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也谈“施行”条文的英译-与陈忠诚先生商榷

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陈忠诚先生被誉为法律翻译界的“指谬专家”。近年来,对法律、法规以及其他法律性文件中常见的“施行”条文的英译问题,陈先生先后有多篇文章作了评判。在《“施行”条文英译的典型错误》和《英译“实施”条文之典型错误》两篇文章中,陈先生指出了我国目前一些法律法规的英文译本“施行”条文中存在的两个典型错误:一是“shall”的滥用,二是几个介词的误用。然而,笔者对陈先生的一些见解略有异议,现陈述如下,也请陈先生及各位指正。

首先来谈谈“施行”条文的英译中用了“shall”是否就是“不忍卒读”,“只好批零蛋分”。在《英译“实施”条文之典型错误》一文中,陈先生分析了为什么不能在“施行”条文的英译中用“shall”,否则就是滥用。诚然如陈先生所言,在英语言语实践中,确有大量的“施行”条文没有使用“shall”, 笔者在此不再赘述。笔者想指出的是,在英语言语实践中,特别是在一些英美国家的现行法律条文当中,也有为数众多的“施行”条文当中使用了 “shall”:

例1: This Amendment shall take effect from the date set out below: The revised Determinations I to X shall take effect from 1 April 2002。这是英国一件有关卫生法规当中关于施行日期的规定。

例2:Except as provided in paragraph (2), parts A and B of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, as amended by title I, shall take effect upon the enactment of this Act。这是美国一件关于保障残疾人士享受接受教育权利的法规中关于施行日期的规定。

例3:Except as provided in paragraphs (4) and (5) below, the prohibition contained in paragraph (2) above shall take effect on the date of promulgation of regulations containing criteria under paragraph (1) or on the date of approval of the state solid waste plan under§4007 of RCRA> 42 U.S.C. §6947, whichever is later。这是美国德拉华州一部立法当中关于某项禁止性规定从何时开始生效的规定。

例4:This title shall become effective on November 1,1940.这句话出自于美国的Investment Advisers Act of 1940 。

关于如何撰写施行日期这一条款,在美国康涅狄格州的立法人员所使用的立法起草指南(legislative drafting manual)中有这样一句话:Budget-related bills and bills containing appropriations are usually given effective dates of July, which is the start of the state’s fiscal year. The standard wording is “This act shall take effect July 1,2000.”。

在英美法律中,这种在“施行”条文中使用了“shall”的例子还可以列举出很多,这些活生生的例子告诉我们,在“施行”条文中使用“shall”在英语言语实践中是的的确确存在的。

那么陈先生为何坚持认为在“施行”条文中用了“shall”就是“滥用”呢?在《法律汉译英中shall与should以及will》等文章中,陈先生都指出 “本法(条例、规定…)自X年X月X日起施行”这样的条款只是平铺直叙地规定一部法律法规从何时起施行,“而不是命令或禁止性的规范”, 所以句子谓语不应用“shall”与原形动词构成。在陈先生看来,“在法律英语中‘shall’只是用来表示‘有义务’(干……的)”。从某种意义上讲,在法律英语当中, “shall”的确主要用来表达某种命令或义务,在这个意义上,它和“must”同义。但是,在法律英语中,“shall”只能用来表达命令或义务吗?其实不然。请看一位美国法律语言学家在论述“shall”在法律英语当中的用法时的一段话:

“Yet shall is not restricted to commanding. It can also make declarations:

This Act shall be known as The Penal Code of California…

It seems odd to say that the legislature is requiring that the populace must refer to this Act as The Penal Code of California. Could someone be thrown in prison for calling it the California Penal Code or even the Criminal Code? Clearly, this is not a command!”

由此可见,在法律英语中,除了表达命令或义务外,“shall”还可以用来表示立法机关就某一法律规定所做的某种宣示。因此,在“施行”条文中所使用的“shall”可以也应当理解为立法机关就该法律法规的生效时间所做的明确宣示。

再来看看陈先生所指出的第二个典型错误,即几个介词的误用问题。陈先生认为,在翻译“施行”条文时,诸如 come / enter /go into force/effect as of/as from…,become effective as of /as from…这样的搭配是错误的,“而错误的症结在于:发生于某一时间点的作为(如come/go)却给错误地用上了表示有起点的时间段的介词,从而发出了违反事物逻辑的信息而文理不通了”。那么,在英美法律语言的实践当中,有没有以上这些搭配和用法的实例?还是让我们从英美立法或者法律文件中去寻找一下。

come into force as of…

例1:As part of Bill C-15, which received Royal Assent on June 1998, section 406 of the Canada Shipping Act (CSA) was amended to raise the mandatory annual inspection threshold from 5 tons gross tonnage to 15 tons gross tonnage for vessels that carry no more than 12 passengers. This provision is scheduled to come into force as of 31 October 1999….这是加拿大运输部一份法律文件中的一段话。

例2:Trading standards would previously only have dealt with cases involving areas of consumer law which have criminal sanctions. (these provisions come into force as of the 23rd October 2002)

--- Electronic Commerce (EC Directive) Regulations 2002 now in force (by Robert McGough, Solicitor in the Company Law Department)。此例说明,“come into force as of…”这种搭配也为英国法律界所使用。

come into force as from…

例1: …the rate so fixed shall come into force as from such date as he may determine.此句摘自英国Coroners Act 1988原文。

例2:This variation shall come into force as from 22 August 2002 and shall remain in force for a period of twelve months.这是澳大利亚工业关系委员会(Australian Industrial Relations Commission)在2002年8月29日发布的一项命令中的一句话。

become effective as of…

例1:This act shall become effective as of the first day of the first calendar month that begins not less than thirty days after the date on which this act shall be approved by the Governor or shall otherwise become law. 这是美国阿拉巴马州议会的一份法律议案中关于该法案施行日期的规定。

例2:This Act shall become effective as of the date on which it is signed by the Governor of Georgia or as of the date on which it becomes law without the approval of the Governor. 这是美国佐治亚州议会的一份法律议案中关于该法案施行日期的规定。

在英美法律语言的实践当中,诸如“come into effect as of…”, “enter into force as from…”,“become effective as from…” 这样的搭配都大量存在,但限于篇幅,笔者在此不一一列举。

陈先生认为,这些搭配之所以错误,原因在于as of 和as from 等所表示的是“有起点的时间段”。笔者认为,as of 和as from 所表示的意思未见得如此。请看以下例证:

《韦氏第三新国际词典》(Websters’Third New International Dictionary)中对as of 的释义是“at or on (a specific time or date)”。并举有一例:the rule takes effect as of July 1。

第四版《牛津高级英汉双解词典》(Oxford Advanced Learner’s English-Chinese Dictionary)中对as from 和as of 的解释是:as from, esp US as of (indicating the time or date from which sth starts) 指某事物开始的时间或日期。

由牛津大学出版社出版的 Fowler’s Modern English Usage 被认为是一部“standard work on the correct but natural use of English”,那么它对as from 的用法是如何解释的呢?请看:as from etc. An agreement, especially one for an increase of pay, is often said to come into effect as from a certain date。

这些例证已清楚地说明,as from 或as of所表示的并不是一个时间段,而只是表示某一动作或行为开始的时间点。在张道真陈先生编著的《现代英语用法词典》(重排本)中,在as from 项下引用了 Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English by Paul Procter, Robert F.Ilson,etc.(1978) 中的一个例句:The agreement starts as from March 31。如果as from 所表示的是时间段,那么如何可以与start这个发生于某一时间点的非延续性动词搭配呢?

在《“施行”条文英译的典型错误》中,陈先生还将take force on…和come into force from…这些搭配也列入介词误用之列。实际上,这样的搭配在实践中有很多例证:

例1:在英国议院的下议院日常辩论记录中有这样一句话:Authority and the shadow ITC that they will not tolerate the sort of codes and guidelines that are beginning to appear, and which may multiply and take force on 1 January.

例2:1997年3月,在瑞士和美国两国政府就简化引渡程序达成协议后,瑞士联邦司法和警察部发布了相关消息,其中有这样一句话:The new treaty will take force on 10 September 1997.

例3:The first duties under DDA Part 4 (to make reasonable adjustments) come into force from 1 September 2002. 这是英国一份介绍The Disability Discrimination Act 2001何时生效的法律文件中的内容。

例4:Following the adoption of the Insurance Mediation Directive (IMD) by the European Parliament Ruth Kelly, Financial Secretary to the Treasury, today confirmed that the regulation of mortgages and general insurance will come into force from October 2004. 这是英国财政部在2002年8月16日发布的一条消息中一段。

总之,从以上的例证和分析我们可以看到,所谓在法律法规“施行”条文汉译英中存在的两个典型错误实质上并没有错,这是有大量实践为证的,而从这些所谓的“错误” 出发,就得出“目前法律法规汉译英的水平差”的结论,无论从那方面说,都缺乏依据。

参考文献:

[1] 陈忠诚.法窗译话 [M].北京:中国对外翻译出版公司,1992.
[2] 陈忠诚.法律用语辩正词典[M].北京:法律出版社,2000.
[3] 陈忠诚.法苑译谭[M].北京:中国法制出版社,2000.
[4] 中绳.“施行”条文英译的典型错误[J].法律英语世界(第二辑),1999,64-68.
[5] Tiersma, Peter. Legal Language[M].Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1999.

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2004-6-9 0:52:00-2017-08-22