The Unrequited Love Derived from the Rule of Law: Reflection on the Thinking Directions of Formal Rule of Law and Substantive Rule of Law

The formal rule of law is the foundation of the rule of law, the substantive rule of law is only a kind of corrective measures of the mechanical judiciary. However, in our special political and cultural background, many political and legal persons have tried to transcend the formal rule of law in order to pursue a more ideal one capable of advancing to meet the political requirements of the substance rule of law. Under the name of the rule of law, arguments or conflicts have been spread out on the direction of legal thoughts. From the trend of legal thoughts in the world, and the criticism and reflection on the shortcomings of the rule of law, the theory of the formal rule of law is getting weakened. But that does not mean that the construction of the Chinese rule of law should go beyond the formal one and achieve the unification in form and substance. If you really want to change the formal one to the substantive one, it is important to pay more attention to the tendency of contempt for the substantive rule of law. Under the entire Chinese culture, we have not experienced a strict stage of the rule of law stage, and now we need to improve the overall level of the rule of law by legal methods. But this pursuit of the rule of law with efforts is often misunderstood, manifesting to people a loyalty unrequited.