法律英语专业翻译
专业英语部分
Put the following paragraphs into Chinese:
1、Case law is built up out of precedents, and a precedent is a previous decision of a court which may, in certain circumstances, be binding on another court in deciding a similar case. This practice of following previous decisions is derived from custom, but it is a practice which is generally observed. Even in early times the itinerant judges adopted the doctrine of stare decisis, and this doctrine has been developed in modern times so that it means that a precedent binds, and must be followed in similar cases, subject to the powers to distinguish cases in certain circumstances.
所谓判例法，是基于法院判决而形成的具有法律效力的判定，这种判定在某些情况下对以后的同类案件具有约束力，能够作为法院判案的法律依据。这种先例中的做法一般来源于习惯，同时也是通常情况下会采用的做法。即使在早期那些巡回法官也采用“遵循先例”的法律原则，如今，该法律原则也经过了一定的发展演变，即在某些情况下，经过权力机关对案件进行甄别后，经认定先例适合于现有案件，则先例具有约束力，必须适用先例。
2、The literal rule. According to this rule, the working of the Act must be construed according to its literal and grammatical meaning whatever the result may be. The same word must normally be construed throughout the Act in the same sense, and in the case of old statutes regard must be had to its contemporary meaning if there has been a change with the passage of time.
2.字面规则。所谓字面规则是指在对法律条文进行解读时必须结合其字面含义和语法含义两方面。在同一法案中，同一个单词通篇的含义应是一致的；至于古法典中的词语，如果其语义随着时代变迁发生了变化，则应注意采用其对应的现代语义。
3、In a very wide sense, the principle of legality – the “rule of law”– refers to and requires not only a body of legal precepts but also supporting institutions, procedures, and values. The “rule of law”, according to an American Bar Association. Committee Report (published by International Commission of Jurists 1956), includes: “1, That body of legal precepts governing, 2, those institutions vested with appropriate legal power, and 3, those legal procedures by which those precepts may be applied by those institutions – which together are designed to effect the protection of essential interests of individuals guaranteed by our society through limitations on the authority of the State.”
广义上来说，合法性原则，也即是“法治”，不仅是法律规则的集合，也包含将法律付诸实施的授权单位，法律实施的过程以及其中蕴含的价值。美国律师
执业协会委员会报告（刊载于1956年出版的《国际法学家委员会》）是这么定义“法治”的，法治包含三层含义：1、由一系列法律规则所规；2、根据授权获得行使相应权力的机构；3、上述授权机构实践运用上述规的过程，这三方面共同作用通过限制国家的公权力来保护由社会赋予的个体所应享有的根本利益。
4、A criminal offence results from the action of human being, or his failure to act, which is referred to as the actus reus of the crime. This act or omission must, at least at common law, be accompanied by an appropriate state of mind which is referred to as the mens rea.
The actus reus must be accompanied by an appropriate of mind which is referred to as mens rea. The mens rea and the actus reus must coincide in order to constitute a crime.
4.犯罪由作为或不作为引起，这就是犯罪构成要件中的犯罪行为。通常认为，这种作为或者疏忽大意都伴随着相应的心理状态，这就是犯罪构成要件中的犯罪心理。某一犯罪行为的发生必然伴随着某种相应的犯罪心理，只有同时具备犯罪行为和犯罪心理两方面才能构成犯罪。
5、The Code of Professional Responsibility points the way to the aspiring and provides standards by which to judge the transgressor. Each lawyer must find within his own conscience the touchstone against which to test the extent to which his actions should rise above minimum standards, But in the last analysis it is the desire for the respect and confidence of the members of his profession and of the society which he serves that should provide to a lawyer the incentive for the highest possible degree of ethical conduct. The possible loss of that respect and confidence is the ultimate sanction. So long as its practitioners are guided by these principles, the law will continue to be a noble profession. This is its greatness and its strength, which permit of no compromise.
5、《职业行为示规则》一方面催人上进，另一方面为惩戒某些违反行为提供标准。每位律师都应该凭着自己的良心寻找自己的试金石，看看他自己的底线到底在哪里。但是归根结底，来自于其所服务的社会以及其所在的行业给予的职业尊荣感是律师以高标准道德要求自己的动力，丧失这种职业尊荣感可能是对律师的终极惩罚。只要执业者自觉遵守示规则，律师职业仍然是一种高贵的职业，这就是律师行业的伟大和可敬之处，不允许任何的妥协。
6. Crimes and Punishments
Criminal justice is a vast, complex system. Briefly, it is that part of the legal system which, first of all, marks off certain behavior as wrong or "criminal"; second, takes steps to control or prevent that behavior by threats of punishment; and third, if prevention fails, tries to catch and to punish the wrongdoer. Familiar as the system is in some of its aspects; in others it is obscure and much misunderstood.
To begin with, what is a crime? Every country has its own special list. The list is part of an elaborate statute which is usually called the penal
code. The code describes conduct that is illegal and therefore criminal; it also sets out punishments.
Some crimes are in the penal codes of every state: murder, manslaughter, robbery, burglary, rape, arson, and so on. Others are less universal. The Georgia code makes it a crime "to be a peeping Tom" or to invade a person's privacy with acts "of a similar nature." The Georgia code also deals with the sale of obscene literature, shooting guns on Sunday, illegal use of credit cards and dozens of other offenses.
The great, classic crimes are part of the social code, whatever their status in the legal code. The layman knows them as crimes. He has a rough working knowledge of what constitutes murder, even though he does not understand the law's technicalities and distinctions. Cold-blooded killing is murder, we know, although few of us can tell the difference between first-degree and second-degree murder, or what "malice" means, or what level of insanity excuses an act of killing.
Punishment, too, is variable. It depends mostly on how serious the crime. Seriousness is not inherent in the criminal conduct; it is a social judgment. Legally speaking, serious crimes are called felonies; less serious crimes are called misdemeanors. The exact line between them is a matter of legal definition. In California, a felony is a crime which can be punished by death or by a year or more in prison; all others are misdemeanors, except for some petty acts (traffic violations, breaches of ordinances) which are called offenses. Offenses carry less of a punishment than crimes and have less of a stigma. A history of parking tickets is not a criminal record.
刑事司法是一个庞大、复杂的法律体系。简言之，作为法律体系的一部分，刑事司法发挥以下作用，首先他对什么行为是错误的或者是“犯罪的”进行定义；然后，通过以刑罚作为震慑手段，采取一定的措施限制或者禁止某种行为；最后，如果未能阻止，找到犯罪的人并处之以刑罚。刑事司法与其他法律体系有相同之处，也有其模糊和易被误解的一面。
首先，什么是犯罪？每个国家对此都有自独特的围。这个围是经精心制定的规的其中一部分，这部规通常称之为“刑法”。刑法定义哪些行为是的并进而构成犯罪，它还对刑罚进行了规定。
有些犯罪行为是各国刑法中都会包含的，例如谋杀罪，过失杀人罪，抢劫罪，盗窃罪，强奸罪，纵火罪等；有些犯罪行为不具有普遍性。例如，格鲁吉亚法典就规定“偷窥”或者以其他类似性质的行为侵犯个人隐私即构成犯罪，该法典还对销售淫秽文学制品，在周日开枪，滥用信用卡及其他很多微罪进行了规定。
无论在刑法中的地位如何，那些重大的、众所周知的犯罪行为总会被列入刑法中。门外汉也能知道那些行为已经构成了犯罪，虽然他不一定理解不了立法技术及法律之间的区分，但他能粗略知道关于哪些情况构成谋杀的实用知识。我们都知道残忍的杀戮肯定是一种谋杀，尽管只有少数人知道一级谋杀和二级谋杀的区别，或者什么叫“恶意”，或者哪种程度上的精神失常可让其杀人行为豁免。所犯罪行的严重程度不同，其所受到的刑罚也是不同的。严重性并不是犯罪行为本身固有的，只是一种社会评价。从法律上讲，严重的犯罪被称为重罪，相反则
为轻罪。要对他们进行精准区分需要用法律定义。在加利福利亚州，重罪是指会被判处一年以上监禁直至死刑的罪行，其余的都为轻罪，只除掉某些情节轻微的行为如违反交规，违反条例等仅构成微罪。相对于重罪、轻罪而言，微罪所受刑罚较低，也不会留下那么多污点。像被交警开停车罚单这种历史都不会被计入刑事档案。
7、Law
Law, body of official rules and regulations, is generally found in constitutions, legislation, judicial opinions, and the like, that is used to govern a society and to control the behavior of its members. The nature and functions of law have varied throughout history. In modern societies, some authorized body such as a legislature or a court makes the law. It is backed by the coercive power of the state, which enforces the law by means of appropriate penalties or remedies.
Formal legal rules and actions are usually distinguished from other means of social control and guides for behavior such as morality, public opinion, and custom or tradition. Of course, a lawmaker may respond to public opinion or other pressures, and a formal law may prohibit what is morally unacceptable.
Law serves a variety of functions. Laws against crimes, for example, help to maintain a peaceful, orderly, relatively stable society. Courts contribute to social stability by resolving disputes in a civilized fashion. Property and contract laws facilitate business activities and private planning. Laws limiting the powers of government help to provide some degree of freedom that would not otherwise be possible. Law has also been used as a mechanism for social change; for instance, at various times laws have been passed to inhibit social discrimination and to improve the quality of individual life in matters of health, education, and welfare. Some experts believe the popular view of law overemphasizes its formal, coercive aspects. They point out that if a custom or norm is assured of judicial backing, it is, for practical purposes, law. On the other hand, a statute that is neither obeyed nor enforced is empty law. Social attitudes toward the formal law are a significant part of the law in process. The role of law in China and Japan, for example, is somewhat different from its role in Western nations. Respect for the processes of law is low, at least outside matters of business and industry. Tradition looms much larger in everyday life. Resort to legal resolution of a dispute is truly a last resort, with conciliation being the mechanism that is preferred for social control.
Law is not completely a matter of human enactment; it also includes natural law. The best-known version of this view, that God's law is supreme, has had considerable influence in the United States and other Western societies. The civil rights movement, for example, was at least partially inspired by the belief in natural law. Such a belief seems implicit in
the view that law should serve to promote human dignity, as for instance by the enforcement of equal rights for all. Muslim societies also embrace a kind of natural law, which is closely linked to the religion of Islam.
法律是用于管理社会和约束全体社会成员行为的一系列正式规则和规的集合，其主要渊源为宪法，立法和法律意见等。随着历史的变迁，法律的性质以及功能也在发生改变。在现代社会，法律经立法机构或者法院这样的权力机关制定，以适当的处罚或者适当的救济作为手段由国家强制力保证实施。
通常来说，正式的法律规则和法律行为与其他社会管理手段或者行为指导规如道德，公众意见，习惯或传统等是区别开来的。当然，法律制定者在制定法律过程中也会考虑到公众意见或其他方面的因素，道德上不被接受的也为正式法律所禁止。
法律的功能具有多样性。比如说，打击犯罪的法律就有利于维护社会的和平稳定及秩序。法院以文明的方式解决争端也有助于社会的稳定。财产法和合同法有利于商业活动的运行及私人计划的开展。法律限制了政府的权力，从而实现了本不可能实现的某种程度的自由。法律还经常被作为社会变革的机器，比如，曾在不同的时期通过制定法律来禁止社会歧视，提升健康、教育及福利等方面的待遇，以此提高人们的生活质量。
有些专家认为流行的关于法律的观点过分强调法律的形式及法律的强制力。他们指出如果某种习惯或规被赋予法律的强制力，那么从实用角度看，就已经构成了法律。相反，如果一部法律既无人遵守，也无人执行，那这部法律就落空了。在法律的进程中，社会对正式法律的态度是很重要的一个方面。举个例子来说，法律在中国和日本所扮演的角色（地位）与其在西方国家中所扮演的角色（地位）不一样。仅尊重法律的进程是不够的，至少无法促进工商业的发展。在日常生活中传统所发挥的作用更大，为了社会管理，一般通过和解的方式解决纠纷，求助法律手段真的是不得已而为之。
法律不仅仅是人制定的，也包括自然法则。持这种论调最为人知的观点是，上帝的法律是至高无上的，这种观点在美国和其他西方国家有较大的影响力。运动的发生至少有一部分灵感是来自对自然法则的信仰。该观点也认同法律应致力于提升人格尊严，因为他们也贯彻着人人平等的思想。穆斯林也持某种自然法则论，但那是一种与穆斯林密切相关的论调。
8、The US Constitution
The US Constitution consists of seven articles and 27 amendments. The original seven articles took effect in 1789. The 27 amendments were added to the Constitution from 1791 to 1992. The first ten amendments were enacted in 1791; they are often called "the bill of rights." It is very likely that more amendments will be added.
People who don’t know anything about civil procedure or property law can recall the basic elements of the constitutional law: separation of powers; checks and balances; judicial review; due process and equal protection of law; freedom of speech, religion, and press. As the supreme law of the land, Constitutional Law texts are generally divided into two parts. The first part is about the allocation of powers. This entails two basic principles of American Constitution: separation of powers and
division of powers. Both of the two principles function under one principle -- checks and balances. The second part of the Constitution is on the specification of rights and liberties for the individuals. To realize the rights and liberties, the Framers were not only dependent on the allocation of powers, but also on another principle of the Constitution -- limited government.
When you study Constitutional law, you should learn the sources that judges might rely upon to guide their constitutional interpretation (text of Constitution, intentions of framers, case precedent, policy consequences of alternative interpretations). Learn how judges are likely to weigh these various guides in various contexts. Understand historical trends and understand that judges are ultimately affected by the same economic and social forces as society as a whole. With a solid knowledge of these things, you will be able to make intelligent and potentially convincing arguments -- and make reasonable predictions about the likelihood of your arguments being successful in an actual case involving the same issues.
美国宪法有7个法条及27个修正案。最初的七条自1789年发生法律效力，后来的27个修正案是从1791年到1992年间陆续添加的。最初的10个修正案于1791年生效，被称之为“权利法案”。目前来看，以后还会有更多的修正案。
如果你不懂民事诉讼程序或者财产法，那么可以回忆下宪法的基本元素，如三权分立，制约与平衡，司法审查，正当程序和法律的平等保护，言论自由，自由和新闻自由等。作为国家的最高法律，宪法文本大致可分为两部分。第一部分关于权力的分配，这里蕴含了美国宪法的两个基本原则——三权分立和联邦制。这两个原则又体现了另一个原则——制约与平衡。宪法的第二部详细论述了个人的权利与自由。为了实现个人的权利与自由，宪法的起草者们不仅对权力进行了分配，还引入了宪法的另外一个原则——有限政府。
学习宪法时要注意学习那些法官们在进行宪法解释时所依据的宪法渊源，包括宪法，起草者的意图，先例，不同解释带来的政策后果等。要学习法官如何根据不同的环境来平衡选择合适的宪法渊源作为解释的依据。要了解历史发展的趋势，要知道法官最终会受到社会整体的经济和社会压力的影响。一旦真正掌握了这些，你就可能提出明智的且可能令人信服的论点，甚至如果在实际案件中遇到同一类问题时，你就可以预测你所提出论点成功的可能性有多大。
9、Damages
The amount of money which a plaintiff (the person suing) may be awarded in a lawsuit. There are many types of damages. Special damages are those which actually were caused by the injury and include medical and hospital bills, ambulance charges, loss of wages, property repair or replacement costs or loss of money due on a contract. The second basic area of damages are general damages, which are presumed to be a result of the other party's actions, but are subjective both in nature and determination of value of damages. These include pain and suffering, future problems and crippling effect of an injury, loss of ability to perform various acts, shortening