本文擬以比較法史的角度，首先回顧日本明治維新前繼受傳統中國律令體制的概況，以為探本溯源之助。進而從法繼受的觀點，檢視日本在明治維新初期有關刑律的變革，復古乎？新創乎？並以《新律綱領》及《改定律例》這兩部刑典作為主軸，從實質內涵面，考察歐西近代法律文明與古老的東方法文化之間勢力的盛衰消長。

It occurs very often among peoples of well-developed cultures, that they usually influence one another so far as their facticities and institutions are concerned. The case is the same with respect to the establishment of legal institutions and the founding of social order. The present paper compares the modern criminal legislation of Japan and China in regard to their incentives, processes and effects. It is expected that the said efforts will be able to discover the limits and defects in our conventional legal culture and will be helpful to our legislative policy-making and the development of our legal system in the future.

新律綱領；改定律例；中華法圈；法律繼受；明治維新；固有法；繼受法

Adoption of foreign law；Meiji Restoration；The legal modernization；Chinese Legal System；Hsin-lu-kang-ling；Kai-ting-lu-li