契约法和成文法Common Law and Statute Law

CommonLawandStatuteLawCommonLawandStatuteLawCommonlaw--rulesofbehaviouraccepted(公认的)bysocietyonthebasisofestablished（已制定的）

customandpractices,

（风俗习惯）asevidenced【证据】bydecisionsinthecourts【法院】.Statutelaw-legislation【立法】containedinprecisewrittenstatementsofrequirementsemanatingfromparliament【国会立法】.

CommonLaw–TheDoctrineofPrecedence【优先主义】TheDOCTRINEOFPRECEDENCErequiresthataninferiorcourtalwaysfollowsthedecisionsofahighercourt.Thus,onceajudgmenthasbeenmadeinaparticularcase,thatdecisionwillapplyinanyfuturecaseswhichmatchtheparticularsofthefirst.

下级法院与上级法院{法的适用，遵循先例，推翻先例，避开先例}Caseswhichsetprecedenceareinvariablydeterminedbythehighestcourtsinthelegalsystem,(primarilytheCOURTOFAPPEALORTHEHOUSEOFLORDS).

CommonLaw–TheDoctrineofPrecedenceTheeffectofthisdoctrineistoensureconsistentapplicationofthelawthroughoutallthecourtsintheland.

Thisallowsthelawtobecontinuallyrevisedandreinterpreted“inthelightofcurrentvaluesandexperiences.”【法的不断完善，例子，遵循先例。】

CommonLaw–TheDoctrineofPrecedenceOneofthedrawbacksofcaselawisthat,despitethedoctrineofprecedence,theoutcomeofcases,remains,tosomeextent,uncertain.

Ifitcanbeshownthattheparticularsofacasearedifferentfromanythatprecedeit,thenthereis,effectivelynolawtobeapplied.

Thecourtmaybeguidedbytheprinciplesappliedinpreviousjudgmentsinsimilarcases,butisnotboundbythem.

StatuteLawThisiswrittenlaw,producedthroughtheparliamentaryprocess,andcontainedessentiallyinActsofParliament.

ThisformoflawsupersedesallotherformsoflawsinceParliamentissupremeintheland.

DelegatedLegislationNotallaspectsofstatutelawarecontainedintheactualActsofParliament.

ItisoftenthecasethatanActsetsoutthegeneralprinciplesandempowersthegovernmentorsomeotherofficialbodytoissuefurtherrequirementswhichprovidethedetail.

LegislationformedinthiswayisknownasDelegatedLegislation

andissetoutinSTATUTORYINSTRUMENTS.

DelegatedLegislationAlthough,becauseofthesupremacyofParliament,no-onecanchallengetheauthorityofanActofParliamentinthecourts,itispossibletoquestionthevalidityofdelegatedlegislationandotherdecisionstakenbybodiesunderpowersgrantedtothembyanActofParliament.

The

United

States

is

atoncea

very

new

nationa

very

old

nation既年轻又古老的国家it

is

constantly

being

renewed

by

the

addition

of

new

elements

of

population

and

of

new

States不断有新的人口成分和新州的加入It

is

a

new

nationComparedwithmanyothercountries

与其他国家相比

It

isthe

oldest

of

the

"new"

nations

—the

first

one

to

be

made

out

ofan

Old

World

colony.

第一个从旧大陆殖民地脱胎而出的国家the

oldest

written

constitution

the

oldest

continuous

federal

systemthe

oldest

practice

of

self-governmentIt

is

oldThe

whole

of

its

history

belongs

in

the

period

since

the

invention

of

the

printing

press.美国历史是印刷发明以后的历史。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

那些在意大利、法国或英国过去的传说中湮没的那些事件，是美国有文字记载历史的一部分。The

whole

of

its

history

is

recordedAnd

the

American

record

Comprehensive

复杂Immense

繁多Record

of

the

colonial

era

殖民时代的记载Recordof

the

Nation

since

1776国家从1776年开始的记载Recordof

the

present

fifty

States

当前50个州的记载The

intricate

network

ofrelationships

between

States

andNation

各州与联邦之间错综复杂关系的记载The

reports

of

the

United

States

Supreme

Court

fill

350

volumesThe

reports

of

some

States

are

almost

equally

voluminous.

联邦最高法院判例汇编州法院判例汇编The

reader

who

wants

to

trace

the

history

of

law

in

America

is

confronted

with

over

5,000

stout

volumes

of

legal

cases.想要探索美国法律历史的人面对的是5000多巨册的法律案例。No

one

document,

no

handful

of

documents,

can

properly

be

said

to

reveal

the

character

of

a

people

or

of

their

government.

没有哪一个或者少数几个文件可以准确地揭示一国人民或政府的特征。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.当一百多年来成百上千的文件敲击出始终如一的音调时，我们可以说这就是基调。The

American

legal

system,

like

the

English,

is

methodologically

mainly

a

caselaw

system.

判例法Part

Two

Civillawlegalsystem大陆法系/罗马法系Commonlawlegalsystem普通法系Statutorylaw法国和德国为代表，还有瑞士、意大利、奥地利、比利时、卢森堡、荷兰、西班牙、葡萄牙、日本等Caselaw形成于英国，包括加拿大，澳大利亚，新西兰，爱尔兰，印度、巴基斯坦，马来西亚和新加坡，香港地区也采用英美法

Most

fields

of

private

law

still

consist

primarily

of

case

law

and

the

extensive

and

steadily

growing

statutory

continues

to

be

subject

to

binding

interpretation

through

case

law.

私法的大多数领域主要包括判例法，以及广泛的不断增加的成文法，这些成文法继续通过判例法受制于有约束力的法律解释。The

common

law

is

historically

the

common

general

law

——

with

supremacy

over

local

law

——which

was

decreed

by

the

itinerant

judges

of

the

English

royal

court.

普通法在历史上是普通综合法，由英国皇家法院的巡回法官颁布的普通综合法地位高于地方法。

enforcement强制执行；

claim请求；

action诉讼行为；

writ法院令状；

classicalRomanlaw古罗马法衡平法由英国衡平法法院的大法官在处理专门的申诉案件时，为避免过分重视令状和程序方面的技术性问题，而集中考虑案情的理据得失，最终发展出有别于普通法的法律规范，就是衡平法。“Equity”——doing

equity公平——行为公平deciding

ex

aequo

et

bono决定公平且善良（拉丁语）was

first

granted

by

the

King,

and

later

by

his

Chancellor

as

"keeper

of

the

King's

conscience",

toaffordreliefinhardshipcases.首先由国王，以后由作为“国王良知守护人”的大法官作出，以便对难以解决的案例提供救济。In

the

fifteenth

century,

however,

equity

law

and

equity

case

law

developed

into

an

independent

legal

system

and

judiciary

(Court

of

chancery)which

competed

with

the

ordinary

common

law

courts.

15世纪，衡平法和衡平判例法发展成独立的法律制度和司法制度（大法官法庭），大法官法庭与普通法法庭并列存在。普通法衡平法普通法专指英国在11世纪后由法官通过判决形式逐渐形成的适用于全英格兰的一种判例法。而衡平法是指英国在14世纪后对普通法的修正和补充而出现的一种判例法。Its

rules

and

maxims

became

fixed

and,

to

a

degree,

inflexible

as

in

any

legal

system.

衡平法的规则和原则逐渐确定，与任何法律制度一样，具有一定程度的固定性。equity

lawrelief

in

the

form

of

specific

performance

特殊履行的救济方式the

injunction禁令（临时或最终的采取或不采取某种行为的命令）the

development

of

so

calledmaxims

of

equity

law形成所谓的衡平法座右铭

Special

characteristics

of

equity

law：However,

equitable

relief

regularly

will

lie

only

when

the

common

law

relief

isinadequate.

不过，只有当普通法救济不充分时，才适用衡平救济。For

instance,

specific

performance

for

the

purchase

of

real

propertywill

be

granted

because

common

law

damages

are

deemed

to

be

inadequate

since

they

cannot

compensate

the

buyerin

view

of

the

uniqueness

attributed

toreal

property.

例如，对购买不动产提供特殊履行的救济，因为普通法的赔偿被认为不充分，由于不动产具有特殊性，普通法的赔偿无法补偿买方。As

the

common

law,

equity

law

became

part

of

American

law

either

through

judicial

acceptance司法接受

or

through

express

statutory

provision明确的成文法条款

Today,

both

legal

systems

have

been

merged

in

many

American

jurisdictions

普通法

衡平法there

is

only

one

form

of

civil

suit

in

these

jurisdictions

as

well

asin

federal

practice.

在美国司法管辖区和联邦实践中只有一套民事诉讼形式美国纽约州立法机构于1848年通过了由戴维·菲尔德起草的《菲尔德民事程序法典》，稍后更成立了一个“法典化委员会”来“将纽约州的全部法律简化为成文的、系统化的法典”。Only

few

States

continue

to

maintain

a

separate

chancery

court.

独立大法官法庭Referencetothehistoricaldevelopmentisimportant

参考历史发展非常重要Itexplainstheoriginandsignificanceofmanycontemporarylegalconceptsthe

division

of

title

in

the

law

of

property财产法上的所有权分割

it

is

still

relevant

for

the

decision

of

such

questionsReferencetothehistoricaldevelopmentisimportant

参考历史发展非常重要

a

right

to

a

trial

by

jury

陪审团的审判权“ordinary”

common

law

relief

of

damages

普通法规定的赔偿金救济“extraordinary”

equity

remedy

of

specific

performance

衡平法规定的特定履行救济"Case

law"

describes

the

entire

body

of

judge

made

law

and

today

includes

common

law

and

equity

precedents.

“判例法”指所有的法官定法，目前既包括普通法，也包括衡平法先例。

In

imprecise

and

confusing

usage

the

terms

"common

law"

and

"case

law"

are

often

used

synonymously,

with

the

term

“common

law”

in

thisusage

connoting

judge-made

law

in

general

as

contrasted

with

statutory

law.

普通法与判例法混用，被用作同义词，是指“法官定法”。是与成文法相对的概念。"Case

law"

：always

connotes

judge

made

law判例法总是指法官定法"common

law"

：either

the

judge

made

law

in

common

law

subject

matters

or,

more

extensively,

all

judge-made

law.普通法既包括普通法意义上的法官定法，又包括更广义的所有的法官定法重点词汇United

States

Supreme

CourtCommonlawlegalsystemCivillawlegalsystemCaselawStatutorylawclassical

Roman

lawprivate

lawbindinginterpretationitinerant

judges

English

royal

courtEnforcement，claim，action，writequity

lawequitycase

lawspecific

performance

injunctionequitable

reliefcommon

law

reliefcommon

law

damagescivil

suitJurisdictions

titletrial

by

juryjudge-made

law

CivilLawandCriminalLaw.CriminalLawCriminallawisconcernedwithoffencesagainstsocietygenerally.Crimesareactionswhichviolatethebasicrulesandprinciplesbywhichsocietylives.Theaimofacriminalprosecutionistopunishtheoffenderwithfinancialpenaltiesorimprisonment.

CriminalLaw–BurdenofProofAnimportantpointwhichdistinguishescriminalprosecutionsfromcivilcasesisthattheBURDENOFPROOF-themeansofdemonstratingthattheoffencehas,indeed,beencommitted-hastobe"BeyondReasonableDoubt".CivilLawCivillawisconcernedwiththerightsanddutiesofindividuals(andorganisations)towardseachother.ViolationoftheseestablishedrightsanddutiesareknownasTORTS

(legalwrongs).Civilcasescompriseanactionbroughtbyonepersonagainstanotherinordertoseekrestitutionforsomeformofwrong-doing.

CivilLaw–BurdenofProofTheBURDENOFPROOFincivilcasesisdifferenttothatappliedtodeterminetheoutcomeincriminalcases.Herethecasemaybedecided"onthebalanceofprobabilities".