Out of the Fly-Bottle: Conceptual Confusions in Multilingual Legislation

Conceptual confusions permeate all forms of intellectual pursuit. Many have contended that multilingual legislation, i.e., one law enacted in different languages, is unviable when carried out by means of translation. But not many have realized that the same would also be true of drafting if their contention could be justified. My involvement in the translation of Hong Kong laws into Chinese in the run-up to 1997 exposed me to a whole world of myths and misconceptions about legal translation arising from our failure to command a clear view of the workings of language. Over the years I have endeavoured to come to grips with the problems inherent in legal translation, showing that the arguments against the possibility of exact translation, against the possibility of achieving equivalence between different language texts of the law, and against the possibility of bridging the conceptual gap between legal terminologies in different languages, are all ill-grounded and misguided. There are indeed enormous difficulties in drafting and translating multilingual law, but they are essentially of a technical nature, by no means theoretically irresolvable. The viability of multilingual legislation is simply grounded in our innate communicative intention to use signs and symbols to convey meaning. As language users, we are capable of making language work for us for any particular purpose. Just as we can translate the rules of chess from one language to another whereby players speaking different languages can play the same game called “chess”, we don’t see why we can’t do the same with multilingual legislation. The door has always been open!     

Language-bound terms—term-bound languages: the difficulties of translating a national civil code into a lingua franca

The present paper—taking the example of the English translation of the Hungarian Civil Code of 2013—aims to give an overview on the legal and terminology-related challenges and pitfalls that might occur during the process of translating a civil code with civil law traditions into the language of the common law world. An attempt is made to categorise terminology-related conceptual problems and elaborate how the different types of translation methods (functional equivalence, paraphrasing and neologism) could be applied; moreover, how a kind of legal-linguistic checks-and-balances can be achieved through the well-dosed combination, having also the ratio of similarities to differences (SD-ratio or SD-relationship) of legal concepts behind the respective terms in mind. Legal translators must act beyond the role of a simple translator: they must be comparatists, being aware of the legal origin of the relevant concepts and using the methods of comparative private law and translation studies at the same time, since both law and language are system-bound and are heavily influenced by the cultural and social environment. The authors strive to identify the significance of those problems (and possible solutions) from the perspective of how language-related aspects can perform some fine-tuning on the comparative methodology and findings, whether they are barriers only or provide also an opportunity to verify or refute prima facie comparative results. Comparative law—no doubt—supports legal translation, but their relationship is reciprocal: legal-linguistic subjects and problems emerging in the course of legal translation supply valuable feedback and further sources of inspiration.

     

法学古文英译的原则问题

中国的法学古文化是世界法学文化水乳交融的一部分。完整、准确地将我国法学古文化向国外文化译介是语言学者和法律学者责无旁贷的工作。目前所出版的汉英翻译文献 ,其质量令人堪忧。本文提目前正式出版的部分古代法学论述的译文进行评论 ,提出了法律汉英翻译四原则 :准确性、简明性、严谨性、庄严性。     

有关《论语》的五种英语译文比较研究

中国的翻译事业从夏朝到现代,经历了四千多年的历史;中国对外翻译始于公元505年;明清时代进入翻译繁荣时期;当今世界的中国翻译事业空前繁荣,为推进世界文明的发展做出了不可磨灭的贡献。中国古典名著《论语》乃古代思想文化的瑰宝,《论语》的对外翻译为丰富全人类思想文化发挥了巨大的作用。不同翻译人员语言文化素质的差异必然导致对同一翻译作品理解上的差异,《论语》的翻译尤其如此。本文分析研究了《论语》的五个英文译本,旨在提高中国文化对外翻译质量。     

一座新的宫殿——《欧陆法律史概览:事件、渊源、人物及运动》译余剩语

《欧陆法律史概览:事件、渊源、人物及运动》是美国法学院协会"大陆法史系列丛书"中的第一卷。此书除第一编、第九编外,其他七编均以国别为经,又以各国法律发展中的主要时期为纬,描述各国法律发展中的几大要素,即事件、渊源、人物及运动。在很大程度上,它不仅是一部介绍欧陆各国(不包括斯拉夫法系、拜占庭法系及匈牙利法系)法制史概况的书籍,还是一部法学史作品。意大利法、瑞士法、斯堪的那维亚法及西班牙法等内容研究角度别致,内容新颖。本书的用功最勤之处,不在于它的理论建构,而在于其正本清源,旨在说明什么是真的法律史。法学译著应该注意主要遵循"名从主人"、"约定俗成"、"服从主科"和"尊重规范"等翻译原则。     

“Ought to” as a Chinese Legal Performative?

The article discusses the legal performatives as used in Chinese legislative language consisting of bixu (shall), yingdang (should or ought to), keyi (may) and bude (shall not) with the illocutionary force of imposing obligations, conferring rights and permission, and prohibition (bude). It postulates that the use of bixu and yingdang is traceable to the influence of the ancient Chinese cultural and legal philosophy of li and fa. It argues that Chinese language is a carrier of messages with built-in Chinese cultural codes and to be able to understand Chinese law, the wider cultural and linguistic contexts must be considered. It also proposes that speech act theory needs to address the interlingual and intercultural variables in the construction of meaning.     

The Cultural Transfer In Legal Translation

This paper will first explore legal translation from the semiotics approach. The sign developing process demands that in legal translation linguistic units cannot be exchanged in isolation from the legal cultural concepts. Some scholars equate legal equivalence with the extent to which the same legal effect can be produced in the target text. This paper will show the difficulties of achieving the same legal effect in the target text in view of the indeterminacy of word meaning in the source text, and will conclude from the analysis the best way of translating a legal text.     

The special role of foreign legal history in China in the construction of a new legal system

The development of the Chinese legal system is based on the learning of foreign legal systems. Foreign legal history, as one of the elementary courses in higher legal education, is becoming a driving force for China’s progress toward the rule of law and is playing an indispensible role in the construction of Chinese legal system by educating, cultivating and academic exchanging. The discipline of Foreign Legal History not only provides diverse perspectives for the construction of a new Chinese legal system, but also testifies the establishment of the rule of law in China. It not only benefits Chinese legal system, but also makes contribution to the cultivation of the new generation of Chinese legal talents. Therefore, we should insist on learning from the legal cultural heritage embedded in Foreign Legal History for the purpose of developing Chinese legal system.     

A Jurilinguistic Approach in Legal Education

The purpose of this essay is to advocate for including jurilinguistics in legal education. It presents jurilinguistics as a tool for understanding law and therefore supports continuing efforts to teach it. Knowing it is not unique, this essay proposes a jurilinguistic approach that focuses on the in-between of legal translation and comparative law. The proposal outlines the importance of educating in the capabilities of teaching a particular subject in a language other than their official one. The idea is to let the Other help to understand the Self. Particularly pertinent in transnational law programs, it is a multicultural approach that not only recognizes the other, but also embraces it.     

法律起源的进化生物学解释

法律起源研究是观察和探讨一切现代法律现象的前提,是法理学的基础问题之一。不同法学流派以及哲学、人类学、社会学或心理学等学科都对这一问题提出了不同的解释,但至今无法取得基本共识。如果仍然局限于传统研究范式,其研究取得重大进展的可能性已经不大。生物进化既包括有机体进化,也包括文化进化,二者均为进化生物学的研究对象。法律是一种文化现象,而文化现象至少1400万年前就已在生物界中出现并进化至今,因此法律必定脱胎于文化进化史的某个阶段,这就为在法律起源问题研究中引入进化生物学范式提供了可能。     

Comparative law in legal education – building a legal mind for a transnational world

This paper considers the role of comparative law in contemporary legal education. The discussion builds on an idea according to which it is helpful to make a distinction between educating lawyers and doing comparative research. It is suggested that we should pay more attention to comparative law pedagogics in today’s world, where law graduates must be prepared for working in a global context. Whereas in academic comparative research the goal is to reach a deep cultural understanding of foreign law, in legal education the goal is to learn to “think like a lawyer”. It is argued that by means of teaching foreign law, it is possible to transfer the focus of legal learning away from detailed rules and instead concentrate on general principles. Comparative law-based material and teaching ought to be regarded as a stimulus that sets the learning process into motion. Moreover, it is claimed that more significance ought to be given to the transnational dimensions of law as part of legal education within all branches of law.     

中国依法治国的渐进性

穷国无法治 ,愚昧无法治 ,乱世无法治。我国不是一个连一点法律经济成本都付不出的穷国 ,但也不属于可以付出足够法律经济成本的发达国家 ;我国不是一个连一点现代法治所需文化条件都不具备的愚昧国家 ,但也不属于完全具备现代法治所需文化条件的国家 ;我国不是一个处于乱世的国家 ,但波澜起伏的社会变革对法治的影响也是显而易见的。因此 ,中国依法治国的渐进性是一种客观规律。     

Using Systems Theory to Study Legal Pluralism: What Could Be Gained?

This article examines the ability of modern systems theory to provide a foundation for understanding the problematic notion of legal pluralism, and to the ability of scholars to apply that understanding to engage in the study of pluralistic legal orders. In particular, it develops the observations of systems theory of the relationship between state law and violence by adopting one of its linked ideas, that of structural coupling. It also considers the role played by translation when law is identified by reference to the application of the legal code: legal/illegal. The whole analysis is underpinned by systems theory's account of the differences between studying premodern and modern societies.     

中华法系的百年历史叙事

回顾中国现代法学的世纪历程,中华法系的历史叙事主要在进化论、民族论和法治论三种语境中展开。不同语境中的法史学者,通过将中华法系与其他法系相比较,揭示出了彼此有别的中华法系之历史面貌。在进化论语境中,中华法系因其古.老而落后,丧失了型构现实生活秩序的生命力,需整体性地予以批判和否定。在民族论语境中,中华法系因其系统性、连续性和民族性而独具特色,整理、发掘、重述其历史谱系,既有助于增强民族文化自信力,也为重建“新中华法系”提供了重要的精神前提。在法治论语境中,中华法系以其“治乱之道”和“良法善治”的血缘伦理身份内涵表明,在前现代社会中法律不可能获得型构社会生活秩序的权威地位。法制现代化是不同语境下中华法系之历史叙事的共同追求,中华法系研究的百年学术史,实质上是一部追求法治文明的中国现代精神史。     

The Law and the Desert: Alternative Methods of Delivering Justice

This article considers the way in which the Federal Court of Australia has adapted to the native title jurisdiction. Here we see how common law approaches to law and procedure challenge, and are challenged by, the culture of indigenous peoples and customary law. It conveys the risk of cultural violence in a balancing of legal and cultural norms and shows how access to justice debates reach beyond debates about funding and advice into more fundamental issues about legal process and the nature of substantive law. The Court's approach to facilitating access to justice goes deeper than essential procedural changes. Its approach suggests a cultural change within the Court.     

东亚普通法论

东亚普通法是以古代中国法为质地、中韩日三国独特的交涉为背景而形成的概念。东亚普通法由法典化、儒教法文化、乡约村落法和法学四种要素组成。东亚普通法的发展有赖于东亚人的自觉与成熟态度。     

Comparative Law for Legal Translation: Through Multiple Perspectives to Multidimensional Knowledge

With this paper, I suggest a multiperspectivist approach for assessing conceptual legal knowledge with relevance for the translation of legal terms in translation between two or more different legal systems. The basic quest is to present a set of categories and analytical approaches for legal translators to generate (collect) and classify knowledge necessary for their professional conceptual needs. In this paper, I will focus on the translational, juridical, and cognitive basics of such an approach. In order to cope with the broad range of possible translational purposes in different translational situations and choose relevantly between alternative formulations, translators need methods and strategies in order to construct the necessary conceptual knowledge. This presupposes a broad knowledge structured in ways that enable the translator to recognize relevant characteristics of legal systems and relevant differences between different legal systems. Concerning translational theory, the basis is the functional theory of translation as adapted to legal translation, based upon the idea of translation as choice between alternatives and distinguishing between documentary translation, at one end of a scale, and instrumental translation, at the other. This basis and the distinction presuppose relevant knowledge from comparative law. Hence, existing approaches and fundamental tenets concerning comparative law inside and outside of translation are presented. In order for knowledge to be presented in a manageable way with relevance to translators, I work with the approach of concept frames as basic unit of knowledge gathering and categorization. This way of presenting knowledge is embedded more generally in a knowledge communication approach, focusing on knowledge asymmetry. Within this general framework, the multiperspectivist approach combines insights from cultural studies (especially the study of law-as-culture), law as a disciplinary social system, and communicative interaction generating meanings in legal communication, also across national borders.

     

中国行政法若干关键词的英文翻译

中国法律术语外文翻译的精确和统一,是中外法律交流新形势的要求。比较中西相关法律制度的异同,考察国际英文文献对相关概念的使用,本着求同存异、约定俗成的原则,探讨行政诉讼、行政复议、信访,法律、法规、规章,行政行为、行政处罚、行政许可、行政强制、行政裁决,行政主体、行政相对人、行政机关、行政执法人员,行政责任、行政处分、依法治国、依法行政、法治政府等等行政法学关键词的英文翻译,在当前更有重要意义。     

也论中国法学向何处去

近些年,中国法学正依循着"知识—文化法学"的进路前行;法学研究越发成为疏离社会现实而自闭、自洽和价值自证的文化活动。受此影响,中国法学对法治实践的贡献度和影响力正不断减弱。形成这种状况的重要原因之一是,中国法治实践并不完全符合法学人对法治的愿望和期待,从而导致一部分法学人放弃对法治实践的关注和参与。本文认为,中国实行法治的主要难点在于,传统法治理论以及西方法治模式中被认为具有普适性的某些原理、原则以及制度遭遇到中国具体国情的挑战。因此,中国法学应当立基于"法治的中国因素",直面中国的法治实践,对在中国这片土壤中如何实行法治做出自己的回答,为中国法治的创造性实践提供应有的智慧。     

传统中国的法秩序及其构成原理与意义

本文以中外学者关于传统中国社会法与秩序的论说为引子,将法→秩序构成→社会结构→文化原理联系起来观察,发现它们之间存在着同构共质以及由此生发出来的对应与互动的一体关系,而贯通其间的是中国文化的道德原理。道德是传统中国法秩序的正当性所在,传统中国法秩序的构成原理是道德原理。道德原理建立在有机宇宙论之上,这种从宇宙有机出发具有生命感的理论,从根本上回答了有机世界存在的形式与本质,即世界在形式上是道本质上是德,这表明中国人的世界观实际上是道德观。所以,从文化原理上说,道德或许不止是传统中国法秩序保持长期稳定并具有修复机能的奥秘,亦是中华文明绵延不绝生生不息的根源,甚至还有可能是我们复兴中华文化,包括创新中国法文化的思想资源和精神动力。