Lesson-2-Legal-Systems-Common-Law-and-Civil-Law

Lesson2LegalSystems:CommonLawandCivilLawECUPL法律英语LegalEnglish2legalsystemEveryindependentcountryhasitsownlegalsystem.Thesystemsvaryaccordingtoeachcountry’ssocialtraditionsandformofgovernment.Butmostsystemscanbeclassedaseither(1)acommon-lawsystemor(2)acivil-lawsystem.3common-lawsystemTheUnitedStates,Canada,GreatBritain,andotherEnglish-speakingcountrieshaveacommon-lawsystem.Mostothercountrieshaveacivil-lawsystem.Manycountriescombinefeaturesofbothsystems.Ageneraldistinctioncanbemadebetweencivillawjurisdictions,whichcodifytheirlaws,andcommonlawsystems,wherejudgemadelawisnotconsolidated.4common-lawsystemThecommon-lawsystemprevailsinEngland,theUnitedStates,andothercountriescolonizedbyEngland.Itisdistinctfromthecivil-lawsystem,whichpredominatesinEuropeandinareascolonizedbyFranceandSpain.Thecommon-lawsystemisusedinallthestatesoftheUnitedStatesexceptLouisiana,whereFrenchCivilLawcombinedwithEnglishCriminalLawtoformahybridsystem.Thecommon-lawsystemisalsousedinCanada,exceptintheProvinceofQuebec,wheretheFrenchcivil-lawsystemprevails.blue:Civillawred:Commonlawbrown:civilandcommonlaw,alsoknownasmixedjurisdiction?:Customarylawyellow:Shariah伊斯兰法CivillawCommonlawCustomFiqh(Islamicjurisprudence)CommonlawandCivillaw7historyAnglo-AmericancommonlawevolvedchieflyfromthreeEnglishCrowncourtsofthetwelfthandthirteenthcenturies:theExchequertheKing’sBenchtheCommonPleas8TheExchequerofPleasatworkAphotoofsixteenpeoplearoundatabledressedingreenandbluerobeswithfivepeopleaboveintanrobes.Belowthetableisacagewithtwopeopleinside.9CourtofKingsBench10TheCourtofCommonPleasatwork.UpatthetoparethesevenjusticesoftheCourt,dressedinorangerobes.UnderneaththejusticesaretheclerksoftheCourt,dressedinrobesthatarehalfgreenandhalfblue.ThebottomhalfoftheimageistakenupbythetextwritteninanoldEnglishScript.plead1.enteraplea,asincourtsoflaw;（在法庭）辩护，申辩e.g.Shepleadednotguilty2.makeanallegationinanactionorotherlegalproceeding,especiallyanswerthepreviouspleadingoftheotherpartybydenyingfactsthereinstatedorbyallegingnewfacts；向法庭陈述案情3.appealorrequestearnestly;IpleadedwithhimtostopPleadagainst反驳Pleadfor为……辩护12Englishcommonlawcourtsbeforejudicatureacts1873and1875(exchequerchamberhighlighted).assizes：acourtoflawinthepastwhichtravelledtoeachcountyofEnglandandWalesNisiPrius,inEnglishlaw,atermusedtodenotegenerallyallactionstriedbeforejudgesoftheking'sbenchdivision.Asaruleactionsonlyaretriedatnisiprius,andajudgeissaidtositatnisipriuswhenhesits,usuallyintheking'sbenchdivision,forthetrialofactions.Byaresolutionpassedbythejudgesoftheking'sbenchdivisionin1894itwasdeclaredoftheutmostimportancethatthereshouldbeatleastthreecourtsofnisipriussittingcontinuouslythroughoutthelegalyear--oneforspecialjurycauses,oneforcommonjurycauses,andoneforcauseswithoutjuries14Thesecourtseventuallyassumedjurisdictionoverdisputespreviouslydecidedbylocalormanorialcourts,suchasbaronial,admiral’s(maritime),guild,andforestcourts,whosejurisdictionwaslimitedtospecificgeographicorsubjectmatterareas.15CourtofequityEquitycourts,whichwereinstituted创立toproviderelieftolitigantsincaseswherecommon-lawreliefwasunavailable,alsomergedwithcommon-lawcourts.ThisconsolidationofjurisdictionovermostlegaldisputesintoseveralcourtswastheframeworkforthemodernAnglo-Americanjudicialsystem.16Common-lawcourtsCommon-lawcourtsbasetheirdecisionsonpriorjudicialpronouncementsratherthanonlegislativeenactments.Common-lawjudgesrelyontheirpredecessors’decisionsofactualcontroversies,ratherthanonabstractcodesortexts,toguidetheminapplyingthelaw.17Common-lawjudgesCommon-lawjudgesfindthegroundsfortheirdecisionsinlawreports,whichcontaindecisionsofpastcontroversies.Underthedoctrineofstaredecisis,common-lawjudgesareobligedtoadheretopreviouslydecidedcases,orprecedents,wherethefactsaresubstantiallythesame.18binding&persuasiveauthorityAcourt’sdecisionisbindingauthorityforsimilarcasesdecidedbythesamecourtorbylowercourtswithinthesamejurisdiction.Thedecisionisnotbindingoncourtsofhigherrankwithinthatjurisdictionorcourtsinotherjurisdictions,butitmaybeconsideredaspersuasiveauthority.19disputessettlementUnderacommon-lawsystem,disputesaresettledthroughanadversarialexchangeofargumentsandevidence.Bothpartiespresenttheircasesbeforeaneutralfactfinder,eitherajudgeorajury.BenchtrialJurytrialAbenchtrialintheU.S.isatrialbeforeajudgeinwhichthedefendanthaswaivedhis/herrighttoajurytrial.Ithassomedistinctivecharacteristics,butabenchtrialisbasicallythesameasajurytrialwithoutthejury.Forexample,therulesofevidenceandmethodsofobjectionarethesameinabenchtrialasinajurytrial.Benchtrials,however,arefrequentlymoreinformalthanjurytrialsandsometimesevidenceissubjecttothepossiblityofbeingstruckinthefuture.Ajurytrialisatrialinwhichajudgeorjudgesaresupplementedbyajury,madeupofcitizenswhoareusuallyrandomlyselectedandaregenerallynotjusticeprofessionals.Juriesaremostcommonlyassociatedwithcommonlawjurisdictions.22TorenderajudgmentThejudgeorjuryevaluatestheevidence,appliestheappropriatelawtothefacts,andrendersajudgmentinfavorofoneoftheparties.23Followingthedecision