“法制改革”和“法律变迁”是近年来法史学者研讨的热点话题,这说明在中国法律发展史上,“变”是其永恒的旋律。事实上,如果说自秦汉以来法律在发展和完善的基础上形成的中华法系,只是一个量变过程的话,近百年从清末修律以来的法制变革,则是不折不扣的质变过程。1904年,当由沈 “Legal reform” and “Legal changes” are the hot topics discussed by law historians in recent years. This shows that in the history of Chinese law, “change” is its eternal melody. In fact, if the Chinese legal system formed on the basis of its development and perfection since the Qin and Han dynasties is merely a process of quantitative change, the legal reform since the amendment of the law in the late Qing Dynasty is an absolutely qualitative change process. In 1904, when Shen