最近有些本科生、硕士和博士研究生来和我讨论写论文的事情，希望我能给些意见。想来想去，我只能给出这样几点个人朴实、实用看法，供他们参考：

第一，研究应该是从解决问题（problem-solving based）出发。这也许和个人治学的风格有关，比如我更喜欢研究制度－中国的、香港的、法国的、比较的，就是没能力构筑什么体系、学说、主义〔无疑这个工作还是要人去做的〕。所以，学生和我做论文很少玩“虚”的，从制度而理论、而比较可以，从抽象到抽象那是不被允许的。仅举几例：我指导一个本科生作一篇讨论在香港区域法院是否可以实行陪审制度的文章，一不小心做大了。该文不仅讨论到当前法律改革的问题之一，而且有理论的意义。该文简洁本已经在《香港律师》（Hong Kong Lawyer）上以封面文章发表了，全文将发在另一家法学评论之上。他高兴得手舞足蹈，小小年纪取得的成功感可想而知。而我也为他乐得不行。我指导的一个来自大陆的、读修课式法学硕士生（LLM）也完成了一篇研究香港小额钱债法庭的文章，不巧又是第一篇系统研究的文章。该文作者实地调查访问听审，扎实研究回答问题，具有开创性。发表也是不久的将来的事。第三个学生也来自大陆，有中国、英国和香港学习的背景，公司律师，现兼职攻读法学博士（JSD）。我接受指导那是因为他在比较研究REITs这一房地产投资方式，发挥自己的语言特长和专业优势，写出受理论界和业界接受的好文章我是有信心的；何况在我的指导和督促之下已经开始持文章了。

第二，我不主张、不鼓励学生炒“现饭”，因为在“现饭”基础上做出香喷喷的佳肴那是需要不一般的功底的。法学界的绝顶天才毕竟屈指可数；即使有，那也不一定现在就出现在香港这个商业社会。我始终认为，能在“现饭”的基础上炒出名堂来那是十分了不起的，那是积累来的学术功底和个人的悟性的共同作用，导师的指导也许不是决定性的。比如，有学生问我可以中国的违宪审查制度为题作博士论文。我反问，中国有（完整意义的）违宪审查制度吗？此制度等于彼制度吗？何况你能超出内地已经出版的著作吗？我觉得我终将不会接受这一建议的。

第三，理论和方法论的重要。我有个同事最近两年出版得很“疯狂”，并且都是世界法学界的所谓知名刊物（大部分列入SSCI目录）。同一个问题如法院的caseload、劳动争议的解决、基层法院的运作，他的写作就有过人之处。除了所谓切入点不同之外，先进研究方法论的掌握和扎实的理论根底乃是决定因素；还有，他不仅理解国际法学界的话语（他的领域内），还会熟练地使用。

说了这么多，那么你会问，什么才算是国际的前沿课题呢？这可能是仁者见仁、智者见智的论题；但是也不尽然。我没办法列出一二三四供你参考，但是关注参考国际宪法大会的主题和专题会议的议题可能是捷径之一。

今年十一月和十二月我要去参加两个宪法学会议。一是下个星期在印度加尔各答召开的“宪法多元主义：对理论的新挑战”（第三届亚欧比较宪法学对话会），具体议题（按发言顺序）如下：

Sudhir Krishnaswamy- ‘Legal Pluralism and Constitutional Pluralism: A Necessary Connection?’
Pritam Baruah & Nicolas Martin Rouleau – ‘The Role of Legal and Constitutional Pluralism as procedures to resolve value conflicts’
Georg Lienbacher - ‘Constitutional Pluralism - A federalist approach‘

Qianfan Zhang – ‘A Constitution without Constitutionalism? The Paths of Constitutional Developments in China’
Tonami Koji – ‘The development of the Constitutionalism in Japan after World War II’
Guobin Zhu – ‘Unity in Diversity as a constitutional principle underlying the composite state of China’

Amita Dhanda – ‘Constitutional Pluralism to reconstruct the constitutional identity of persons with disabilities’
Harihar Bhattacharya – ‘Constitutional Pluralism and Conceptual Hybridism: Citizenship in India’
Bipin Adhikari – ‘Right to Self Determination: Some issues under the draft Constitution of Nepal’

Kamala Shankaran – ‘Dealing with Difference: South Asian Experiments in Power Sharing’
Christoph Bezemek – ‘Constitution’s Minority-Protective Function - Theory and Reality’
Christina Binder – ‘Autonomy as means to accommodate cultural diversity? The case of indigenous peoples’
Joachim Stern – ‘Legal Pluralism - A Set to Choose From or a Multitude of Rules to Follow? The Legal Situation of Migrants in Western Countries’

Thomas Kroll – ‘Co-operative Legal Protection in Multi-level Systems of Law’
Stephen Schuman – ‘European Constitutionalism: Struggling for Autonomy in International Law’
Claudia Fuchs – ‘On the Convergence in the Interpretation of Human Rights in the European Human Rights Regime’
Bedanna Bapuly – ‘Fundamental Rights Adjudication in the EU’

M.P.Singh – ‘ Constitutionalism and legal pluralism: Institutional response through judical review’
Surya Dhungel – ‘Judicial Review Under Transitional Constitutionalism In Nepal’
Ridwanul Hoque – ‘Towards an active judicial review: Horizontality of fundamental rights in Bangladesh’
Ishwara Bhat – ‘Constitutions Within A Constitution As A Response To Multicultural Reality: A Comparative Reflection On The Indian and Japanese Experience’

十二月初我要出席在墨西哥城举办的每四年一次的第八届世界宪法大会。我将参加若干主题会议讨论，并在第14组发表演讲。据说内地有不少学者参加，我期待阅读他们出席大会的论文。在此，我列举大会全体会议和专题会议的题目供大家参考：

 Plenary Session I （全体会议）  Philosophical perspectives on principles in constitutional law 

Principles increasingly have a prominent place in constitutional law and constitutional discourse. Principles can be defined at a very abstract level but also applied in a very specific context. Often principles are referred to as norms that are valid within a normative system as a whole, rather than characterized by a specific scope of application. Hence, they can be identified in all normative systems, including in law, morality, theology etc. How can principles be distinguished from other types of norms, or from empirical statements that are relevant for the application of norms? What is the relationship between principles, values, rules, policies and facts? What can lawyers learn from philosophers about the nature of principles and the methods of resolving conflicts or tensions between them?

Plenary Session II  Constitutional law and the generation and use of principles

How do principles operate within constitutional law? What is the role of principles in diverse legal traditions such as common law, civil law, customary and other legal traditions? What is the notion and role of 'the people' in the creation, modification and overriding of constitutional principles?

Plenary Session III  Principles: universal, particular?

To what extent do constitutional principles make a claim of universality, in time and space? Can constitutional principles with presumed universal validity be identified with universal human rights and peremptory norms of international law (jus cogens)? Can principles be absolute? Are principles converging or diverging? Do universal principles provide a solution to the challenges of particularism and legal pluralism in multicultural societies?

Plenary Session IV  Constitutional Principles and the Judge

To compare deductive traditions of deriving supra- or meta-constitutional principles from the values behind or above the written Constitution with inductive traditions of identifying common principles in individual cases and gradually recognizing their constitutional nature. Do courts refer to principles? Is there commonality in the judicial use of principles, or can we develop a typology of clearly distinct ways of referring to principles? What are the constitutional principles most often referred to by judges? What is the degree of cross-fertilization between legal systems when referring to principles?

Workshops （专题会议）

1. Electoral systems and constitutional principles

2. Old authoritarian constitutions and new democratic systems

3. Media and constitutional principles

4. Divided societies and constitutional principles

5. Subnational constitutions

6. The rule of law in the age of terrorism

7. Multiculturalism and indigenous people’s rights

8. Is Federalism a Constitutional Principle?

9. Proportionality as a principle

10. Indivisibility of human rights

11. Religion and the State

12. Foreign law: jurisprudence cross fertilization

13. New trends in Latin American Constitutional Law

14. The principle of separation of powers reviewed

15. The impact of international law on constitutional principles

16. Constitutional Principles and democratic transition

17. How comparative is comparative constitutional law?

18. Constitutional implications of regional integration