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第十一课法学论文的翻译

时间:2023-02-29 理论教育 版权反馈
【摘要】:法学论文是一种难度较高的学术翻译。与本书其他课文中所列举的翻译类型相比较,法学论文的翻译尤其要求严谨,否则会导致所介绍的学术思想的偏差和谬误。近几年来,包括法学论文翻译在内的法学学术翻译呈现了一派欣欣向荣的景象。法律论文的翻译能否达到一个较高的水平、翻译出的作品能否具有更高的质量,译者是关键。he can take the case away from the jury by granting a new trial:可准予重审案件,而使案件脱离陪审团的审判。
第十一课法学论文的翻译_法律英语阅读与翻译教程

法学论文的翻译在某种程度上一种思想文化传递的过程,是将西方法学文化向中国传播的过程,亦是将中国的法学文化向西方传播的过程(尽管相较于前者,后者仍相对缓慢、影响力较弱)。法学论文是一种难度较高的学术翻译。与本书其他课文中所列举的翻译类型相比较,法学论文的翻译尤其要求严谨,否则会导致所介绍的学术思想的偏差和谬误。

近几年来,包括法学论文翻译在内的法学学术翻译呈现了一派欣欣向荣的景象。尽管翻译作品的数量大量增加,但质量却不容乐观。(1)法律论文的翻译能否达到一个较高的水平、翻译出的作品能否具有更高的质量,译者是关键。我们认为,译者不但要具有相当的法学理论素养,还要具有较高的翻译能力和英文水平。在翻译实践中,对于原文材料,译者要对其进行深入地理解;对于译文的表述,译者要注意其严谨性和可读性。

要准确理解原文,译者通常要厘清句子结构和逻辑关系。对于句子结构和逻辑关系的分析,其具体的方法与下编第5课“长句的翻译”中所介绍的方法类似。例如:

The judge does not merely preside, moreover; he can take the case away from the jury by granting a new trial or, if the evidence is completely one-sided, a directed verdict or judgment notwithstanding the verdict, if the jury seems to him to have screwed up.

本句选自波斯纳(Richard A. Posner)的“证据法的经济分析方法”一文(An Economic Approach to the Law of Evidence),载《斯坦福法律评论》(Stanford Law Review)(2),是波斯纳的著名论文之一。

步骤1:“拆分”句子,找出句子的主体结构。

这一句中有很多标点符合,自然地将句子分成很多分句。这句话中有两个if条件状语从句。这句话的主体结构是:The judge does not merely preside, moreover; he can take the case away from the jury by granting a new trial or a directed verdict or judgment notwithstanding the verdict.

步骤2:分别翻译分割后的短句。

The judge does not merely preside:法官不仅主持审判。

he can take the case away from the jury by granting a new trial:可准予重审案件,而使案件脱离陪审团的审判。

if the evidence is completely one-sided:如果证据完全是一边倒的。

if the jury seems to him to have screwed up:如果法官认为陪审团的做法无章可循。

or a directed verdict or judgment notwithstanding the verdict:或者通过“指示裁断”或“径直裁决”等方式。

步骤3:“组合”汉语译文。

厘清两个if条件状语从句和主句之间的逻辑关系是“组合”汉语译文的关键所在。

在第一个if条件状语所描述的情景下,即“如果证据完全是一边倒的”,法官的做法是:可准予重审案件,而使案件脱离陪审团的审判。

在第二个if条件状语所描述的情景下,即“如果法官认为陪审团的做法无章可循”,法官的做法是:通过“指示裁断”或“径直判决”等方式,而使案件与陪审团相剥离。

因此,组合后的汉语是:法官不仅主持审判。此外,如果证据完全是一边倒的,他可通过准予重审案件,或者“指示裁断”或“径直判决”等方式,使案件与陪审团相剥离。

在本句的理解上,对granting a new trial(批准或准予重审)、JNOV(径直判决;不顾陪审团裁决之判决)以及directed verdict(指示裁断;直接依照承审法官的命令而对案件作出判决)等术语的准确理解也是关键。再看几例。

Juries will hear only a fraction of the criminal cases processed in Japan. In 2004, public prosecutors disposed of 2,183,811 cases. 34.5% were sent to summary courts, where punishment is limited to minor fines and shortterm imprisonment. 10.9% were referred to family courts. 44.7% received suspensions of prosecutions and 2.9% were not prosecuted for a variety of reasons. In only 6.8% of cases were suspects (148,939) indicted. Of those indicted, only 2.2%, or 3,308 cases, would have received jury trials. The bulk of criminal cases will remain the exclusive province of legal professionals. This is similar to the U.S., where juries hear only about 2% of felony dispositions.(3)(陪审团只审理日本处理的一小部分刑事案件。2004年,日本各检察院共处理2,183,811起案件。其中34.5%由简易法庭受理,其作出的处罚仅限于小额罚金和短期监禁。10.9%案件由家庭法院受理。44.7%的案件会被暂缓起诉,2.9%的案件会因多种原因而不被起诉。最终被提起公诉的嫌疑人约为148,939人,占全部案件的6.8%,其中只有2.2%,也就是3,308宗案件会由陪审团审理。可见绝大多数的刑事案件依然由职业法律人专门审理。这与美国相似,仅有2%的重罪案件由陪审团审理。)

The introduction of lay participants demands faster trials and more accessible court proceedings, and officials have responded with changes to the pre-trial and trial procedures. Previously, trials for serious crimes extended over many months. In 2005, trial courts averaged 2.4 hearings over a 2.8 month period when defendants confessed. In contested cases, 7.3 hearings on average were held over a 9.5 month period. To speed up proceedings and accommodate lay jurors, a new pretrial was introduced in 2005. The prosecution and defense now consult with the presiding judge before the trial to identify the disputed points for the jury to decide. The focus of trials will also shift from written material to oral argument and live testimony. Currently, prosecutors collect evidence, interview witnesses, procure confessions, note evidence of offender remorse (if any) and compile their findings in a massive dossier that forms the basis for a judge's verdict and sentencing. To ensure that proceedings are accessible to lay jurors, saiban-in trials will differ in several respects. In place of dossiers, the prosecution and defense will present their evidence orally. Witnesses and the accused will be crossexamined in public. Prosecutors and defense lawyers have begun honing their public speaking skills and courtrooms have been outfitted with screens and other devices to make the presentation of evidence more accessible to the lay judges. Still, prosecutors will create a dossier (for determining the indictment) and some have discussed providing jurors with shortened versions of it.(非职业人士参与审判的引入,要求更快的审理速度和更为便捷的法庭程序,因此,日本的审前和庭审程序均已作出了相应的改革。原先严重刑事案件经常要拖延数月。2005年,被告有自白者,初审法院用2.8个月时间平均审理2.4件案件。在有争议的案件中,9.5个月的审期平均审理了7.3起案件。为了提高诉讼效率并建立一个与非职业陪审员相适应的制度,日本于2005年引入了新的审前程序。在案件审判前,检方、辩护方需与案件的主审法官协商确定,案件的哪些争议点需由陪审团裁定。庭审焦点也从书面材料转移到口头论辩和证人当庭作证之上。目前的情况是,检方收集证据、询问证人、获取嫌疑人口供、记录嫌疑人的悔过情形(可能有也可能无),并将其认定的结果制作成卷宗,以作为法官定罪与量刑的依据。为确保审判程序能被陪审员认知,裁判员审判在以下几个方面发生变化:控辩双方均以口头而非卷宗的方式展示证据;证人和被告人公开接受交叉询问;检察官和辩护律师均注重培养自己的公共演说技巧;法庭装有大屏幕和其他设备,以使陪审员更好地熟悉证据展示。不变的是,控方仍制作卷宗(用来确定是否提起公诉),有法官还提出要使陪审员能获得简明版卷宗。)

在上例中,对于“In contested cases, 7.3 hearings on average were held over a 9.5 month period.”这句话的翻译,有的译者可能想当然地理解为,既然9.5个月审理7.3个案件,那么就可以翻译为“每个月审理不到1个案件”。倘若译者作这样译介,就会曲解原作者的意思。事实上,有研究曾表明,日本初审法院审理每起被告有自白案件的平均时间是2.8个月,无自白案件是9.5个月每起。所以这里的9.5个月是有“典故”的,这里的数据说明:初审法院的审判效率在2005年已有了一定程度的提高。

Legal professionals have long dominated Japanese criminal justice, and prior efforts to reduce their influence have largely failed. The role of lay participants in Japan's first jury system, which ran from 1928 to 1943, was narrowed into impotence by conservatives. Postwar innovations intended to provide a democratic check on judges and prosecutors, such as prosecutorial review commissions and a constitutional provision providing for electoral review of Supreme Court justices, have had little to no impact. Thus, one of the principal questions surrounding the new mixed jury system is whether judges will exploit their role in the panels to marginalize the influence of laypersons on judicial decisions.(日本刑事司法制度长期由职业法律人主导,此前有一些努力曾试图改变这一局面,但均告败。依1928—1943年间日本最早实行的陪审制,陪审员曾参与过司法,但他们发挥的作用因传统因素而日渐式微。而战后为制约检察官而设立的检察院审查委员会和为制约最高法院法官而设计的国民投票审查宪法条款等改革措施,均收效甚微,甚至毫无效果。在这种背景下,人们对日本新陪审制的最主要的担心无疑就在于,法官是否照旧会利用他们在合议庭中的地位而将陪审员对司法判决的影响边际化。)

在上述原文的理解上,“electoral review”的理解十分关键。倘若读者将其理解为“审查选举程序”,则意思就会出现大的偏差。事实上,这是日本宪法中的一则条文,它指的是“国民投票审查”制度。

不同的作者具有不同的论文写作风格,有的学者的论文除了叙述严谨、资料翔实之外,往往还有很强的艺术性,使用很多修辞手法,凝聚了很多历史典故,读来很有历史观和美感。例如,

We encountered the lex naturae(4) earlier as an essentially Stoic(5) creation which was taken over by Christianity for the purpose of constructing a bridge between its own ethics and the norms of the world. It was the law legitimated by God's will for all man of this world of sin and violence,and thus stood in contrast to those of God's commands which were revealed directly to the faithful and are evident only for the elect.

本段文字选自马克斯·韦伯(Max Weber)的《论经济和社会中的法律》(On Law in Economy and Society),这是马克斯·韦伯的著名论文之一。(6)在这一句中就使用了比喻的修辞手法,比如,“架起一座桥梁”(constructing a bridge);还引用了一些宗教背景的用语,比如,“上帝的意志”(God's will),“上帝的诫令”(God's commands),“上帝所选之人”(the elect)等。

步骤1:“拆分”句子,找出句子的主体结构。

上述文字由两句话组成,结构本身并不复杂。

对于第一句而言,其中有一个which引导的定语从句,其主体结构是:We encountered the lex naturae earlier as an essentially Stoic creation。

对于第二句而言,其中有legitimated by God's will for all man of this world of sin and violence,以及stood in contrast to those of God's commands引导的后置定语成分,修饰law,还有which引导的定语从句修饰commands。其主体结构是:It was the law。

步骤2:分别翻译分割后的短句。

We encountered the lex naturae earlier as an essentially Stoic creation:我们在遥远的古代就接触了主要由斯多葛学派所创造的自然法。

which was taken over by Christianity for the purpose of constructing a bridge between its own ethics and the norms of the world:它被督教传承下来,为了在其自身的伦理与现世的规范之间架起一座桥梁。

It was the law:这一法律。

legitimated by God's will for all man of this world of sin and violence:上帝的意志使其具有正当性,并适用于这个罪恶和暴力的世界上的所有人。

stood in contrast to those of God’s commands:对立于上帝的律令。

在这个分句中,如果将commands翻译成“命令”就不是特别地严谨,在基督教的背景下,上帝的“commands”翻译为“律令”,或者“诫令”比较合适,比如著名的“十诫”,其英文就是“Ten Commands”。

which were revealed directly to the faithful and are evident only for the elect:这些律令直接昭示于信徒,并且仅仅显明于上帝所选择的人。

在这个分句中,在上下文的背景下,“the faithful”指的是“信仰基督教的人”,或者翻译为“信徒”;“the elect”指的是“被上帝所选择的人”。

步骤3:“组合”汉语译文。

对于上述文字的译文的组合,要注意的是其中的事实逻辑。在这段话的背景下,斯多葛学派首先创造了自然法,其后基督教传承了该学派所创造的自然法。此外,上述文字的“文学色彩”较浓,在表述译文的时候还要注意译文的“可读性”。

译文可以组合为:我们在遥远的古代就接触了主要由斯多葛学派所创造的自然法,它被督教传承下来,为了在其自身的伦理与现世的规范之间架起一座桥梁。对于这一法律,上帝的意志使其具有正当性,并适用于这个罪恶和暴力的世界上的所有人。这一法律对立于上帝的律令,这些律令直接昭示于信徒,并且仅仅显明于上帝所选择的人。(7)

法学论文中存在着大量的专用术语。和其他法律文书的翻译类似,对于法学论文的翻译,要正确地翻译相关术语,才能保证译文的准确和严谨。例如:

Before 1925 there were many different legal estates(8) and legal interests that could exist in land(9); and a corresponding range of estates and interests that could exist in equity. However, since 1925 only two legal estates in land can exist and the number of legal interests has been limited. The two legal estates are the “fee simple absolute in possession”(10) — in common parlance “freehold” and the “term of years absolute”(11) — commonly known as “leasehold”. Although commonhold will not be a new form of legal estate in land (it will be a type of freehold ownership with particular statutory attributes), it is a new form of communal land ownership.

上述文字选自一篇名为“共同持有:一个新时代的肇始?”(Commonhold: The dawning of a new age?)的论文(12),这篇论文介绍了英国的一种新型共有地产权制度:共同持有地产权(commonhold),这种制度类似我国法律中的“区分所有权”。在上述文字中出现了多个术语,比如“法定地产权”(legal estates)、“法定利益”(legal interests)、“现实占有的绝对非限嗣继承地产权”(fee simple absolute in possession)、“绝对定期地产权”(term of years absolute)、“租赁持有地产权”(leasehold)等等。在翻译的过程中,译者需要查阅辞典、文献,搞清楚上述术语的来龙去脉,才能准确地理解和翻译上述论文。

对于中国读者而言,如果没有系统地研究英美财产法,即使将上述术语都被翻译成汉语了,还是很难理解译文的含义的。因此,为了便于读者的理解,译者在翻译类似中国读者不熟悉的术语时,有必要加入一些脚注、说明性的文字,对术语进行解释,以便于读者理解。

上述文字的结构相对简单,造成翻译困难的主要是其中的各种术语。在厘清各种术语的法律性质后,翻译起来就比较容易了。由于上述文字的语法结构相对简单,就不再按照上述两个例句的模式分步骤翻译了。

汉语译文可以组织为:在1925年之前,土地上可以存在多种不同的法定利益;并且,相应范围的地产权和利益也可以存在于衡平法上。然而,从1925年起,仅有两项法定地产权可以存在于土地上,同时,法定权益的数量也受到了限制。这两项法定地产权是“现实占有的绝对非限嗣继承地产权”——通常的说法是“完全保有地产权”,以及“绝对定期地产权”——通常被称为“租赁持有地产权”。尽管共同持有地产权并不是一种存在于土地上的新型法定地产权(它是一种具有特定的制定法属性自主持有地产权),但其将是一种新型的共有土地产权。

再举上述“日本新陪审制”一文的数段原文和译文,供读者参考比对。

The Japanese judiciary is a unitary national system. Small claims and minor criminal offenses are overseen by summary courts, which are typically staffed by retired judges and prosecutors or former court administrative officials. District and high court positions are the exclusive province of an individual who has spent his career within the judicial system. District courts serve as the courts of first instance. In all but very minor cases, district court judges sit in panels of three. They are responsible for deciding all matters of fact and law. Criminal judgments can be appealed to one of the eight high courts. The Supreme Court, which functions as a constitutional court and court of last resort, sits atop this hierarchy. By law, Supreme Court justices are appointed by the cabinet. In practice, however, the judiciary selects who will fill a vacancy on the Court and the cabinet rubberstamps the decision.(日本法院体系属于单一国家体系。小额索赔及轻微刑事案件归简易法庭管辖;简易法院的法官通常由退休的法官、检察官或法院书记官担任。地区法院和高等法院的法官则只有职业生涯在法院体系内人员才有资格担任。地区法院是初审法院。除极其轻微的案件外,地区法院中的一般案件由三名法官组成合议庭审理。合议庭负责审理案件的全部法律和事实问题。刑事判决可向八个高等法院中的一个上诉。最高法院作为宪法法院和终审法院,位于整个法院体系的最顶层。依照法律,最高法院法官由内阁任命。但在实践中,实际由司法机关选拔最高法院法官,内阁仅履行形式上的批准权。)

In keeping with its civil law origins, legislation is the primary source of law. There is only one jurisdiction and criminal procedure is uniform throughout Japan. Criminal law is compiled in two documents, the Code of Criminal Procedure and the Penal Code, which are the primary references for criminal adjudication. Case law is of only secondary importance. The Supreme Court determines how various codes and statutes should be interpreted and establishes conventions for adjudicating cases.(日本以制定法为主要的法律渊源,保持了大陆法系的传统。日本只有一个法域(有统一的司法权),全日本的刑事程序都是统一的。审理刑事案件的主要依据是《刑事诉讼法典》和《刑法典》。判例法的地位次之。最高法院负责解释各法典与制定法并创设惯例,供审判案件所用。)

In addition to exercising judicial power, the Supreme Court is the highest authority on judicial administration. This authority is exercised through the Court's General Secretariat, the most powerful organ of the judiciary. Even among bureaucratic civil law systems, the Japanese judiciary is distinguished by the General Secretariat's persistent regulation and manipulation of judicial careers. Staffed by over a hundred career judges, the Secretariat uses its power to ensure that all aspects of the judiciary, such as fact-finding, application of the law, and sentencing, conform to the standards established by the Supreme Court.(除行使司法权外,最高法院还是最高的司法行政机关。其行政权限通过最高法院事务总局来实现。事务总局管理与控制职业法官是日本法院体系的特点,虽然官僚主义在各大陆法系国家是普遍的,但日本在这一方面与其他大陆法系国家不同。事务总局由一百多位职业法官组成,保证法院体系的各个方面,诸如案件事实的查明、法律的适用以及定罪量刑等,均符合最高法院设立的标准。)

对于初学者而言,在翻译法学论时,译文质量的提高不是一蹴而就的事情。在法学论文的翻译实践中,要使译文做到“信、达、雅”的标准,一方面需要译者不断地在翻译实践中进行经验的累积,进而总结出法学论文所固有的一些规律;另一方面也需要译者不断地提高自己的法学理论素养,丰富自己的学科知识,避免翻译中因学科知识断裂而出现的“硬伤”。在此基础上,法学论文的译文的质量才可能得到不断的提高。

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It is true that when medieval writers spoke of natural law as being discoverable by reason, they meant that the best human (1) could discover it, and not, of course, that the results to which any and every (2) reasoning led him was natural law. The foolish criticism of Jeremy Bentham: “a great (3) of people are continually talking of the law of nature; and then they go on giving you their (4) about what is right and what is wrong; and these sentiments, you are to understand, are so many (5) and sections of the law of nature,” merely showed a contempt for a great (6) which Bentham had not taken the trouble to understand.

A. preventive law

B. natural law

C. prevention doctrine

D. necessity

E. presumption of innocence

(1)A philosophical system of legal and moral principles purportedly deriving from a universalized conception of human nature or divine justice rather than from legislative or judicial action.

(2)A justification defense for a person who acts in an emergency that he or she did not create and who commits a harm that is less severe than the harm that would have occurred but for the person's actions.

(3)The fundamental principle that a person may not be convicted of a crime unless the government proves guilt beyond a reasonable doubt, without any burden placed on the accused to prove innocence.

(4)The principle that each contracting party has an implied duty to not do anything that prevents the other party from performing its obligation.

(5)A practice of law that seeks to minimize a client's risk of litigation or secure more certainty with regard to the client's legal rights and duties.

(1)Moreover, when deference is impossible (because some instances of legal pluralism are repressive, violent, and/or profoundly illiberal), procedures for managing hybridity can at least require an explanation of why a decision maker cannot defer. In sum, pluralism offers not only a more comprehensive descriptive account of the world we live in, but also suggests a potentially useful alternative approach to the design of procedural mechanisms, institutions, and practices.

(2)When we speak of “law”, “legal order”, or “legal proposition”, close attention must be paid to the distinction between the legal and the sociological points of view. Taking the former,we ask: What is intrinsically valid as law? That is to say: What significance or, in other words, what normative meaning ought to be attributed in correct logic to a verbal pattern having the form of a legal proposition. But if we take the latter point of view, we ask: What actually happens in a community owing to the probability that persons participating in the communal activity, especially those wielding a socially relevant amount of power over the communal activity, subjectively consider certain norms as valid and practically act according to them, in other words,orient their own conduct towards these norms? This distinction also determines, in Principle, the relationship between law and economy.

(3)Criticism of the criminal justice system began to build in the 1970s and 1980s following a series of highprofile death-row acquittals in which innocent defendants endured decades-long imprisonment. Judges came under fire for poor fact-finding and citizen groups calling for criminal juries started to emerge. These citizen groups saw lay participation as a corrective to the limited life experience of judges and as a necessary safeguard for the defendant's rights. In 1987, the Supreme Court acknowledged declining public trust in the judiciary by commissioning studies of foreign jury systems. Encouraged by this decision, the Japan Federation of Bar Associations (JFBA) held national symposiums on juries in the early 1990s and citizen groups recruited people each year to participate in mock trials.

(1)由于律师职业是在中国特定的历史、文化背景下孕育的,其本身必然存在着某种“先天不足”。社会意识中平等观念的不足,必导致律师依附性的相对较强;权利意识的不足,必导致律师维权能力的相对软弱。

(2)刑事司法权本身就是对刑事案件进行调查并在此基础上做出裁判的权力,由刑事司法权所引发的刑事司法制度究其制度本身,其实就是维系个人自由与社会秩序之间的一种平衡的制度。简而言之,就是协调国家公权力与个人私权利在所涉刑事领域范畴所导致的必然冲突的一种制度。这种制度本身所直接体现的就是对人权的保障和对犯罪的控制。

(3)矫正的理念来自于刑事实证学派,在刑事古典学派那里是没有矫正可言的:报应主义强调的是惩罚,而功利主义强调的是威吓。在这种情况下,刑罚只不过是惩罚的手段与威吓的工具。刑事实证学派,尤其是刑事社会学派,以李斯特的教育刑思想而闻名于世。在教育刑思想中,就包含了对犯罪人进行矫正的理念。李斯特曾言:“矫正可以矫正的罪犯,不能矫正的罪犯不使为害。”尽管李斯特对于如何对罪犯进行矫正并未深入论述,但我们将李斯特称为矫正理念的首倡者并不为过。相对于报应刑与威吓刑的思想,矫正的理念赋予刑罚以更为积极的意义。基于矫正的理念,罪犯不再是简单的刑罚客体,而且是矫正的对象。尽管并非所有的罪犯都能够通过矫正成为守法公民,但至少对于可矫正者来说,这种使其重新做人的效果是可期待的。因此,矫正的理念使刑罚不仅是排害之器,而且成为致善之道。

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(1) 有学者指出,当今翻译事业已经呈现出法律知识百货店的景象,但有不少假冒伪劣商品,急功近利是粗制滥造的主要原因。参见邬蕾,焦红艳:“法学翻译:翻译了谁改变了谁”,载法制网,http://www.legaldaily.com.cn/zmbm/content/2010-04/22/content_2119906.htm,2011年1月3日。

(2) 51 Stan. L. Rev. 1477.

(3) Ingram Weber. The New Japanese Jury System: Empowering the Public, Preserving Continental Justice, East Asia Law Review, 2009, pp. 126—176. 中文已由屈文生、李润译出。

(4) lex naturae:自然法。

(5)  斯多葛学派(the Stoic)是希腊化时代一个有极大影响的思想派别,被认为是自然法理论的真正奠基者。它的创始人是芝诺(Zeno),由于他讲学的地方是在公共建筑下面的柱廊(stoa),希腊人称之为斯多葛(stoic)。

(6) 转引自郑戈:《法律学术翻译的规范》,载《北大法律评论》(第2卷,第1辑),第314页。

(7) 本句话的翻译参照了郑戈:《法律学术翻译的规范》,载《北大法律评论》(第2卷,第1辑),第314页。

(8) estate:指一个人在与土地的关系中所处的地位,或他相对于土地的关系,包括其对土地享有的不同种类、不同程度的权利;在口语中则引申为土地本身。薛波主编的《元照英美法词典》(法律出版社,2003年版)第490页至第494页对各种类型的estate进行了详细地介绍和解释,由于其中绝大多数类型的estate都已经成为土地法历史中使用的名词,本文不再赘述。

英国学者F.H.劳森和伯纳德·冉德在其所著的《英国财产法导论》(The Law of Propety)一书中认为,estate在英语中有四种不同的用法:a.可能指一片土地(如“Osborne estate”);b.可能指土地及其他动产(如“real and personal estate”);c.有时指的是死者遗留下来的全部财产(如“The deceased's estate”),包括有能力偿还的或无能力偿还的债务责任;d.它还可能意指在一段时间内的对某种财务的占有使用权。如不动产租约(leasehold)是一种定期就结束的财产,而终身财产(life estate)则是某人一生可以享受的财产。参见[英]F.H.劳森,伯纳德·冉德:《英国财产法导论》,曹培泽,法律出版社2009年版,第17页。

(9) 仅就字面意思而言,“land”可以翻译为“土地”。需要说明的是,在普通法上,“土地”是指泥土、地下的石头以及地上的空气;土地包括土地之上的生长物,以及“附属于”该土地的建筑物。《1925年财产法》规定,土地包括任何保有(tenure)类型的土地、矿藏(mines)和矿物(minerals)、建筑或建筑的组成部分。参见 S.205(1)(iv), Law of Property Act 1925;[英]凯特·格林,乔·克斯雷:《土地法》(第四版),法律出版社2003年影印本,第8页。

(10)  the fee simple absolute in possession:现实占有的,永久的(不附带限定条件的),广义可继承的土地自由保有权,是所有各种地产权中最强势,最有权威的一种。所以“the fee simple absolute in possession”的概括含义就是最完全的土地所有权。参见薛波主编:《元照英美法词典》,法律出版社2003年版,第493页。

(11)  terms of years absolute:这是1925年《财产法》(Law of Property Act 1925)改革之后所保留的两种普通法上的地产权之一,一般就是指租赁地产权(leasehold),但不限于此:可以实际占有或回复地产的形式生效;可以以交租为条件,也可不交租。之所以成为“绝对”,是因为其存在的期限是确定的,但这种确定性并不影响该地产可能在约定期限届满之前因出租人重新进入或其他特定事由而终止。参见薛波主编:《元照英美法词典》,法律出版社2003年版,第1337页。

(12) 载www.pglaw.co.uk/pdf/articles/Commonhold-the-dawning-of-a-new-age.pdf,2011年5月1日。

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