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法律英语课文总结-何家弘

第一篇：法律英语课文总结-何家弘LessonOne:LegalSystem法律制度PartOneTheUnitedStatesisatonceaverynewnationandaveryoldnation.Itisanewnationcomparedwithmanyothercountries,anditisnew,too,inthesensethatitisconstantlybeingrenewedbytheadditionofnewelementsofpopulationandofnewStates.Butinothersensesitisold.Itistheoldestofthe“new”nations--thefirstonetobemadeoutofanOldWorldcolony.Ithastheoldestwrittenconstitution,theoldestcontinuousfederalsystem,andtheoldestpracticeofself-governmentofanynation.OneofthemostinterestingfeaturesofAmericansyouthisthatthewholeofitshistorybelongsintheperiodsincetheinventionoftheprintingpress.Thewholeofitshistoryis,therefore,recorded:indeed,itissafetosaythatnoothermajornationhassocomprehensivearecordofitshistoryashastheUnitedStates,foreventssuchasthosethatarelostinthelegendarypastofItalyorFranceorEnglandarepartoftheprintedrecordoftheUnitedStates.AndtheAmericanrecordisnotonlycomprehensive;itisimmense.ItembracesnotonlytherecordofthecolonialeraandoftheNationsince1776,butofthepresentfiftyStatesaswell,andtheintricatenetworkofrelationshipsbetweenStatesandNation.Thus,totakeaveryelementaryexample,thereportsoftheUnitedStatesSupremeCourtfillsome350volumes,andthereportsofsomeStatesarealmostequallyvoluminous:thereaderwhowantstotracethehistoryoflawinAmericaisconfrontedwithover5,000stoutvolumesoflegalcases.Noonedocument,nohandfulofdocuments,canproperlybesaidtorevealthecharacterofapeopleoroftheirgovernment.Butwhenhundredsandthousandsofdocumentsstrikeaconsistentnote,overmorethanahundredyears,wehavearighttosaythatisthekeynote.Whenhundredsandthousandsofdocumentsaddressthemselvesinthesameways,tothesameoverarchingproblems,wehavearighttoreadfromthemcertainconclusionswhichwecancallnationalcharacteristics.PartTwoTheAmericanlegalsystem,liketheEnglish,ismethodologicallymainlyacaselawsystem.Mostfieldsofprivatelawstillconsistprimarilyofcaselawandtheextensiveandsteadilygrowingstatutorylawcontinuestobesubjecttobindinginterpretationthroughcaselaw.Knowledgeofthecaselawmethodaswellasofth