Some Draft Constitutions of Limited Monarchy in the Late Qing Dynasty

Abstract

본 논문에서는 청조 최후 10년의 변혁기에 등장했던 입헌군주제 헌법문서들, 즉 일본식 이원군주제 헌법문서인 <欽定憲法大綱(1908)>과 영국식 상징군주제 헌법문서인 <憲法重大信條十九條(1911)>, 그리고 수년 전 학계에 그 존재가 알려진 淸末憲法草案稿本에 대해 검토했다. 우선, ‘중국역사상 최초의 헌법문서’로 지칭되는 <欽定憲法大綱>에 대해서는, 그 비교헌법적 연원으로서 <大日本帝國憲法>과 많은 조문들이 동일하거나 거의 유사하다는 점을 지적하고, 양자의 동일성과 이질성을 면밀하게 비교․분석했다. 아울러 <欽定憲法大綱>의 구체적 규정내용과 이를 둘러싼 정치적 역학관계 및 그것이 향후 헌정발전에 미친 영향 등, 다각도에서 그 헌정사적 의의와 평가에 관한 논의들을 살펴보았다. 다음, <憲法重大信條十九條>에 대해서는, 영국식 상징군주제를 채택한 ‘중국역사상 최초의 헌법’으로서 그 헌정사적 의의를 평가하는 동시에, 그 규정내용에 있어서의 권리조항의 결여 등 제반 미비점들을 지적하는 논의들을 살펴보았다. 마지막으로, 아직 원문이 발견되지 않고 있는 <李汪憲草>와 관련하여, 資政院檔案 가운데 발견된 <淸憲草甲殘本>과 <淸憲草乙全本> 등 淸末憲法草案稿本의 기본성격과 작성주체 및 그 주요 특징에 관한 논의들을 살펴보았다.

Since the 100th anniversary of the “Constitutional Outline made by Imperial Order(1908),” new arguments about the constitutional movement of the late Qing dynasty are arising. The arguments of constitutional scholars are especially noteworthy due to the fact that they fully recognize the historical significance of the constitutional reform. In this article, I introduce the recent arguments about three constitutional documents of the late Qing dynasty which adopted the constitutional monarchy system. In chapter two, I examine the textual origin and the historical value of the “Constitutional Outline made by Imperial Order(1908).” Though the Constitutional Outline, for the most part, was copied from the “Constitution of the Empire of Japan(1889)”, it certainly played a critical role as a bridge from a confucian monarchy to a democratic republic. It codified the minimal standards of constitutionalism, i.e., the limitation of monarchial powers and the guarantee of fundamental rights. In chapter three and four, I also examine the textual origin and the historical value of the “Nineteen Significant Creeds of the Constitution(1911)” and the “Two Manuscripts of the Draft Constitution.” The Nineteen Significant Creeds are said to have adopted the British constitutional monarchy in which the King/Queen plays a symbolic and ceremonial role. However, the Emperor's powers were far from being nullified, although they were substantially weakened. Furthermore, the bill of rights was not included in the Nineteen Significant Creeds, in contrast with the Constitutional Outline. There is a sharp debate over whether the Two Manuscripts, which were recently discovered by a chinese legal historian, are the real constitutional drafts of the Qing dynasty or not. The discoverer maintains that they certainly are, but the critic argues that the one is nothing but a translated part of a book written by a Japanese constitutional scholar, and that the other is at most a private constitutional draft.