Lesson

one

Legal

system

2024/5/151Everylawhasnoatomofstrength,asfarasnopublicopinionsupportsit.

Wendellphillips,Americanleaderagainstslavery若是沒有公眾輿論的支持，法律是絲毫沒有力量的。

美國廢奴運(yùn)動(dòng)領(lǐng)袖菲力普斯W

2024/5/152BackgroundTwoperiodsoflegalhistory:ThePeriodoftheEnglishColoniesThePeriodoftheUnitedStatesOnMay14,1607,theVirginiaCompanyexplorerslandedonJamestownIslandtoestablishtheVirginiaEnglishcolonyTheRevolutionaryWarinAmerica(1775-1783)2024/5/1532024/5/154CharacteristicsCommonlawlegalsystem普通法系DecentralizationCaselawStaredecisis

遵從前例2024/5/155Text——Part

OneThe

United

States

is

atoncea

very

new

nationa

very

old

nation既年輕又古老的國家2024/5/156it

is

constantly

being

renewed

by

the

addition

of

new

elements

of

population

and

of

new

States不斷有新的人口成分和新州的加入It

is

a

new

nationComparedwithmanyothercountries

與其他國家相比2024/5/157

It

isthe

oldest

of

the

"new"

nations

—the

first

one

to

be

made

out

ofan

Old

World

colony.

第一個(gè)從舊大陸殖民地脫胎而出的國家the

oldest

written

constitution

the

oldest

continuous

federal

systemthe

oldest

practice

of

self-governmentIt

is

old2024/5/158The

whole

of

its

history

belongs

in

the

period

since

the

invention

of

the

printing

press.美國歷史是印刷發(fā)明以后的歷史。公元1440～1448年，德國人谷登堡創(chuàng)造的活版印刷術(shù)，在鉛合金活字，脂肪性油墨，以及印刷機(jī)的制造方面，都取得了巨大的成功，從而奠定了現(xiàn)代印刷術(shù)的基礎(chǔ)。被各國學(xué)者公認(rèn)是現(xiàn)代印刷術(shù)的創(chuàng)始人2024/5/159for

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、法國或英國過去的傳說中湮沒的那些事件，是美國有文字記載歷史的一部分。The

whole

of

its

history

is

recorded2024/5/1510And

the

American

record

Comprehensive

復(fù)雜Immense

繁多2024/5/1511Record

of

the

colonial

era

殖民時(shí)代的記載Recordof

the

Nation

since

1776國家從1776年開始的記載Recordof

the

present

fifty

States

當(dāng)前50個(gè)州的記載The

intricate

network

ofrelationships

between

States

andNation

各州與聯(lián)邦之間錯(cuò)綜復(fù)雜關(guān)系的記載2024/5/1512The

reports

of

the

United

States

Supreme

Court

fill

350

volumesThe

reports

of

some

States

are

almost

equally

voluminous.

聯(lián)邦最高法院判例匯編州法院判例匯編2024/5/1513The

reader

who

wants

to

trace

the

history

of

law

in

America

is

confronted

with

over

5,000

stout

volumes

of

legal

cases.想要探索美國法律歷史的人面對(duì)的是5000多巨冊(cè)的法律案例。2024/5/1514No

one

document,

no

handful

of

documents,

can

properly

be

said

to

reveal

the

character

of

a

people

or

of

their

government.

沒有哪一個(gè)或者少數(shù)幾個(gè)文件可以準(zhǔn)確地揭示一國人民或政府的特征。2024/5/1515When

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.當(dāng)一百多年來成百上千的文件敲擊出始終如一的音調(diào)時(shí)，我們可以說這就是基調(diào)。2024/5/1516The

American

legal

system,

like

the

English,

is

methodologically

mainly

a

caselaw

system.

判例法Part

Two

2024/5/1517Civillawlegalsystem大陸法系/羅馬法系Commonlawlegalsystem普通法系Statutorylaw法國和德國為代表，還有瑞士、意大利、奧地利、比利時(shí)、盧森堡、荷蘭、西班牙、葡萄牙、日本等Caselaw形成于英國，包括加拿大，澳大利亞，新西蘭，愛爾蘭，印度、巴基斯坦，馬來西亞和新加坡，香港地區(qū)也采用英美法2024/5/1518

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.

私法的大多數(shù)領(lǐng)域主要包括判例法，以及廣泛的不斷增加的成文法，這些成文法繼續(xù)通過判例法受制于有約束力的法律解釋。2024/5/1519Knowledge

Technique

central

importancefor

an

understanding

of

American

lawand

legal

methodology2024/5/1520The

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.

普通法在歷史上是普通綜合法，由英國皇家法院的巡回法官頒布的普通綜合法地位高于地方法。2024/5/1521enforcement強(qiáng)制執(zhí)行；

claim請(qǐng)求；

action訴訟行為；

writ法院令狀；

classicalRomanlaw古羅馬法2024/5/1522Theenforcement

ofaclaimpresupposedtheexistenceofaspecialformofaction,awrit,withtheresultthattheoriginalcommonlawrepresentedasystemof‘a(chǎn)ction’similartothatofclassicalRomanlaw.某項(xiàng)訴訟請(qǐng)求的強(qiáng)制執(zhí)行是以法院令狀這種特殊訴訟形式的存在為前提的，而這就使最初的普通法表現(xiàn)為由類似于古羅馬法的“訴訟行為”所構(gòu)成的體系。2024/5/1523

If

a

writ

existed

(in

1227)

a

claim

could

be

enforced;

有法院令狀，訴訟請(qǐng)求就要強(qiáng)制執(zhí)行；there

was

no

recourse

for

a

claim

without

a

writ,

the

claim

did

notexist.

沒有法院令狀為前提的訴訟請(qǐng)求，就沒有追索權(quán)，因而該訴訟請(qǐng)求也就不存在。2024/5/1524

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.

這一制度在（1258年）“牛津條例”禁止新令狀產(chǎn)生以后變得固定下來；除非“本案令狀”允許了靈活性的例外，后者后來發(fā)展成合同與侵權(quán)法。2024/5/1525The

narrow

limits

of

the

forms

of

action

and

the

limited

recourse

they

provided

led

to

the

development

of

equity

law

and

equity

case

law.

訴訟形式的限制及其提供的有限追索權(quán)導(dǎo)致了衡平法和衡平判例法的產(chǎn)生。2024/5/1526衡平法由英國衡平法法院的大法官在處理專門的申訴案件時(shí)，為避免過分重視令狀和程序方面的技術(shù)性問題，而集中考慮案情的理據(jù)得失，最終發(fā)展出有別于普通法的法律規(guī)范，就是衡平法。2024/5/1527“Equity”——doing

equity公平——行為公平deciding

ex

aequo

et

bono決定公平且善良（拉丁語）was

first

granted

by

the

King,

and

later

by

his

Chancellor

as

"keeper

of

the

King's

conscience",

toaffordreliefinhardshipcases.首先由國王，以后由作為“國王良知守護(hù)人”的大法官作出，以便對(duì)難以解決的案例提供救濟(jì)。2024/5/1528In

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世紀(jì)，衡平法和衡平判例法發(fā)展成獨(dú)立的法律制度和司法制度（大法官法庭），大法官法庭與普通法法庭并列存在。2024/5/1529普通法衡平法普通法專指英國在11世紀(jì)后由法官通過判決形式逐漸形成的適用于全英格蘭的一種判例法。而衡平法是指英國在14世紀(jì)后對(duì)普通法的修正和補(bǔ)充而出現(xiàn)的一種判例法。2024/5/1530Its

rules

and

maxims

became

fixed

and,

to

a

degree,

inflexible

as

in

any

legal

system.

衡平法的規(guī)則和原則逐漸確定，與任何法律制度一樣，具有一定程度的固定性。equity

law2024/5/15311.relief

in

the

form

of

specific

performance

特定履行的救濟(jì)方式

特定履行是對(duì)需要履行合同義務(wù)的合同當(dāng)事人發(fā)出的一種命令。只有存在需要履行的合同，才能取得特定履行的命令。

Special

characteristics

of

equity

law：2024/5/15322.the

injunction

禁令：臨時(shí)或最終的采取或不采取某種行為的命令禁制令是法院作出的裁定。指示一人或數(shù)人不要做某項(xiàng)具體的事或者做某項(xiàng)具體的事：但后一種指示較少。

禁制令只能為強(qiáng)制執(zhí)行或保護(hù)一種普通法上或衡平法上的權(quán)利，才能做出。2024/5/15333.the

development

of

so

calledmaxims

of

equity

law形成所謂的衡平法座右銘

衡平法不允許有錯(cuò)誤存在而沒有救濟(jì)（Equitywillnotsufferawrongtobewithoutremedy）；

求助于衡平法者自身必須公正行事（Hewhoseeksequitymustdoequity）；

求助于衡平法者自身必須清白（Hewhocomestoequitymustcomewithcleanhands）；

衡平法注重意圖而不重形式（Equitylooksattheintentratherthantheform）…………2024/5/1534However,

equitable

relief

regularly

will

lie

only

when

the

common

law

relief

isinadequate.

只有當(dāng)普通法救濟(jì)不充分時(shí)，才適用衡平救濟(jì)。2024/5/1535甲向朋友乙借款100英鎊，并留下借據(jù)。一年后甲如數(shù)歸還，但出于對(duì)朋友的信任，甲未要求乙當(dāng)面歸還借據(jù)，而是請(qǐng)乙將借據(jù)撕掉。事實(shí)上，乙一時(shí)大意，并未撕掉借據(jù)。

又過了一年，甲乙兩人反目成仇，乙持甲的那張借據(jù)向法院起訴，要求甲還錢。按照普通法，法院依法只能判決甲（再次）償還乙100英鎊，因?yàn)榘凑债?dāng)時(shí)的訴訟規(guī)則，法院惟一接受的證據(jù)，就是那張應(yīng)當(dāng)撕掉卻沒有撕的借據(jù)！

但是，如果按照衡平法審理，樞密大臣可以發(fā)布命令，要求乙將借據(jù)交給甲，命令乙不得就欠款一事向普通法院起訴；如果乙已經(jīng)起訴，并且普通法院已經(jīng)作出了乙勝訴的判決，大法官可以命令乙不得執(zhí)行判決。同樣地，如果損害賠償不是適當(dāng)?shù)木葷?jì)，大法官可以命令當(dāng)事人將原物返還，或者禁止當(dāng)事人采取一定的行動(dòng)。2024/5/1536As

the

common

law,

equity

law

became

part

of

American

law

either

through

judicial

acceptance司法接受

or

through

express

statutory

provision明確的成文法條款2024/5/1537

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.

在美國司法管轄區(qū)和聯(lián)邦實(shí)踐中只有一套民事訴訟形式2024/5/1538美國紐約州立法機(jī)構(gòu)于1848年通過了由戴維·菲爾德起草的《菲爾德民事程序法典》，稍后更成立了一個(gè)“法典化委員會(huì)”來“將紐約州的全部法律簡(jiǎn)化為成文的、系統(tǒng)化的法典”。2024/5/1539Only

few

States

continue

to

maintain

a

separate

chancery

court.

獨(dú)立大法官法庭2024/5/1540Referencetothehistoricaldevelopmentisimportant

參考?xì)v史發(fā)展非常重要Itexplainstheoriginandsignificanceofmanycontemporarylegalconceptsthe

division

of

title

in

the

law

of

property財(cái)產(chǎn)法上的所有權(quán)分割2024/5/1541

it

is

still

relevant

for

the

decision

of

such

questionsReferencetothehistoricaldevelopmentisimportant

參考?xì)v史發(fā)展非常重要

a

right

to

a

trial

by

jury

陪審團(tuán)的審判權(quán)2024/5/1542“ordinary”

common

law

relief

of

damages

普通法規(guī)定的賠償金救濟(jì)“extraordinary”

equity

remedy

of

specific

performance

衡平法規(guī)定的特定履行救濟(jì)2024/5/1543"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。2024/5/1544

In

imprecise

and

confusing

usage

the

terms

"common

law"

and

"case

law"

are

often

used

synonymously,

with

the

term

“common

law”

in

thisusage

conno