Law and Justice

法律面前，人人平等。

 

Rule of law 法治 is the condition in which all members of society, including its rulers, accept the authority of the law. Law and order 是遵紀守法：a situation in which people obey the law and behave in a peaceful way。安份守已的公民，便是 citizens who obey and respect the law, they are law-abiding citizens，不是違法者 not law-breakers: persons who do not obey the law。社會上，有不法份子，也有我行我素，自行其是，忽視慣例的人，不為法律或傳統所羈絆，they take law unto themselves，不通過正常的法律程序而私自治罪，they take the law into their own hands 自行處理：They do things their own way and ignore what is generally considered as acceptable. They punish somebody for doing something wrong, instead of letting the police deal with them.

 

 

Unwritten law 指不成文法，非正式的，但被接受的行為規則：accepted, but not formal, rule of behaviour。Law of the jungle 指弱肉强食的森林法則：即是文明社會一般正常法例和價值觀念並不存在時的處境，那時候，權力、勢力和弱肉强食等森林定律，比合法權益和道德價值更奏效：a situation in which people are prepared to use unscrupulous methods in order to succeed or survive. Some businesses today seem to be governed by the law of the jungle. Fierce competition prevails over civilized control.

 

 

至於 Murphy’s law 墨菲法則，跟法律沾不上邊，只表示事情要多糟有多糟。Murphy’s law is a humorous statement of the fact that if anything can possibly go wrong it will go wrong, and will—at the worst possible moment: We’ve tried to prepare for every possible incident, but remember Murphy’s law! 任何可能出錯之事必將出錯。The original Murphy’s Law was “If there are two or more ways to do something, and one of those ways can result in a catastrophe, then someone will do it.” 

 

 

處理及熟悉當地法律的專業人士是律師。A lawyer is a person who has studied law and whose job is to give advice about the law. He is called a solicitor or barrister in England and Hong Kong or an attorney in America. Lawyer 是通用語，一般指律師，有資格提供法律諮詢，為當事人準備法律文法，在法庭上代表當事人進行起訴或辯護的人。在英格蘭和香港，有資格在高等法院出庭辯護的律師叫 barrister，在蘇格蘭，barrister 稱作advocate。在北美洲用語中，attorney 較 lawyer 正式（more formal），尤其是用於司法職務的頭銜（job title），例如地方檢察官，便叫做 district attorney。在北美洲，正式代表當事人出庭的律師，比較正式的法律術語叫做 counsel，例如原告律師便是 counsel for the prosecution。熟悉英美不同的法律稱謂，可能有助欣賞不同版本的 Law and Order 電視片集。

 

 

Justice 可以指公平、公正，the fair treatment of people, the quality of being right and fair, especially in law，尤指法律上的公義。Justice 也可以指司法制度，the law and its administration, the legal system used to punish people who have committed crimes。以公正為原則的法律，我們說：they are laws based on the principles of justice。

 

 

你公平對待某人，you do justice to someone = you treat someone in a fair way；你將某人繩之以法，you bring somebody to justice = you arrest somebody for a crime and put him on trial in court 將他緝拿歸案，交給法庭審理。你給某人申辯機會，讓某人接受公平審訊，you let someone get a fair hearing when he is accused of wrongdoing。You let him get an opportunity to present evidence or give his side of the story, usually in court. 不太公平的懲罰叫 rough justice, a treatment or punishment that does not seem fair, or is too severe, especially if it is not legal: The way the basketball player was treated by the media was very rough justice! 輿論審判，有時並不公平。The trial was a travesty of justice 這一場審判是對正義的嘲弄。不公正的非法法庭叫 a kangaroo court 袋鼠法庭，an illegal court that punishes people unfairly or an illegal tribunal set up by a group of people who have taken the law into their own hands and conduct trials which deny fundamental justice 否定基本的公平原則。

 

 

公義必須彰顯，而且要在公眾面前彰顯：Justice must not only be done—it must be seen to be done! 

 

本專欄逢周二、五發表