The question of the value of laws has aroused strong concern of some jurisprudential scholars．Some scholars hold that since Aristotle advanced the dual meaning of the rule of law，to expound and prove，criticize or logically apply the criteria of the values of law has always been the main activities of jurists in the various classic periods of the history of law just as Roscoe Pound（1870-1964）had said．These highly effective efforts have made the idea that laws are an embodiment of the beautiful ideas of freedom，democracy，equality and justice to be deeply rooted in the heart of the people．However，in real life we have frequently encountered loss of legal values，especially during the Second World War period when laws not only did not prevent the aggression and slaughters by the Nazis but on the contrary became the best accomplices of Nazi atrocities and this made people burn with anger．The loss of legal values in the Nazi period enlightened us that we should maintain due vigilance and self-examination in the course of the modernization drive by building rule of law which is raging all over China at present．Some scholars hold that the term “legal value” has been developed into a frequently used concept in legal writings in China from the situation of the time before 1980s when nobody cared about it．Generally speaking，the value of law may be called legal value just as under normal circumstances when people treat “laws” and “statutes” in the same way．But in the strict sense，the extension of the value of law is wider than legal value．In a broad sense，the value of law may be used to refer to all the meaning of law to man，which includes all the usefulness of law and both the value of the purpose of law and the value of law as a tool．The former is like the meaning of law versus freedom，equality，fairness and justice and an all-round free development of man；and the latter is like the functions and roles of law in such aspects as efficiency，democracy and rule of law．To sum up，the functions and roles of law as the value of law is the usual way of thinking of many scholars in the law circles and there is nothing wrong about it．It is only because of the fact that the functions and roles of law have both the concept and category of jurisprudence which are recognized by the law circles，therefore，in the strict sense we have absolutely no need to include the functions and roles of laws into the value of law．Therefore，the value of law in the strict sense should refer to what is above the functions and roles of law to serve as the supreme target and spirit of the purpose of functions and roles．Only when laws are based on the objective reality themselves and have spiritual meaning to man or are in the absolute direction to be surpassed by man as designed by the laws is it possible for them to have value in the strictest sense．The value of law is the spiritual existence based on the material existence of law and the super knowledge category based on the knowledge system of law．

　　Some scholars hold that for the value of law to practice reason is the ability for practical thinking expressed in the course of legal practice in creating the value of law，practice the ability of self-control and practice the ability to standardize，and that it is a conceptual grasp of the idea of the practical activities to transform the legal world and realize the objectives of value of law．It can be seen，therefore，that the subject of reason is the subject of legal practice and the identities of the two are completely identical；that the environment for the formation of reason is in the course of legal practice and there is no reason to speak of without legal practice；that the content of reason is the sum total of thinking abilities，self-control abilities and standardizing abilities；that the objective of reason is to transform the existing legal world and realize the value of law；and that the form of reason is “practical” activity in the form of legal ideas．Considering the specific conditions of our country including the economy，politics，legal system and civilization building，the practice of the legal value of reason is the best choice and our practice of legal value should be based on “man of reason．”The modernization of rule of law in the present stage in China should not be a naturalization of law，or a socialization of law，but a rationalization of law．This is a kind of relatively ideal definition of the historical period for the modernization of the legal system that meets the laws of development of the legal system．