一、导言法治只是一种理想,它从未被哪个社会完全实现过。法治的首要条件是政府官员遵守法律,但官员们可能并不这般行事,而在大型社会中,情况或许还要糟糕。由于官员们都程度不一地背离法律,社会就难以实现法治这一目标。也许压根就没有哪个社会曾非常逼近过这一目标。因为人们 I. INTRODUCTION The rule of law is only an ideal and it has never been completely realized by any society. The rule of law is premised on the fact that government officials abide by the law, but officials may not behave in the same way, and in larger societies the situation may be worse. As officials diverge from the law to varying degrees, it is difficult for society to achieve the goal of rule of law. Perhaps there is no single community that has been very close to this goal. Because people