《莱茵报》时期是马克思早期法哲学思想变革的关键时期。在这一时期，马克思“第一次遇到要对所谓物质利益发表意见的难事”，而其秉持的理性主义法哲学对此却无力回应。于是，为了解决这个难题，马克思尝试从客观的经济事实本身出发重新审视法和国家。正是循着这一批判理路，马克思开始从唯心主义法学世界观向唯物主义法学世界观转轨，并最终为历史唯物主义法学体系的建立奠定了基础。

《莱茵报》时期马克思法哲学思想的形成是一个渐进的发展过程。在大学期间，马克思最初选择的是法律专业，曾经试图构建法哲学体系，由于遵循康德法哲学的二元论基础导致法学计划的失败。这次失败却促使马克思由康德的法哲学转向黑格尔的法哲学。马克思摒弃了康德哲学体系中从“应然”出发推导出“实然”的法哲学路径，吸收了黑格尔的理性现实主义，在《莱茵报》时期形成了新理性批判主义法哲学观。《莱茵报》时期是马克思进入社会政治领域，真正接触到德国社会现实的关键时期。这一时期，马克思直面物质利益冲突和社会现实的严峻挑战，这些挑战引发了法学世界观的变革。在《莱茵报》前期，也就是从《莱茵报》创刊到《关于林木盗窃法的辩论》发表之前，马克思推崇黑格尔理性主义法学世界观，主要从抽象的自由理性的视角考察法和国家，总体上属于唯心主义的新理性批判主义法哲学观。然而，在《莱茵报》后期，即从创作刊发《关于林木盗窃法的辩论》到《莱茵报》被查封为止，在《关于林木盗窃法的辩论》中，马克思“第一次遇到要对所谓物质利益发表意见的难事”思想发生了动摇，开始从新理性批判主义法学世界观转向历史唯物主义法学世界观。面对着物质利益的纷争、民众的苦难和法律实践中的不公，马克思头脑中的法哲学观念却无力作出回应，便产生了苦恼的疑问。正是“苦恼的疑问”，迫使马克思质疑理性的国家与法，转而从物质利益角度思考问题，由抨击非理性世界到批判理性原则本身，进而引发了法学世界观的转轨。在《莱茵报》时期，马克思分析视角的转变与思想的转轨，体现出思想发展的内在的理论逻辑与外在的实践动因。

在《莱茵报》时期，马克思初步回答了法的本质、法的价值、法的关系等法哲学的根本性问题。在黑格尔法哲学观的影响下，马克思将应然法与实然法相统一，揭示了法的概念、法的本质和法的内容与形式等问题，认为法的本质是自由，提出“法典就是人民自由的圣经”、“法是自由的肯定的存在”、法律适应“事物法理的本质”等经典论断。在《关于林木盗窃法的辩论》一文中，马克思观察到大量的客观事实，逐渐意识到法的根源在于物质利益关系，深化了对法的本质的理解。在《莱茵报》时期，马克思刊发了《历史法学派的哲学宣言》、《<科隆日报>第179号的社论》、《论离婚法草案》、《摩泽尔记者的辩护》、《集权问题》等文章，关注实体法背后法的价值问题，考察了自由、正义、权利、利益等法的价值的表现形式，探讨了法与物质利益、法与习惯权利、法与道德、法与国家关系等问题。马克思认为，权利是法的渊源，正义是法的价值内核，自由是法的价值目标，评价“良法”与“恶法”的依据在于是否维护人民群众的根本利益。在马克思看来，法律与道德密切相关，道德是判别良法与恶法的重要标准，并提出“国家的引力定律”这一论断，强调国家的重心在于国家本身，主张应当从历史和现实出发寻找国家的真正基础。《莱茵报》时期，这些法哲学思想深刻地表明了马克思对劳苦大众生存和发展境遇的关切，为人民的自由、权利和正义的实现而抗争。

《莱茵报》时期马克思的法哲学思想具有重要的历史价值，马克思确立了从客观事实出发研究法和国家的唯物主义方法，将公民理性和群众经验植入法哲学的价值评判之中，彰显了法律以人为本的价值诉求，实现了法学方法论的初步变革，奠定了唯物主义法学的基石。研究《莱茵报》时期马克思法哲学思想不仅丰富了马克思主义法学理论，而且对指导中国特色社会主义民主法治建设具有十分重要的启示。塑造以人为本的社会主义法治精神，推进新时代民主法治与人权实践，既是马克思法哲学的内在要求，也是我国建设法治国家的必由之路。《莱茵报》时期马克思法哲学思想为以人民为中心的法治建设提供了宝贵的思想资源，推动着法治实践向着更加公平、公正、普惠的方向发展，促使法治建设的成果更多更公平惠及全体人民。

The period of Rheinische Zeitung is the key period of the reform of Marx's early legal philosophy. In this period, Marx "encountered for the first time the difficulty of expressing opinions on so-called material interests", and his rationalist philosophy of law was unable to respond to this. Therefore, in order to solve this problem, Marx tried to re-examine the law and the state from the objective economic facts themselves. It is with this critical path that Marx began to transform from idealist legal world view to materialist legal world view, and finally laid the foundation for the establishment of historical materialist legal system.

The formation of Marx's philosophy of law in the Rheinische Zeitung period was a gradual development process. In college, Marx initially chose to major in law, and tried to construct a legal philosophy system, which failed because it followed the dualist basis of Kant's legal philosophy. This failure prompted Marx to switch from Kant's philosophy of right to Hegel's. Marx abandoned Kant's philosophy of law, which derived "reality" from "should", absorbed Hegel's rational realism, and formed a new rational critical philosophy of law in the Rheinische Zeitung period. The period of "Rheinische Zeitung" is the key period when Marx entered the field of social politics and really came into contact with the reality of German society. In this period, Marx faced the serious challenges of material interest conflict and social reality, which led to the reform of the legal world view. In the early stage of the Rheinische Zeitung, that is, from the founding of the Rheinische Zeitung to the publication of the Debate on the Law of Forest Theft, Marx advocated the Hegelian rationalist legal world view, mainly from the perspective of abstract free rationality to study law and the state, and generally belonged to the idealist new rational critique of legal philosophy. However, in the later period of the Rheinische Zeitung, that is, from the creation and publication of the Debate on the Law of Forest Theft to the confiscation of the Rheinische Zeitung, in the Debate on the Law of Forest Theft, Marx "encountered for the first time the difficulty of expressing opinions on so-called material interests" and began to shift from the neo-rational critical legal world view to the historical materialist legal world view. Faced with the conflict of material interests, the suffering of the people and the injustice of legal practice, the concept of legal philosophy in the mind is unable to respond, so it has a painful question. It is the "distressed question" that forces Marx to question the rational state and law, to think from the Angle of material interests, from attacking the irrational world to criticizing the principle of reason itself, and then leads to the transformation of the legal world view. In the Rheinische Zeitung period, the transformation of Marx's analytical perspective and the transformation of his thoughts reflected the internal theoretical logic and external practical motivation of the development of thoughts.

In the Rheinische Zeitung period, Marx initially answered the fundamental questions of law philosophy, such as the essence of law, the value of law and the relationship of law. Under the influence of Hegel's philosophy of law, Marx unifies the law as it should and the law as it is, reveals the concept of law, the essence of law, the content and form of law, holds that the essence of law is freedom, and puts forward some classical propositions such as "the code is the Bible of people's freedom", "law is the positive existence of freedom", and law ADAPTS to "the essence of legal theory of things". In the Debate on the Law of Forest Theft, Marx observed a large number of objective facts, gradually realized that the root of law lies in the relationship of material interests, and deepened the understanding of the essence of law. During his time in the Rheinische Zeitung, Marx published articles such as The Philosophical Manifesto of the Historical School of Law, the Editorial No. 179 of the Koln Zeitung, on the Draft Law on Divorce, The Defense of the Moselle Journalist, and the Centralization of the State, focusing on the value of the law behind substantive law and examining the expression of the value of freedom, justice, rights, interests and other laws. This paper discusses the relationship between law and material interests, law and customary rights, law and morality, law and state. Marx believes that right is the source of law, justice is the core of the value of law, freedom is the value goal of law, and the basis for evaluating "good law" and "bad law" is whether to safeguard the fundamental interests of the people. In Marx's view, law and morality are closely related, and morality is an important criterion for distinguishing good law and bad law. He put forward the assertion of "the law of gravity of the state", emphasizing that the center of gravity of the state lies in the state itself, and advocating that the real foundation of the state should be found from history and reality. In the period of Rheinische Zeitung, these thoughts of legal philosophy profoundly showed Marx's concern for the survival and development of the topline masses, and fought for the realization of people's freedom, rights and justice.

Marx's philosophy of law in the Rheinische Zeitung period has important historical value. Marx established the materialist method of studying law and state from objective facts, implanted civic reason and mass experience into the value evaluation of law philosophy, demonstrated the people-oriented value appeal of law, realized the preliminary reform of legal methodology, and laid the cornerstone of materialist jurisprudence. The study of Marxist philosophy of law in the Rheinische Zeitung period not only enriches the study of Marxist legal theory, but also has very important enlightenment to guide the construction of socialist democracy and rule of law with Chinese characteristics. Shaping the people-oriented spirit of socialist rule of law and promoting the practice of democratic rule of law and human rights in the new era is not only the inherent requirement of Marxist philosophy of law, but also the only way for our country to build a country of rule of law. Marx's philosophy of law in the Rheinische Zeitung period provided valuable ideological resources for the construction of people-centered rule of law, promoted the practice of rule of law to develop in a more fair, just and inclusive direction, and promoted the fruits of rule of law construction to benefit all people more fairly.