LEGAL SYSTEM COMMON LAW AND CIVIL LAW

法律體系：普通法系和大陸法系

Every independent country has its own legal system. The systems vary according to each country’s social traditions and form of government. But most systems can be classed as either (1) a common-law system or (2) a civil-law system. The United States, Canada, Great Britain, and other English-speaking countries have a common-law system. Most other countries have a civil law system. Many countries combine features of both system. A general distinction can be made between civil law jurisdictions, which codify their laws, and common law system, where judge made law is not consolidated.

每一個獨立的國家都有其法律體系。這些法律體系因每一個國家的社會傳統(tǒng)和國家結構不同而不同。但是大多數(shù)體系都可以被劃分為普通法系和大陸法系。美國、加拿大、英國和其他英語國家屬于普通法系國家。大多數(shù)其他國家屬于大陸法系。許多國家兼具兩種法系的特點。大陸法管轄區(qū)域和普通法系最主要的區(qū)別在于，前者將法律法典化，后者的法官造法不將其匯編整合。

1 Common-law system 普通法系

The common-law system prevails in England, the United States and other countries colonized by England. It is distinct from civil-law system, which predominates in Europe and in areas colonized by France and Spain. The common-law system is used in all the states of the United States except Louisiana, where France Civil Law combined with English Criminal Law to form a hybrid system. The common law system is also used in Canada, except in the Province of Quebec, where the France civil-law prevails.

英國、美國以及其他曾經(jīng)屬于英國殖民地的國家是主要的普通法國家。普通法系區(qū)別與大陸法系，后者在歐洲以及曾經(jīng)屬于法國和西班牙殖民地的地區(qū)占統(tǒng)治地位。美國（路易斯安那州除外，路易斯安那州將法國民法與英國刑法相結合構成混合法系）均采用普通法系。加拿大（魁北克除外，魁北克采用法國式大陸法）也采用普通法系。

Anglo-American common law evolved chiefly from three English Crown courts of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries: the Exchequer, the King’s Bench, and the common pleas. These courts eventually assumed jurisdictions over disputes previously decided by local or manorial courts, such as baronial courts, admiral’s (maritime) courts, guild, and forest courts, whose jurisdiction was limited to specific geographic or subject matter areas. Equity courts, which were instituted to provide relief to litigant in cases where common-law relief was unavailable, also merged with common-law courts. This consolidation of jurisdiction over most legal disputes into several courts was the framework for the modern Anglo-American judicial system.

盎格魯-美利堅普通法主要由三個12和13世紀的英國王室法院演化而來：財政訴訟法院、王座法院和普通民事訴訟法院。這些法院最終取得了之前由諸如男爵法院、海事法院、行會、王室獵場法院等地方法院或者領地法院（其管轄權僅限于特定地域或事項）管轄的法律糾紛的司法管轄權。衡平法院設立的初衷是為了在訴訟當事人無法獲得普通法救濟時提供司法救濟，后與普通法院合并。這種針對大多數(shù)法律糾紛的司法管轄權的合并到數(shù)個法院是現(xiàn)代盎格魯-美利堅司法體系的基本框架。

Common-law courts base their decision on prior judicial pronouncement rather than on legislative enactments. Common-law judges rely on their predecessor’s decisions of actual controversies, rather than on abstract codes or texts, to guide them in applying the law. Common-law judges find the grounds for their decisions in law reports, which contain decisions of past controversies. Under the doctrine of stare decisis, common-law judges are obliged to adhere to previously decided cases, or precedents, where the facts are substantially the same. A court’s decision is binding authority for similar cases decided by the same court or by lower courts within the same jurisdiction. The decision is not binding on courts of higher rank within that jurisdiction, but it may be considered as persuasive authority.

普通法院是在先前的司法判決，而非立法機構的立法的基礎之上做出裁決的。普通法的法官依靠先前針對事實爭議的裁判，而非抽象的法典或文本來引導他們適用法律。普通法的法官從包括歷史爭議的裁決在內的判例匯編中尋找裁判依據(jù)。根據(jù)“遵循先例”原則，普通法的法官在事實實質相同時必須堅持先前的裁判案例，即先例。法院裁決對于由同一法院或者同一司法管轄權范圍內的下級法院裁判的相同案例形成“有拘束力的先例”。該裁決對同一司法管轄權范圍內的更高級別的法院無拘束力，但是其可能被視為“有說服力的先例”。

Under a common-law system, disputes are settled through an adversarial exchange of arguments and evidence. Both parties present their cases before a natural fact finder either a judge or a jury. They judge or jury evaluates the evidence, applies the appropriate law to the facts, and renders a judgement in favor of one of the parties. Following the decision,either party may appeal the decision to a higher court. Appellate courts in a common-law system may review only findings of law, not determinations of fact.

在普通法系中，糾紛的解決是通過對抗式的辯論和證據(jù)的交鋒來實現(xiàn)的。雙方當事人要在中立的事實調查人（法官或陪審團）面前展示案件焦點。法官或陪審團對證據(jù)做出評估，針對事實適用恰當?shù)姆桑⒆鞒鲇欣谝环疆斒氯说呐袥Q。任何一方當事人都可以針對該判決向更高一級法院上訴。普通法系的上訴法院僅審查對法律問題的裁決，而不審查對事實的決定。

The lawmaking role of legislatures in common law countries has increased greatly during the 1900’s. For example, the United States Congress has made major changes in American contract and property law. The changes have dealt, for example, with such matters as labor management, workers’ wages and hours, health, safety, and environmental protection. Nevertheless, common-law countries have kept the basic features of the English legal system, which is the power of judges to make laws. In addition, constitutional law in these countries continues the common-law tradition of defending the people’s right and liberties.

20世紀期間，普通法國家中立法機構立法的作用在不斷加強。例如，美國國會對美國合同和財產法作出了主要修訂。這些修訂處理了勞動力管理、工人薪資、工作時間、健康、安全以及環(huán)保等問題。然而普通法國家一直保留著英國法律體系的基本特征，即法官造法的權力。此外，普通法國家的憲法延續(xù)了普通法保護人民權利和自由的傳統(tǒng)。

2 Civil-law System 大陸法系

Civil-law system are based mainly on statures. The majority of civil-law countries have assembled their statures into one or more carefully organized collections called the codes.

大陸法系主要以制定法為基礎。大多數(shù)大陸法國家將制定法編纂為一部法律或者精心編纂為法典。

Most modern law codes can be traced back to the famous code that was commissioned by the Roman Emperor Justinian I in the A.D. 500’s. Justinian’s code updated and summarized the whole of Roman law, which was called the Corps Juris Civilis, meaning Body of Civil Law. For the reason, legal systems that are based on the Roman system of stature and code law are known as civil-law systems. This use of the term civil law should not be confused with its use as an alternate term for private law. Civil-law systems include both private law and public law.

大多數(shù)現(xiàn)代法典都可以追溯到羅馬皇帝優(yōu)士丁尼一世于公元500年組織編纂的著名法典。優(yōu)士丁尼法典更新并總結了整個羅馬法，被稱為《優(yōu)士丁尼法典》，即《國法大全》。因此，以羅馬制定法體系和法典法體系為基礎的法律體系以大陸法體系著稱。“大陸法”這個術語的用法不應當與“私法”的替換性詞語的用法相混淆。大陸法系包括了私法和公法。

The monumental Corpus Juris Civilis commissioned by Justinian still influences the evolution of law in virtually every civil law country. The roots of civil law are so deeply imbedded in French jurisprudence that French universities did not even teach common law until 1689. It affects legal rules, legal thought, legal classifications, the treatment of legal precedents and techniques, and the organization of court systems.

優(yōu)士丁尼組織編纂的具有里程碑意義的《優(yōu)士丁尼法典》仍然影響著每一個大陸法國家的法律演變。大陸法在法國法律體系的根基至深，法國的大學直到1689年才教授普通法。大陸法影響了法律規(guī)則、法律思維、法律分類、法律先例和技術的處理，以及法院體系的架構。

One interesting aspect of civil law is that it transfers from place to place more easily than common law. It is sometimes said that there are two branches of civil law: French and German. The civil codes of both countries have proven particularly adaptable. For example, the French Civil Codes (or Napoleonic Code), first promulgated by Napoleon I in 1804, is the basis of the laws of Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, and the parts of Germany, Switzerland, and Italy. Spain, Romania, and parts of Africa, and South America also borrow the Code Civil as a guide for local civil codes. In North America, for example, the civil laws of both the state of Louisiana and the Canadian province of Quebec are rooted in the Code Civil. Inherited from the Holy Roman Empire, the German Civil Code, which was enacted in 1900, also reveals the strong influence of Roman civil law. Although its reach has been mach narrower than that of the French Code Civil, it has been important in such far-reaching sites as Thailand, China, Japan, Eastern Europe, and Greece.

大陸法有趣的一個方面是，其從一個地方傳播至另一個地方比普通法更為容易。有時有人說，大陸法有兩個分支：法國和德國。事實證明，兩個國家的民法典均尤其具有適應性。例如，《法國民法典》（《拿破侖法典》）首次由拿破侖頒布于1804年，其是比利時、荷蘭、盧森堡、德國部分地區(qū)、瑞士和意大利的法律的基礎。西班牙、羅馬尼亞、非洲部分地區(qū)以及南美洲也借鑒了《法國民法典》，并將其作為當?shù)胤ǖ涞闹敢＠?，在北美洲，美國路易斯安那州和加拿大的魁北克的民法也都源于《法國民法典》?！兜聡穹ǖ洹酚?900年頒布，源于神圣羅馬帝國，也深受羅馬民法的影響。盡管《法國民法典》的影響范圍比《德國民法典》更小，但是前者對于諸如泰國、中國、日本、東歐和希臘等深受其影響的地區(qū)而言極其重要。

補充資料

Common law and equity are legal systems where decisions by courts are explicitly acknowledged to be legal sources（法律淵源）. The “doctrine of precedent', or stare desis (Latin for 'to stand by decisions') means that decisions by higher courts bind lower courts. Common law systems also rely on statutes（制定法）, passed by the legislature（立法機構）, but may make less of a systematic attempt to codify their laws than in a“civil law”system. Common law originated from England and has been inherited by almost every country once tied to the Brtish Empire ( except Malta, Scotland, the U.S. state of Louisiana, and the Canadian province of Quebec).

普通法和衡平法是明確承認將法院裁決作為法律淵源的法律體系?！白裱壤痹瓌t即上級法院的裁決對下級法院有約束力。普通法系同樣也依靠立法機構通過的制定法，但是其比大陸法系更少嘗試體系化地對法律進行編纂。普通法源于英國，并曾被幾乎每個以前的大英帝國殖民國家（馬耳他、英格蘭、美國路易斯安那州和加拿大魁北克除外）所繼承。

In medieval England, the Norman Conquest led to a unification of various tribal（部落的） customs and hence a law“common”to the whole country. The common law developed when the English monarchy（君主制） had been weakened by the enormous cost of fighting for control over large parts of France. King John had been forced by his barons（男爵） to sign a document limiting his authority to pass laws. This “great charter”or Magna Carta（《大憲章》） of 1215 also required that the King’s entourage（隨行人員） of judges hold their courts and judgments at“a certain place' rather than dispensing（分配） autocratic（專制；獨裁） justice in unpredictable places about the country. A concentrated and elite group of judges acquired a dominant role in law making under this system, and compared to its European counterparts the English judiciary（司法機構） became highly centralized. In 1297, for instance, while the highest court in France had fifty-one judges, the English Court of Common Pleas had five. This powerful and tight knit（嚴密的） judiciary gave rise to a rigid（僵硬的） and inflexible system of common law.

在中世紀的英國，諾爾曼的征服導致了不同部落習俗的統(tǒng)一化，從而法律普遍被整個國家所采納。英國君主制被為了爭奪法國大部分地區(qū)的而產生的巨大的戰(zhàn)爭成本所削弱，普通法隨之得到發(fā)展。約翰國王被他的男爵們強迫簽署限制國王立法權的文件。這部1215年的《大憲章》要求國王的隨行法官將其法院和裁判安置于特定的地方，而不是將專制法官分配在國內不可預測的地區(qū)。集聚的精英法官團體要求在普通法體系的立法中享有主導作用，相對于歐洲的其他國家，其英國的司法機構相當集中。例如，1927年，法國最高法院有51個法官，而英國普通民事訴訟法院只有5個法官。這種有權力又嚴密的司法機構導致了普通法的僵化和不靈活性。

As a result, as time went on, increasing numbers of citizens petitioned the King to override the common law, and on the King's behalf the Lord Chancellor gave judgment to do what was equitable in a case. From the time of Sir Thomas More，the first lawyer to be appointed as Lord Chancellor, a systematic body of equity grew up alongside the rigid common law, and developed its own Court of Chancery（衡平法院）. At first， equity was often criticized as erratic（不穩(wěn)定的）, that it varied according to the length of the Chancellor's foot. But over time it developed solid principles. In the 19th century the two systems were fused（融合） into one another. In developing the common law and equity, academic authors have always played an important part. William Blackstone, from around 1760，was the first scholar to describe and teach it. But merely in describing, scholars who sought explanations and underlying structures（基本結構） slowly changed the way the law actually worked.

結果，隨著時間的推移，向國王起訴的市民數(shù)量日益增加使普通法變得無效，代表國王的大法官對于案件中何為公平于做出裁判。從托馬斯·莫爾（第一任被任命為大法官的律師）開始，系統(tǒng)性的衡平機構隨者僵硬的普通法而發(fā)展起來，而后發(fā)展了其自己的衡平法院。一開始，衡平法常常因不穩(wěn)定性而被詬病，即衡平法根據(jù)大法官的想法變化而改變。但是隨著時間推移，衡平法也形成了穩(wěn)定的法律原則。在19世紀，兩種法律體系彼此融合。在普通法和衡平法的發(fā)展過程中，學者們一直扮演者重要的角色。從1760年左右起，威廉·布萊克斯通是第一個闡述并教授普通法和衡平法的學者。但是僅僅通過闡述，尋求解釋和基本結構的學者就慢慢地改變了法律實際運作方式。???