Pound's Social Interest Theory Research

Taking the mid-20th century as the dividing line,Pound’s theory of social interests gradually went from prosperity to decline.Roughly before the middle of the 20th century,influenced by conceptual jurisprudence and its consequent mechanical judicature,the judge advocates strictly following the provisions of the law while neglecting the interests in social life.The long tradition of "abstract individualism" that evolved from the "extreme individualism" of the common law has led the public to take for granted the protection of personal property and freedom.At this time,the introduction of "public policy" is not enough to make social interests compete with personal interests.So pound placed a program of interests between the instrument of law and the object of civilization,and focus on the role and function of social interests.In the second half of the 20th century,under the influence of humanitarian principle,some obviously unreasonable provisions of the tort liability theory and insurance liability tjeory actually infringe upon the private rights of individuals.Professional bureaucrats also do many "anti-social" things in the name of "service state",which led to the skeleton of the constitution and the gradual decline of the theory of social interests.A prerequisite for evaluating Pound’s theory of social interest is to distinguish the merits and demerits of the two interpretations of "neutral frame theory" and "social interest theory".That is to say,the nature of social interest is doctrine or logic?It should be noted that Pound was opposed to make the ultimate choice between personal and social interests,and his consistent legal purpose is civilization.In other words,the so-called "turn" is only due to the change of a specific civilization space and time,so it is necessary to redefine the way to measure benefits under the new civilization space and time.Therefore,we would rather believe that the theory of social interest is a kind of academic doctrine,apart from the invariable definition model of "utilitarianism".Pound’s theory of social interests is based on the moderate criticism of rationalism and the increasing emphasis on empiricism.It has both the theoretical essence of rationalism and the attention of empiricism to facts.On the basis of pragmatism philosophy,Pound’s theory of social interest is characterized by both openness and pluralism of interest evaluation.However,it is undeniable that it also has weaknesses such as the neglect of value,the cost of means,and the regulatory loopholes for social engineers and some operational disadvantages,such as the quantification and authenticity of needs,difficulties in the expression of interests from formal democracy countries,and difficulties in the application of international law.A comprehensive and systematic consideration of Pound’s social interest theory is helpful to rethink the current interests of China in transition.There is a certain degree of correspondence between Pound’s theory of interests and China’s cultural tradition of valuing the whole rather than the individual and the goal of "harmony" of pursuing the overall interests of the society.Looking at the problems of interests and the legal regulation of interest conflicts of China in transition period,through Pound’s mode of acting on interests in social life,namely "recognition--choice--protection",we can get two modes of controlling interests in China’s transition period,namely,legislative control of interest conflicts and judicial resolution of interest conflicts.The legislative control of interest conflicts mainly refers to the classification of types of interests,the standardization of terms of interests,and the emphasis on the fair distribution of interests.The judicial resolution of interest conflicts mainly includes the non-protection of unjust interests,the priority given to institutional interests,and the improvement of interest measurement methods.It can be concluded from the practical view of law that in the rule of law era in China,the contradiction between the ethical facts and legal norms in individual cases must be considered."Law is the wisdom of practice",we should form the legal concept of the combination between the fact and legal norms.In other words,both loyalty to law and doctrinal approaches to law are indispensable.At the same time,we should reflect on our law in practice,and have the spirit of criticism and innovation of legal philosophy and legal methods.