儒學作為中國文化的核心思想，既是多數知識份子的精神依歸，也為過去政法制度的價值根源。遺憾的是對照今日民主法治社會，以倫常血緣為基礎的倫理法體系實難敷用於當代；相較自由、人權等價值，儒家民本主張更是相形見絀。多數學者僅能解釋在過去時空背景下，儒家法思想何以是合理的，但卻很難接榫儒家法思想於當代社會，使二者產生內在本質性的銜接。然而儒家法思想果無現代意義？我們似乎不當輕易放棄此種努力。 本文以儒家「規範優位」思維為研究對象，通過對於「法」本質的分析，將「法」理解為「群體普遍同意之意義與價值」，並在此一基礎上確立儒家之「禮」即今日之「法」，「禮」、「法」不應被視為是衝突對立的概念。 第二部份我們檢視了孔、孟、荀三子思想中關於「規範優位」思維的論述，其中不僅飽含人文理性精神，更凸顯出儒家思想的現代意義。第三部分則是回應歷來常見的幾種質疑，重新詮釋「直躬案例」、「桃應難題」以及儒家「有治人、無治法」等主張。除圓滿敷陳本文論點外，更欲藉此突出儒學活潑深邃、與時並進的文化生命力。

Confucianism, the core idea in Chinese culture, has existed in the mind and spirits of most intellectuals. This idea was also a fundamental moral value in the past political and legal systems. Therefore understanding “Confucian Ideology” is a keystone for those who desire to understand the course of change and evolution in legal systems. In contrast to the modern legal system, which is based on the rule of law and democracy, the traditional legal system, which is based on the Confucian ethics, is considered to be adequate for modern society. Confucianism seems to be deficient in the perspective of freedom and human rights. Most scholars are able to explain the reason why Confucianism was reasonable and legitimate in the past but they rarely connect itself with the contemporary legal thoughts. Seldom do they explore the internal rationales of Confucianism in the perspectives of modern legal thoughts. This gap opens a question of whether the Confucian legal thought is significant in modern society. In order to respond to this question, this article takes the idea of “priority of norms” in Confucianism as its main objective. First, this article analyzes the nature of “law” and illustrates its meaning by treating the foundation of law as a general consent in a group. And under this definition, this article claims that it is possible to treat “Li” (禮) in Confucianism as the same as “Law” (法) in the modern meaning. Therfore “Li” and “Law” are not supposed to be mutually excluded. Secondly, this article examines various arguments involving the idea of the priority of norms in Confucian, Mencious, and Xun Sanzi’s thoughts. This examination will also reflect on Confucianism and its humanitarian rationalism and modernity. Thirdly, this article will respond to some common challenges on Confucianism and will re-interpret some ideas in Confucianism, such as “straight bow case,” “peach responding to difficult questions,” and “rule by man, not by law.” By using this three-step approach, this article wishes to establish a structure and to contribute to the modern meanings of Confucianism.