西方法谚精选.doc

一、法的品性
(一)法的特点
Where the law is uncertain, there is no law.
法无定法,则无法。
The letters written stay while the voice flies away.
书写的文字留下了,说话的声音飞走了。
The law does not define exactly, but trusts in the judgment of a good man.
法律并不做(过于)详尽规定,而委诸善良之人进行判断。
It is a miserable slavery where the law is vague or uncertain.
法律一旦模糊或不确定,人们就会陷入可怕的奴役。
If you depart from the law, you will wander without a guide, and everything will be in a state of uncertainty to every one.
如果离开法律,你就会因失去方向而迷茫,所有的事物也都会处于不确定的状态。
Too great certainty destroys certainty itself.
过于确定就会破坏确定性本身。
Too great subtleness in law is reproachable.
在法律中,过于精密并不可取。
That which is capable of being made certain is to be treated certain.
可得而确定者,亦为确定。
All definitions in law are hazardous.
在法律中所有定义都是危险的。
Every definition in law is perilous, and an exception may reverse it.
法律中每一个定义都是危险的,一个例外就可以推翻它。
The practice of fixing and refixing the laws is a most dangerous one.
朝令夕改是最危险的做法。
In time of war, the law is silent.
战争一开始,法律就沉默。
The laws sometimes sleep, but never die.
法律有时会沉睡,但绝不会灭亡。
When the law is effective, the people are prosperous.
法律有效力。国民便昌盛。
Force is inimical to the laws.
武力是与法律不相容的。
The order of pleading being preserved, the law is preserved.
没有诉权,就没有法律。
The law looks forward, not backward.
法律向前看,不向后看。
A new statute should affect the future, not the past.
新法影响未来而不是过去。
The law provides for the future, the judge for the past.
法律为未来作规定,法官为过去做判决。
A new law ought to be prospective, not retrospective in its operations.
在实施过程中,新的法律应规定未来,而不应溯及既往。
Every new law should give a form to future, not to past.
任何新法均不针对过去,而是着眼于将来。
It is clear that laws and ordinances settle the course of future transactions and do not refer to bygone matters, unless their provisions relate expressly both to a past time and matters hitherto pending.
法律和法规之规定将来的事务,而不管过去之事项,这乃自明之理;但是法律明确规定对于迄今未决之过去事项予以适用者,不在此限。
A law is not obligatory unless it be promulgated.
法律不经公布就有效力。
Where there is no law, there is no tran