法律文章英语.docx

1、法律文章英语Lesson One: Legal System 法律制度Background背景自从哥伦布(Christopher Columbus)于1492年航行至美洲之后，大批欧洲人便开始拥向这片新大陆。不过，人们通常把第一批英国定居者(the first English settlers)于1607年到达弗吉尼亚(Virginia)的詹姆斯顿(Jamestown)视为美国法律制度历史的起点。美国法制史可以大体上分为两个时期，即英属殖民地时期(the Period of the English Colonies)和美利坚合众国时期(the Period of the United Stat

2、es)。虽然美国的法律制度是在英国法律传统的基础上形成和发展起来的，但是在近四百年的历史进程中，美国的法律制度也形成了一些不同于英国法律制度的特点，如公诉制度(public prosecution)等。美国属于普通法系(Common Law Legal System)国家，其法律制度有两个基本特点：其一是以分散制(decentralization)为原则；其二是以判例法(case law)为主体。美国除联邦政府外，还有州政府、县政府、市政府、镇政府等等，而且这些政府都是相互独立的，各自在其管辖范围内享有一定的立法权和执法权。因此，有人说美国是一个有许多政府的国家(a country of ma

3、ny governments)；而美国的法律体系则是一个零散的无系统(fragmental no system)。诚然，美国现在也有很多成文法(written law)或制定法(statutory law)，但是其法律制度仍是以判例法为主体的。换言之，遵从前例(stare decisis)仍然是美国司法活动中最重要的原则之一。以上两点对于理解美国的法律制度具有重要意义。Text课文Part OneThe United States is at once a very new nation and a very old nation. It is a new nation compared wi

4、th many other countries, and it is new, too, in the sense that it is constantly being renewed by the addition of new elements of population and of new States. 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. It has the oldest wri

5、tten constitution, the oldest continuous federal system, and the oldest practice of self government of any nation.One of the most interesting features of America s youth is that the whole of its history belongs in the period since the invention of the printing press. The whole of its history is, the

6、refore, 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 part of the printed record of the United States. And the Americ

7、an record is not only comprehensive; it is immense. It embraces not only the record of the colonial era and of the Nation since 1776, but of the present fifty States as well, and the intricate network of relationships between States and Nation. Thus, to take a very elementary example, the reports of

8、 the United States Supreme Court fill some 350 volumes, and the reports 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.No one document, no handful of documents, can properly be said

9、to reveal the character of a people or of their government. 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. When hundreds and thousands of documents address themselves in the same ways, to the same ove

10、rarching problems, we have a right to read from them certain conclusions which we can call national characteristics.Part TwoThe American legal system, like the English, is methodologically mainly a case law system. Most fields of private law still consist primarily of case law and the extensive and

11、steadily growing statutory law continues to be subject to binding interpretation through case law. 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.The Common Law is his

12、torically the common general law - with supremacy over local law-which was decreed by the itinerant judges of the English royal court. The enforcement of a claim presupposed the existence of a special form of action, a writ, with the result that the original common law represented a system of action

13、s similar to that of classical Roman law. 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. This system became inflexible when the Provisions of Oxford (1258) prohibited the creation of new writs, except for the flexibil

14、ity which the writ upon the case allowed and which later led to the development of contract and tort law.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. Equity, in its general meaning of doing equity, deciding

15、ex aequo et bono, was first granted by the King, and later by his Chancellor as keeper of the Kings conscience, to afford relief in hardship cases. In the fifteenth century, however, equity law and equity case law developed into an independent legal system and judiciary (Court of Chancery) which com

16、peted with the ordinary common law courts. Its rules and maxims became fixed and, to a degree, inflexible as in any legal system. Special characteristics of equity law include: relief in the form of specific performance (in contrast to the common law award of compensatory damages), the injunction (a

17、 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 explain the origin of modern legal concepts. However, equitable relief regularly will lie only when the common law relief is inade

18、quate. For instance, 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.As the common law, equity law became part of American law ei

19、ther through judicial acceptance or through express statutory provision. Today, both legal systems have been merged in many American jurisdictions (beginning with New York in 1848), with the result that there is only one form of civil suit in these jurisdictions as well as in federal practice. Only

20、few States continue to maintain a separate chancery court. Nevertheless, the reference to the historical development is 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

21、the other hand, it is still relevant for the decision of such questions whether, for instance, there is a right to a trial by jury (only in the case of common law suits, in other cases only before the judge). In addition, the differentiation will determine whether the ordinary common law relief of d

22、amages applies or whether the extraordinary equity remedy of specific performance is available.Case lawdescribes the entire body of judge made law and today includes common law and equity precedents. In imprecise and confusing usage the terms common law and case law are often used synonymously, with

23、 the term common law in this usage connoting judge made law in general as contrasted with statutory law. 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

24、 judge made law.Lesson Two：Legal Profession 法律职业Background背景美国的法律职业由律师、法官、检察官和法学教师组成。不过，这几种人又都可以称为律师(lawyer)，而且他们都可以是律师协会(Bar)成员。由此可见，美国法律职业内部的职业划分并不象中国及世界上大多数国家那样严格和确定。诚然，这里有语言习惯问题，但它也在一定程度上反映了美国各种法律工作者之间人员变换的频繁性，而且这种变换总以律师为中心。美国的法官一般都从律师中产生，而且他们在担任法官期间仍可保留律师资格，只是不能从事律师业务而已。美国的检察官与律师之间几乎没有任何职业差别。实际

25、上，美国的检察官就被称为律师(attorney)。检察官与律师(我们中国人所熟悉之含义上的律师)之间的区别仅在于前者受雇于政府，后者受雇于私人或自己开业；前者在刑事案件中负责公诉，后者在刑事案件中负责辩护。此外，美国的法学教师一般都是当地的律师。美国律师之多，在世界上堪称第一。据1984年的统计，美国共有64 9万名律师，其与人口的比例为1364。美国律师多的主要原因是法律在其社会生活中起着非常重要的作用。除各种法律纠纷外，人们从生到死、从结婚到离婚、从生活到工作，往往都需要律师的帮助。有些人几乎事事都要请教律师。诚然，这说明美国人具有很强的法律意识，但也说明美国的许多法律规定过于复杂。一般来

26、说，美国人认为到法院去解决社会生活中的法律纠纷是天经地义的，但这并不等于说美国人喜欢打官司。例如，美国有一个流传颇广的谐音字谜：有一种套服无人喜欢，是什么?(There is a kind of suits that nobody likes. What is it?)回答是：打官司。(lawsuits.)其实，美国人事事找律师也往往出于无可奈何。因此，美国的律师才得到了各种各样、褒贬不一的外号，如：租用之枪(hired guns)；讼棍(shysters)；职业投刀手(professional knife throwers)；限用之友(limited purpose friends); 社会

27、工程师(social engineers)；社会正义之斗士(champions for social justice)等。Text课文Part One： The BarThe regulation of the legal profession is primarily the concern of the states, each of which has its own requirements for admission to practice. Most require three years of college and a law degree. Each state admini

28、sters its own written examination to applicants for its bar. Almost all states, however, make use of the Multistate Bar Exam, a day long multiple choice test, to which the state adds a day long essay examination emphasizing its own law. A substantial fraction of all applicants succeed on the first t

29、ry, and many of those who fail pass on a later attempt. In all, over forty thousand persons succeed in passing these examinations each year and, after an inquiry into their character, are admitted to the bar in their respective states. No apprenticeship is required either before or after admission.

30、The rules for admission to practice before the federal courts vary with the court, but generally those entitled to practice before the highest court of a state may be admitted before the federal courts upon compliance with minor formalities.A lawyers practice is usually confined to a single communit

31、y for, although a lawyer may travel to represent clients, one is only permitted to practice in a state where one has been admitted. It is customary to retain local counsel for matters in other jurisdictions. However, one who moves to another state can usually be admitted without examination if one h

32、as practiced in a state where one has been admitted for some time, often five years.A lawyer may not only practice law, but is permitted to engage in any activity that is open to other citizens. It is not uncommon for the practicing lawyer to serve on boards of directors of corporate clients, to engage in business, and to participate actively in public affairs. A lawyer remains a member of the bar even after becoming a judge, an employee of the government or of a private business concern, or a law teacher, and may return to private practice from these other activities. A relative