美国法律制度（一）

独秀文译青年

【中文标题】美国法律制度（一）

【正文】

The American legal system is a common law system, wherecases are settled based on tradition, common practice and interpretation ofstatutes. As we have already known, as a matter of practice, even in common lawcountries there are quite a few number of codes of law. But what should beemphasized is that the central feature of the system lies in its reliance oncase law or judge-made law. That is, precedents are used as guidance to dealwith the same or analogous situations arising today.

美国法律制度是普通法律制度，在该制度里，案件是基于传统、惯例以及法规的解释上处理的。众所周知，在实践中，即便是在普通法律国家，也存在相当多的法典。但应该强调的是，该制度的主要特征在于它对判例法或法官法的依赖性。也就是说，先例被用来处理现今所发生的同样的或者类似的情形。

TheAmerican legal system is originally based on the British legal system and theUnited States Constitution. Article III, Section I of the Constitution Statesthat the judicial power of the United  States shall be vested in one Supreme Court,and in such inferior courts as the Congress may from time to time ordain andestablish. So in the United  States of America, a United States SupremeCourt is provided by the Constitution and other courts are established by theU. S. Congress in accordance with the constitution.

美国法律制度最初以英国法律制度以及美国宪法为基础。宪法第一部分第三章规定：美国的司法权应该赋予最高法院以及诸如国会时常建立的初级法院。所以在美国，有一个依照宪法建立的高级法院以及其他一些由美国国会按照宪法建立的法院。

1. Legislation

Law in the United Statesis composed of case law precedent (prior judicial decisions), just as with theBritish system, as well as statutory law created by both the federal governmentand the states.

1、立法

美国法律由两大部分组成：判例法先例（先前的司法裁决），这点与英国体系一致，以及由联邦政府以及各州制定的成文法。

1.1   The United StatesConstitution

The UnitedStates Constitution was drafted in 1787 and was amended 26 times ever since.The constitution separates the government into the three coordinated branches. TheConstitution provides for powers to each of the three branches, as well as thestates. In addition it sets limits on the powers of federal and stategovernment.

1.1 美国宪法

美国宪法起草与1787年，自此以来，已经经过26次的修正。该宪法将政府分成了三个协调的机构。宪法将权力赋予三个机构以及各州。另外，宪法也对联邦政府以及州政府设置了限制。

1.2   State Constitution

Besides the UnitedStates Constitution, each of the 50 states has also adopted a constitution. Thestate constitution sets out both the form and operation of government in thatstate and provides for and set limits on its power.

1.2 州宪法

除了美国宪法外，美国50个州里的每一个州都拥有自己的一部宪法。州宪法对所在州的政府的形式以及运作都做出了规定，并且，在赋予所在州权力的同时，也对这些权力进行了设限。

1.3   Enactment of Legislative Bodies

This includesthe Acts of Congress and statutes of state legislatures. The legislatures ofeach of the 50 states may pass and enforce their own laws without exceeding theprinciples established by the United States Constitution and the United StatesCongress. This results in the fact that the state law in the same fields may bedifferent from one to another. For instance, the length of time within whichone must commence a civil lawsuit or be time-barred, referred to as the statuteof limitations, can vary dramatically from state to state, and various othermatters such as how trade secretes or torts are defined also may varysignificantly.

1.3 立法机构的法令

这包括国会的法案以及州立法机构的法令。五十个州的立法机构都会通过并强制实行他们自己的法律，而不用越过美国宪法以及美国国会建立的法则。因此，在同一领域里面，各州的法律可能会有所不同。例如，一个人发起民事诉讼的时限在州与州之间会截然不同，而且，其它诸如如何定义商业机密以及侵权行为等种种事情在各州之间也会差异显著。

1.4   Case Law

In a common lawcountry, case law plays a very important part in determining the law thatapplies to a particular set of facts. In application of case law, the weightthat case law is given by a particular court in the United States depends significantlyupon the court in which the precedent occurred. For example, when a case isbrought in Federal court, decisions of the Supreme Court are obviously the mostbindingon a particular issue, followed by decisions of the circuit court to which anappeal from a district court lies and finally, prior decisions of the districtcourt itself. In many instances, a district court will look to thelaw of the appropriate state while rendering a decisionin a case where issues of state law are of priority.

1.4 判例法

在普通法系国家，判例法在确定应用于一组特殊事实的法律时起到举足轻重的作用。在判例法的应用里，美国一个特殊法院赋予判例法的分量很大程度上取决于有过先例的法庭。例如，当一个案件交到联邦法院时，很明显，最高法院的裁决对某一特殊争端最具约束力，接着是审理地方法院上诉案的巡回法院所作出的裁决，最后是地方法院自身先前所做出的裁决。在许多情况下，一个地区法院在对某一案件做出裁决时，如果在该案件里州法律的争端要优先解决，那么该地区法院也会参考适当的州的法律。