Lesson 9 合同法

Part One Contract and Contract Law 合同与合同法

Contract, as we will use that term, ordinarily connotes an agreement between two or more persons—not merely a shared belief, but a common understanding as to something which is to be done in the future by one or both of them.

当我们使用“合同”一词的时候,通常是说它是一份存在于两方或三方之间的契约。它不是一种简单的信任,而是通常理解为合同的一方或双方在将来的时候都要去做的某种事情。 Sometimes, the term contract is used also to refer to a document—the set of papers in which such an agreement is set forth.

有时候,“合同”也用来指一套包括四部分内容的文件。

For lawyers, contract usually is used to refer to agreement that has legal effect; i.e., it creates obligations for which some sort of legal enforcement will be available if performance is not forthcoming as promised.

对于律师而言,“合同”通常是指具有法律效力的协议,即设置了一种法律义务,当某行为没有按照预先约定的那样去履行时,可以依照合同去依法强制履行。

Thus, it will sometimes be necessary to distinguish among three elements in a transaction, each of which can be called a contract: (1) the agreement –in-fact between the parties, (2) the agreement-as- written (which may or may not correspond accurately to the agreement-in-fact), and (3)the set of rights and duties created by (1) and (2).

因此,有时候,在一次交易中,区分三种不同的因素就变得非常必要,这些因素中的每个因素都可以叫做合同:(1)双方之间的事实合同(2)书面合同,它可能与事实合同不完全一致(3)基于前(1)(2)两项而对应产生的权利和义务。

注:此段的“合同”是基于我国《合同法》的分类而翻译的,《合同法》规定了“事实合同”“书面合同”,而非“事实协议”“书面协议”。

Without trying at this point to state a short but comprehensive definition of law (if that were possible), it is perhaps sufficient to suggest that we will be surveying the ways in which such agreements are made and enforced in our legal system-the role of lawyers and judges in creating contracts, in deciding disputes that may arise with respect to their performance, and in fashioning appropriate remedies for their breach.

在权利义务问题上,如果情况可以允许,我们可做到不用去努力阐明这种短少但包含法律意义的界定情况,那么它就强烈建议我们在早己设定好的合同和现行法律(定义)柜架下的去审视在(订立)创制合同中律师和法官的(角色)作用,他们会解决各方行为引发的争执以及对违约行为以恰当的形式进行补偿。

In the Anglo-American legal system, a great number of things-both tangible and intangible-are susceptible of “ownership.”

在英美法律体系中,有相当大部分的法律都明确或者间接的规定了所有权这个敏感的问题。 A bulldozer, a diamond ring, the Empire State Building, “Gone With the Wind”— all may be the “property” of one person or group of persons, which means that the

state will protect the right of the “owner” to use, enjoy, and even consume that thing, to the exclusion of all other persons.

从一台推土机、一枚钻戒到帝国大厦、小说《飘》,都可能是一个人或者一些人的财产。这意味着国家将保护所有权人对其所有物的使用、享受甚至是毁灭的权利,同时排除他人对此行为的干涉。

The first-year property course traditionally focuses on the detailed rules that in Anglo-American law govern the ownership of “real property” (land and the buildings on it).

按照惯例,第一年的财产课程会侧重于英美法律对财产保护的详细规定,诸如土地和地上物等不动产的所有权的细化性规定。

Later you will have the opportunity to explore bodies of law relating to ownership of other, less tangible, kinds of property such as copyrights, patents, shares of corporate stock, and negotiable instruments.

然后,你将会学习到基本是对版权、专利权,股权,可转让票据等无形财产的所有权的法律保护。

Any society that recognizes property rights must also address the question of how it should respond when someone violates those rights.

任何社会一旦承认财产的所有权,那么它就必须解决如何处置“侵犯财产权”的问题。

And property rights are not the only kind of individual rights that may need legal protection.

财产权不是由法律简单地保护的一种个体性权利。

Even societies that do not permit private ownership of wealth to the degree that ours does are likely to recognize the personal rights of individuals to be free from certain kinds of conduct such as the infliction of physical injury or other interferences with their individual freedom or dignity.

甚至,社会不允许财产所有权个人肆意同意他人创设某种随意侵害他人身体或其他有损他人个体自由或者尊严的行为的权利。

The courses in criminal law and torts deal with different aspects of this question: Criminal law focuses on those violations of personal and property rights that society deems serious enough to be deterred by threat of severe punishment for their commission (robbery, rape, and murder are obvious examples); tort law considers what remedy should be made available to the individuals so injured.

关于(财产权的保护)这个问题,刑法和民事侵权行为法有自己有不同的规定:刑法侧重于对个人和财产性权利不受妨害的保护,即社会认为这些犯罪行为的危险性已经严重到须以一系列刑罚惩处方可阻止的程度。比如抢劫、强奸、谋杀都是明显的例子。民事侵权法则认为对于个体的伤害应给予有效的赔偿。

Because of the nature of the conduct regulated, criminal law and tort law overlap to a great degree, but they are not congruent.

由行为在本质上的不同,因此,刑法和民事侵权法即使有很大部分是重合的,但二者并不完全相同。

Many acts are criminal but not tortuous, because they are offenses not against individuals but against the state—treason, for example, or tax evasion; others, such as slander, may be tortious but not criminal.

许多行为由于他们侵犯的不是个体而是国家,因此它们不是民事侵权行为而是刑事犯罪,比

如,叛国罪、偷税罪;而诸如诽谤则是民事侵权行为而非犯罪行为。 Where does contract law fit into this picture? 在上述情况下,合同法是如何运用的呢?

We have noted already that our society recognizes and protects a variety of types of property and personal rights.

我们已经注意到我们的社会已经承认并保护一系列的人身性和财产性权利。

Ownership of property ordinarily includes the right to use and consume the thing owned, but in many cases it will be more to the advantage of the owner to transfer, or “convey,” the right of ownership to some other person in exchange for something else of value (money, perhaps, or the ownership of some other property).

最初的财产所有权,包括使用和消灭自有物的权利,但通过许多判例,它发展为所在权人有交易或转让的权利,对于交换中的许多人来说,这种所有权具有更高的价值,它可能是金钱,也可能是其他财产的所有权。

A piano is more valuable to one who can play it than to one who cannot, and two lots of adjoining real property may be much more when combined into one parcel than when held separately.

一架钢琴对于会演奏它的人来说,价值要远高于那些不会弹奏的人;两个相邻的不动产,可能比两个彼此独立的不动产捆绑销售更有价值。

Similarly, the ownership of factory machinery may be much more valuable when it is combined with a right to the work of skilled technicians and laborers, a dependable source of supply of raw materials, and licenses to use patented processes in the manufacturing of goods.

同样地,当一家机器工厂拥有一群可以工作的技师和工人,有独立可靠的原材料供应渠道和加工产品时所需的专利许可的时候,它的所有权的价值要更高。

Agreements for exchange are the means by which such resources are assembled and put to productive use.

为交换而订立的合同,意味着它可以集中并大量的被使用。

Some such agreements call for the immediate and simultaneous exchange of money for goods or services (your purchase of a morning paper, for instance, or of a hamburger or a haircut).

这种合同数量巨大,要求在购买货物或者服务的时候,即时支付合同规定的价钱,比如买早报、汉堡包或者去理发。

Where exchanges of any significant size are concerned, however, it is much more common for both the planning and the performance to be spread over a considerable period of time.

然而,进行那些重要的买卖合同的时候,合同通常会规定双方将在未来相当长的一段时间里要去履行的行为和计划。 The law of contracts is our society' legal mechanism for protecting the expectations that arise from the making of agreements for the future exchange of various types of performance, such as the conveyance of property (tangible and intangible), the performance of services, and the payment of money.

为了保护基于合同的约定而在未来的时候,任何一方都履行自己合同义务的可期待性,合同法己成为我们社会对此予以调整的法律机制。比如转让有形和无形的财产、提供服务行为、支付报酬。