法学研究的空间转向

法律的空间发现或许是自法律的语言学转向以来最重要的理论发展。既有的理论比较强调法律的时间性，却没有认真对待其空间性。法律与空间关系的研究起源于物理空间与法律关系的讨论，后来发展到抽象的社会空间与法律的关系研究。不过，既有看似如火如荼的法律与空间的研究将空间视为狭义的管辖范围、动态过程或者法律运行的背景，呈现出“去空间化”的趋势，使得法律中的“空间”日趋边缘化。其原因在于，尽管在法律与空间的研究中引入了丰富的地理学词汇与语境，但是并没有本体性意义上的“空间”转向。只有将空间的本体性特征与法律的动态网络结构相结合，才能使法律的“空间”研究回归正途。
Law’s discovering its spatiality is perhaps the single most important theoretical development in legal theory since the linguistic turn in its fully deconstructive form. Most researches emphasis the temporal dimension of law, but do not take space seriously. The study of legal space developed from the relationships of physical space and law to the abstract social space and law. However, the literature is characterized by an undertheorization of concept of space. The focus is on the specific geography of law in the form of jurisdiction, and the theory regards space as a simple process or background of legal operation. The fact that both law and space are seen in their material, concrete production is a result of despatialized or marginalization of space. The reason is that despite the researches had introduced a rich geography vocabulary, there is no spatial turn in ontological sense. Only from the combination of the dynamic legal network structure and the space in the ontological sense, can we make the legal “space” on the return to the right path.