何家弘-法律英语-第一章-法律制度-英汉对照(共4页).doc

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1、精选优质文档-倾情为你奉上Lesson 1 法律制度Part One Featuers and Characteristics 第一部分 特征与特点The United States is at once a very new nation and a very old nation.美国既是一个非常新的国家也是一个非常老的国家。It is a new nation compared with many other countries, and it is new, too, in the sense that it is constantly being renewed by the add

2、ition of new elements of population and of new States.与许多别的国家相比它是一个新的国家。同时，它还因新人口成分和新州的加入而持续更新，在此意义上，它也是新国家。But in other senses it is old. It is the oldest of the new nations-the first one to be made out of an Old World colony.但是在其它的意义上它是老国家。它是最老的“新”国家第一个由旧大陆殖民地脱胎而出的国家。It has the oldest written cons

3、titution, the oldest continuous federal system, and the oldest practice of self government of any nation.它拥有最古老的成文宪法、最古老的持续的联邦体制以及最古老的民族自治实践。One of the most interesting features of Americas youth is that the whole of its history belongs in the period since the invention of the printing press.美国的年轻（性

4、）有一个很有意思的特点就是它的历史肇始于印刷机发明之后。The whole of its history is, therefore, recorded: indeed, it is safe to say that no other major nation has so comprehensive a record of its history as has the United States, for events such as those that are lost in the legendary past of Italy or France or England are par

5、t of the printed record of the United States.因此它的整个历史都得以记录下来：确实可以很有把握地说，任何其它国家都没有像美国这样全面的历史记录，因为像在意大利、法国或者英国过去的传说中湮没的那样的事件在美国都成了有文字记载的历史之一部分。And the American record is not only comprehensive; it is immense.而且其记录不仅全面，还非常浩繁。It embraces not only the record of the colonial era and of the Nation since 17

6、76, but of the present fifty States as well, and the intricate network of relationships between States and Nation.不仅包括这个国家自1776 年以来的殖民时期的记录，还有当前五十个州以及各州和联邦（nation）之间错综复杂的关系网络的历史记录。Thus, to take a very elementary example, the reports of the United States Supreme Court fill some 350 volumes, and the r

7、eports of some States are almost equally voluminous: the reader who wants to trace the history of law in America is confronted with over 5,000 stout volumes of legal cases.因此，据一个非常简单的例子，美国最高法院判例汇编有大约350 卷，而一些州的判例汇编也几乎有同样多的卷数：想研究美国法律史的读者要面对的是超过5000 巨卷的司法案例。No one document, no handful of documents, ca

8、n properly be said to reveal the character of a people or of their government.我们不能说一个文件或几个文件就能揭示出一国人民或其政府的特性。But when hundreds and thousands of documents strike a consistent note, over more than a hundred years, we have a right to say that is the keynote.但如果横跨一百多年的千百万个文件敲出始终如一的音调，我们就有理由说这就是其主调。When

9、hundreds and thousands of documents address themselves in the same ways, to the same overarching problems, we have a right to read from them certain conclusions which we can call national characteristics.当千百万个文件都以同样的方式去解决同样的中心问题，我们就有理由从中得出可以被称为国民特定的确定结论。Part Two Common Law and Equity Law 普通法和衡平法The

10、American legal system, like the English, is methodologically mainly a case law system.同英国一样，美国法律制度从方法论上来说主要是一种判例法制度。Most fields of private law still consist primarily of case law and the extensive and steadily growing statutory law continues to be subject to binding interpretation through case law.许

11、多私法领域仍然主要是由判例法构成，广泛而不断增长的制定法一直受制于有约束力的（解释制定法的）判例法。Knowledge of the case law method as well as of the technique of working with case law therefore is of central importance for an understanding of American law and legal methodology.因此，判例法方法的知识以及使用判例法的技巧对于理解美国法律和法律方法是极其重要的。The Common Law is historicall

12、y the common general law - with supremacy over local law-which was decreed by the itinerant judges of the English royal court.从历史的角度来看，普通法就是由英国皇家法院的巡回法官的判决所得出的普通的一般法优于地方法。The enforcement of a claim presupposed the existence of a special form of action, a writ, with the result that the original commo

13、n law represented a system of actions similar to that of classical Roman law.采纳或执行某项诉讼请求是以存在法院令状这种特殊形式的诉为前提的，而这就使最初的普通法表现为由类似于古罗马法的“诉”所构成的体系。If a writ existed (in 1227) a claim could be enforced; there was no recourse for a claim without a writ, the claim did not exist.如果存在令状（于1227 年），诉讼请求就可以被采纳或执行；

14、没有法院令状（为前提）的诉讼请求就没有追索权，因而该诉讼请求也不存在。This system became inflexible when the Provisions of Oxford (1258) prohibited the creation of new writs, except for the flexibility which the writ upon the case allowed and which later led to the development of contract and tort law.当“牛津条例”（1285 年）禁止创设除了“案情令状”允许的灵活

15、性的新的令状时，这种制度就变得僵化了，并且后来导致了合同和侵权法的发展。The narrow limits of the forms of action and the limited recourse they provided led to the development of equity law and equity case law.对于诉的形式的严格限制及由此产生的对追索权的限制导致了衡平法和衡平判例法的发展。Equity, in its general meaning of doing equity, deciding ex aequo et bono, was first gr

16、anted by the King, and later by his Chancellor as keeper of the Kings conscience, to afford relief in hardship cases.“衡平”的一般意义就是寻求“公平”，即公平且善良地裁决，它最初是由国王，后来由作为“国王良知守护人”的大法官颁行，以便在艰难的案件中提供救济。In the fifteenth century, however, equity law and equity case law developed into an independent legal system and

17、 judiciary (Court of Chancery) which competed with the ordinary common law courts.但是到了十五世纪，衡平法和衡平判例法发展成了一个独立的法律制度和与一般的普通法法院一争高下的司法系统（衡平法院）。Its rules and maxims became fixed and, to a degree, inflexible as in any legal system.其规则和格言变得非常固定而且在某种程度上不像在其它法律制度中一样灵活。Special characteristics of equity law in

18、clude: relief in the form of specific performance (in contrast to the common law award of compensatory damages), the injunction (a temporary or final order to do or not to do a specific act), the development of so-called maxims of equity law which permeated the entire legal system and in many cases

19、explain the origin of modern legal concepts.衡平法的特点有：以特定履行（或实际履行）的方式提供救济（与普通法提供补偿性损害赔偿金的救济方式形成对照）；强制令（为或者不为某项具体行为的临时或者最终法令）；渗透了整个法律制度并且能在许多场合下揭示现代法律概念的起源的所谓的衡平法格言的发展。However, equitable relief regularly will lie only when the common law relief is inadequate.不过，一般都是只有在普通法救济不充分时，才会出现衡平法救济。For instance,

20、specific performance for the purchase of real property will be granted because common law damages are deemed to be inadequate since they cannot compensate the buyer in view of the uniqueness attributed to real property.比如，优于普通法损害赔偿金被认为是不充分的，这是因为考虑到不动产所具有的唯一性，这些赔偿金无法补偿不动产购买人（的损失），就可能判以特定履行购买不动产。As th

21、e common law, equity law became part of American law either through judicial acceptance or through express statutory provision.与普通法一样，衡平法通过司法接纳或通过明确的制定法条款，成了美国法律的一部分。Today, both legal systems have been merged in many American jurisdictions (beginning with New York in 1848), with the result that ther

22、e is only one form of civil suit in these jurisdictions as well as in federal practice.目前，这两个法律制度在许多美国司法管辖区中得以融合（始于1848 年的纽约），因而，在这些司法管辖区以及联邦的实践中只存在一种形式的民事诉讼。Only few States continue to maintain a separate chancery court.只有为数很少的州还保留着单独的衡平法院。Nevertheless, the reference to the historical development i

23、s important because, on the one hand, it explains the origin and significance of many contemporary legal concepts (for instance the division of title in the law of property) and, on the other hand, it is still relevant for the decision of such questions whether, for instance, there is a right to a t

24、rial by jury (only in the case of common law suits, in other cases only before the judge).尽管如此，提及这一历史演变仍然是很重要的，因为它一方面解释了许多当代法律概念（如物权法中的所有权分割）的起源和意义，另一方面，它仍然与做出某些裁决有一定的关联，比如是否有权获得陪审团的审理（这仅发生与普通法的讼案中，在其它案件中仅由法官审理）。In addition, the differentiation will determine whether the ordinary common law relief o

25、f damages applies or whether the extraordinary equity remedy of specific performance is available.另外，这种区别将决定“通常的”普通法赔偿金救济是否适用或者是否可以使用“特别的”衡平法特定履行救济。Case lawdescribes the entire body of judge-made law and today includes common law and equity precedents.“判例法”代表了整个的法官造法体系，而且在现代还包括了普通法和衡平法先例。In imprecis

26、e and confusing usage the terms common law and case law are often used synonymously, with the term common law in this usage connoting judge-made law in general as contrasted with statutory law.在不准确的和令人迷惑的用法中，“普通法”和“判例法”这两个术语通常被当作同义词来使用，在这里，“普通法”这个术语意味着法官制定的法，以示区别制定法。Case law always connotes judge-made law, while common law in contrast-depending on the meaning intended-describes either the judge-made law in common law subject matters or, more extensively, all judge made law.“判例法”总是代表着法官制定的法律，而“普通法”则相对来说，根据想表达的意思不同，要么代表普通法主题事项（即具体问题）上法官制定的法律，要么在更广范围内指所有法官制定的法律。专心-专注-专业