CIVIL LAW. The legal systems of the contemporary Western world are usually divided into two groups---the common law and the civil law. The common law, developed originally in England, forms the general basis for the legal order of the United States. The civil law emerged on the European continent and is in effect today in such countries as France, Germany, and Italy.

民法。现代西方世界的法律体系通常分为两组---普通法和民法。普通法最初形成于英格兰，构成了美国法律秩序的一般基础。民法出现在欧洲大陆，而且至今在如法国、德国和意大利这样的一些国家中实行。

The two great legal systems have spread far beyond their original homes, carried both by colonizing efforts and by the West’s economic and political power. Today the legal systems of Latin America, of parts of Africa, and of much of Asia are considered to be within---or strongly influenced by---the civil law tradition. On North America, the law of Louisiana is still significantly affected by French law, and the legal system of Quebec continues in large areas of private law the system that it received from France.

两大法律体系通过殖民和西方经济和政治力量的双重影响已蔓延至它们的发源地以外。今天，拉丁美洲，非洲的部分地区，以及亚洲许多地方的法律体系都被认为是在这个范围内---或者深受民法传统的影响。在北美，路易斯安那州的法律仍然受到法国法律的强烈影响，而魁北克的法律体系在私法的大部分领域都继续沿用了它从法国接受的体系。

As a description of the law in force in the modern world, the civil law-common law classification is incomplete. Some legal systems, such as the Scandinavian, do not fit readily into either category. Furthermore, with the emergence of communist states in eastern Europe the civil law systems of those countries underwent profound changes. Nonetheless, if the need for appropriate qualification is kept in mind, an understanding of the general characteristics of the civil law system can serve as an introduction to the legal orders of many contemporary societies.

作为对现代世界现行法律的描述，民法—普通法的分类是不完整的。一些法律体系，比如斯堪的纳维亚的法律体系，就无法归入这两类。此外，随着东欧共产主义国家的现出，这些国家的民法体系经历了深刻的变化。尽管如此，如果考虑到对适当的资格需要，对民法的一般特征的理解可作为对许多现代社会法律秩序的介绍。

In comparisons of the civil law and the common law, two points of difference are usually emphasized. First, in the civil law systems large areas of private law are codified. Codification ---the systematic and comprehensive statement of the rules and principles that form the starting point for legal reasoning and for the administration of justice---is not typical of the common law. Second, the civil law was strongly influenced by Roman law in many ways. In the common law, the Roman influence was less striking and in no way pervasive. However, such points of difference must not obscure the extent to which the civil law and the common law share a common tradition. Both systems were developments within western European culture; they hold many values in common. Both are products of Western civilization.

在对民法与普通法的比较中，通常会强调两个不同点。首先，在民法体系中编纂了大量私法。编纂---对规则和原则的系统和全面陈述，构成了用于法律推理和司法管理的起点---不是典型的普通法。第二，民法在许多方面受到了罗马法的强烈影响。在普通法中，罗马的影响没那么明显，也不普遍。然而，这样的不同点不能遮掩民法与普通法拥有共同传统的程度。两种体系都是西欧文化的发展；它们拥有许多共同的价值观。两者都是西方文明的产物。

Roman Law.  To understand why continental European countries share a common legal heritage in the civil law, and to grasp the meaning of that heritage, one must consider the history of the civil law, with its roots in Roman law.

罗马法。要理解为什么欧洲大陆国家在民法上拥有共同的法律遗产，并领会该遗产的意义，人们就必须考虑根植于罗马法的民法历史。

Over its long history, Roman law was brought to a high level of juristic development. The Romans, with their genius for institution and their practical sense, achieved excellent solutions for practical problems and combined these solutions into a remarkable body of law. This law, reflecting the relatively high development of Roman political, economic, and social life, met the requirement of a culturally and economically advanced society. However, the Roman juristic tradition and the corpus of Roman law did not pass immediately and full blown to the societies of western Europe.

在其漫长的历史中，罗马法被带到了法律发展的一个较高水平。罗马人，凭借他们对制度的天赋和他们的务实意识，为实际问题提供了出色的解决方案，并将这些方案组合成一个非凡的法律体系。这一法律，反映了罗马的政治、经济和社会生活相对较高的发展，在文化和经济上满足了先进社会的需求。然而，罗马的法律传统和罗马法的主体并未马上和全面地传播到西欧社会。

      ARTHUR VON MEHREN

                                   Harvard University Law School

                                         亚瑟·冯·梅伦

                                         哈佛大学法学院

                                        2023年6月1日译

（译者注：该部分词条位列《大美百科全书》1985年版，第6卷，第764页至765页）

待续部分：Legal Science in Transition变迁中的法学; Codification 法典编纂；Decisional Law 判例法；Private Law Areas. 私法适用的范围；Procedure 程序；The Two Systems Compared 两种体系的比较。