from the Anguo government, insisted on the guilt of the defendant, saying, "This text is enough to make the people laugh at the president and the incumbent officials, not only does it cause the people to despise and shame itself on the day of the insult, but also has a long-lasting poisonous legacy. methods of insult; the time and place of the insult; Insulting status. He also added another charge: "Once this text is published, it will cause government dignitaries to be despised and greatly hinder the future of peace talks." ”

Based on this, Lin Baijia gave a strong rebuttal: "It is well known that the negotiations between the Beijing government and the Guangzhou government began as early as February 20 this year, and due to the lack of sincerity on the part of Beijing, they were terminated on May 24 this year. What is the obstacle to the publication of this text on September 15 this year, and the peace talks that broke down 100 days ago? ”

The two sides argued fiercely. After the presiding judge, the British vice consul, and the Chinese judge Yu Yingsun, who was on the jury, deliberated, did not seal up the customs declaration and resentence the informant as expected by the Anguo government, nor did he acquit the complainant as lawyer Lin asserted, but believed that although the article "Explanation of the Anfu Lineage Table" insulted the president and government officials in words, it was "well-intentioned and valuable", and finally sentenced Ye Chuling and Shao Lizi to 100 yuan each.

This verdict was very different from the predictions of Duan Qirui, Xu Shichang and others, and it was difficult to calm the anger in their chests, and Mu Ansu proposed to the court that Ye Chuling had two "criminal records" of dishonoring the verdict, and demanded that the defendants be severely investigated and punished more severely. The presiding judge found that Mu Ansu had flouted the trial court and sternly refused in court. So far, the case of insulting the president of the "Republic of China Daily," which caused a sensation throughout the country, has been closed.

Zhang Hanqing came out at the right time to disgust Duan Qirui, anyway, when the "May Fourth Movement" was at its most enthusiastic some time ago, he had a lot of war of words with Duan Qirui's government, and his father also had a bad relationship with the Anhui army. This change in stakes cannot be reversed by any amount of verbal ingenuity. In this case, simply offend to death.

He sent a message of congratulations to Shao Lizi and editor-in-chief Ye Chuling, and said that "this is a precedent for the success of the rule of law in the Republic of China", and said that the judicial committee under the Northeast Autonomous Government will be responsible for the punishment of 200 yuan, if it is inconvenient for the two of them.

This is pure schadenfreude, and the gap between the conditions of journalists in the Republic of China and the ordinary people is still quite large.

Later, someone satirized this incident in the newspaper and said: "The reputation of the president is worth 200 yuan." After this incident, the "Republic of China Daily" became famous. After this case, Duan Qirui, Xu Shichang and others became the laughing stock of the people across the country, the "Anfu Department" was disgraced and disgraced, and the princes of the Anhui Department could not raise their heads for a long time, not only did they lose the political battle, but their psychological shadow may be even greater.

At that time, the ruling authorities and dignitaries were so angry and angry that they were sure to want to punish the newspaper and the author, but the first thing they thought of was not to arrest first and then to try them, but to seek and only seek a solution within the framework of the law.

At the same time, after the court made a judgment of only imposing a fine, although they were resentful, they also admitted defeat and obeyed, and did not harm others again, which shows that they still have the concept of the rule of law in their minds, and they did not use the power in their hands to vent their personal anger and override the law.

Based on the rule of law rather than the rule of man, the judicial independence of Beiyang during this period shines with eternal brilliance in the history of the Chinese nation.