Abstract: Chinese and Western countries have different historical backgrounds, so it is quite difficult to make a comparison between them on the concept and structure of “civil law” thoughts. However, if we make a functional comparison，we can discover that Chinese and Western civil law thoughts are both relying on their own mainstream ideologies, which are Confucianism and natural law thoughts. Although there are many differences in their development and evolution, yet their “common core” can not be ignored. Especially,  they are amazingly identical in the following three aspects: first, they both pursue the integrity in the spirit of civil law; then, their social function are both to evaluate the civil rules; third, education is a indispensable path for them to carry forward.

Key words: Civil Law, Common Core, Function Comparison

摘要： 在中西各自不同的历史情境中，进行概念和结构层面的“民法”比较是非常困难的。但是，如果以功能性比较为路径，就会发现，中西“民法”各自依托在不同的主流思想，即儒家与自然法思想之中。两者在发展演变的过程中，尽管有诸多差异性，但其“共同核心”即相似性，同样不容忽视。尤其是在以下三个方面，它们有着惊人的相合之处：其一，在民法原则上，“诚信”是其共同追求的理念之一；其二，在社会功能上，同为民事规则之评价标准；其三，在传承方式上，教育同为其不可或缺的重要路径。

关键词: 民法思想, 共同核心, 功能比较