摘要： 对先秦理讼问题的理解，只有以在“天下为私”的社会中求“道”这一中国政治思想史中的特质为背景展开，方可认识先秦理讼者的困境及其深层原因。通过分析当时被视为理讼理想状态的“虞芮之讼”，可知“讼”之于官方意义的正负两个维度：成为讼的受理者意味着权威和社会认同，但讼的出现本身又是社会稳定和秩序、伦理原则破败的表征。官方掌握理讼权的必要性和希冀无讼的根源，在于公私之间的矛盾，这也是中国法文化中理讼者所需面对的最核心的价值冲突。“理讼”涉及两组公私关系，即“以公成私”和“以成私致至公”，由此析出了理讼之“公”的两个层次：公断之“公”与“至公”。基于道的“至公”与争讼基础的“私”，和基于君权的“法”相冲突。理讼者在审理过程中需要做到：在消弭理法冲突的基础上，平衡“至公”的追求与通过公断维系民之私欲来获得民众的认同。由此形成了中国理讼文化的独特面貌，其典型者为先准法断讼，再因理调整。

关键词: 理讼, 公私矛盾, 道, 先秦

Abstract: This article explores the pursuit of“Dao” in the overall private society, which is a peculiar topic of the history of Chinese political thought. The discussion mainly examines the plight faced by the pre-Qin litigants and underlying causes. Starting from the ideal model in the concept of pre-Qin judicature, “Yu v. Rui”, this article analyzed the positive and negative meanings of the lawsuit for the public power: from the positive perspective, being a judicator means the gains of authority and social recognition; while from the  negative perspective, the simple emergency of litigation reflects the undermining of social stability and ethical principles. On the basis of that analysis, the reasons underlying the necessity of resolving litigation in an official way and the hopes for no disputes are further probed into. In fact, both phenomena are rooted in the contradictions of public and private, which is actually the most fundamental conflict of values for the litigants in the Chinese legal culture. Litigation involves two sets of public-private, namely coordinating the private by the public method and achieving social justice through the harmonization of the private; hence, the two levels of public of the litigation appear in the forms of“public”in fair decision and social justice.

Key words: Judicature, Contradiction between Public and Private, Dao, Pre-Qin