On June 1st, 2023, the 40th lecture of Weibo Law Lecture Hall was successfully held in the lecture hall 120 of Wuhan University Law School. Lei Lei, Dean and Professor of Law School of China University of Political Science and Law, was invited to give a lecture on "How to understand' jurisprudence'".

The lecture was presided over by Professor Qin Qianhong from Wuhan University Law School, and talked with Professor Liao Yi and Professor Huang Mingtao from Wuhan University Law School. More than 100 teachers and students from inside and outside the school attended the lecture.

First of all, Professor Lei Lei introduced the background of the rise of legal dogmatism, which led to the double meanings of legal dogmatism, namely "legal dogmatism as knowledge" and "legal dogmatism as method". The former is a "concept-proposition" system constructed by scholars around the current positive law of a country; The latter refers to a unique way of thinking and working.

Professor Lei Lei pointed out that the dogmatics of law has been faced with fierce debates since its birth, and the external pressure and energy constraints make scholars' reflection on epistemology of dogmatics of law seriously inadequate. There are ten groups of questions that need to be clarified urgently in the study of legal dogmatism, which can be divided into three parts: the first group of questions is the meaning of legal dogmatism, and the answer to it constitutes the starting point for answering the remaining questions; The second to fourth groups of questions involve the orientation of legal dogmatism, including the relationship between legal dogmatism and legal hermeneutics (legal methodology), the position of legal dogmatism in legal science and the similarities and differences between legal dogmatism and theology; The fifth to tenth groups of questions involve the qualitative or related positions of legal dogmatism, including whether legal dogmatism is only a "German phenomenon", whether legal dogmatism is the embodiment of "inherited law", whether legal dogmatism is legalism (legal formalism), whether legal dogmatism necessarily excludes the consideration of consequences, whether legal dogmatism cannot cope with difficult cases and whether legal dogmatism necessarily presupposes the position of legal positivism. Although the doctrine of law has been repeatedly questioned in Germany, it has withstood the test. China's research on legal dogmatics has just started, shouldering a different historical task from German, and should step forward firmly into the future.

In the talk session, Professor Liao Yi and Professor Huang Mingtao made supplementary speeches respectively around the theme of this lecture.

Professor Liao Yi thinks that from the viewpoint of discipline history, dogmatics of law is a concept formed by constant criticism of social science law, and it presents the characteristics of China. Professor Lei Lei explained what "legal dogmatism" is, and used the method of dogmatism to explain legal dogmatism, which is both innovative and open in teaching. He said that the concept of the rule of law system in China is constantly changing, and the application of legal dogmatics will be more and more extensive.

Professor Huang Mingtao put forward two points and comments on the content of the lecture. First, jurisprudence has gradually become the mainstream paradigm of legal research. Although it is limited by the background and language itself, from the historical and local aspects of law, the temporal and spatial limitations of legal dogmatics can also be understood. Secondly, Professor Lei Lei's explanation of legal dogmatism by means of ten questions has a strong teaching attribute, which not only standardizes the explanation itself, but also provides research ideas for how to understand legal dogmatism.

In the interactive session, Professor Lei Lei answered questions for the audience on the transformation and integration of the knowledge system of legal dogmatism, the development relationship between legal dogmatism and constitutional interpretation, and the relationship between legal dogmatism and system theory law, and thanked the distinguished guests for their valuable opinions.    

At the end of the lecture, Professor Qin Qianhong once again expressed his heartfelt thanks to Professor Lei Lei for his wonderful explanation. The lecture of "Webb Law Lecture Hall" was successfully concluded with warm applause from all the teachers and students present.