不可抗力是合同翻译时经常遇到的一个条款，我国《民法总则》第一百八十条规定：“因不可抗力不能履行民事义务的，不承担民事责任。法律另有规定的，依照其规定。不可抗力是指不能预见、不能避免且不能克服的客观情况”，下面就来看一下英美法对不可抗力的具体规定：

Force majeure is a common clause in contracts that essentially frees both parties from liability or obligation when an extraordinary event or circumstance beyond the control of the parties, such as a war, strike, riot, crime, epidemic or an event described by the legal term act of God, prevents one or both parties from fulfilling their obligations under the contract. In practice, most force majeure clauses do not excuse a party’s non-performance entirely, but only suspend it for the duration of the force majeure.

不可抗力是合同中的一个常见条款，当一个超出当事方控制范围的异常事件或情况发生时，如战争、罢工、暴乱、犯罪、流行病或法律术语“act of God”（也指不可抗力）所描述的事件，使一方或双方无法履行其在合同项下的义务，基本上免除双方的责任或义务。在实践中，大多数不可抗力条款并不能完全免除一方当事人不履行义务，而只是在不可抗力持续期间内暂停履行。

Force majeure is generally intended to include occurrences beyond the reasonable control of a party, and therefore would not cover:

不可抗力通常包括超出一方合理控制范围的事件，因此不包括：

1.Any result of the negligence or malfeasance of a party, which has a materially adverse effect on the ability of such party to perform its obligations.

因一方的疏忽或渎职行为而对其履行义务的能力产生重大不利影响的任何结果。

2.Any result of the usual and natural consequences of external forces.

外部因素通常和自然的结果。

(a)To illuminate this distinction, take the example of an outdoor public event abruptly called off.

为了说明这一区别，以一个突然取消的户外公共活动为例。

(i)If the cause for cancellation is ordinary predictable rain, this is most probably not force majeure.

若取消的原因是普通可预见的降雨，这很可能不是不可抗力。

(ii)If the cause is a flash flood that damages the venue or makes the event hazardous to attend, then this almost certainly is force majeure, other than where the venue was on a known flood plain or the area of the venue was known to be subject to torrential rain.

如果原因是山洪暴发，因此破坏了活动场地或使活动变得危险，那么这几乎可以肯定是不可抗力，除了场地位于知名的洪泛平原上，或者人们都知道场馆所在区域易受到暴雨的影响。

(iii)Some causes might be arguable borderline cases (for instance, if unusually heavy rain occurred, rendering the event significantly more difficult, but not impossible, to safely hold or attend); these must be assessed in light of the circumstances.

有些原因可能是有争议的临界情况（例如，如果发生异常大雨，明显使活动更难安全举行或参加，但并非不可能）；必须根据具体情况对这些原因进行评估。

3.Any circumstances that are specifically contemplated (included) in the contract—for example, if the contract for the outdoor event specifically permits or requires cancellation in the event of rain.

合同中明确规定（包括）的任何情况，例如，如果室外活动合同特别允许或要求在下雨时取消合同。

Under international law, it refers to an irresistible force or unforeseen event beyond the control of a state making it materially impossible to fulfill an international obligation, and is related to the concept of a state of emergency.

根据国际法，它是指一国不可抗拒的力量或无法预见的事件，使其实质上不可能履行国际义务，与紧急状态的概念相联系。

Force majeure in any given situation is controlled by the law governing the contract, rather than general concepts of force majeure. The law of the contract often specified by a choice of law clause in the agreement, and if not is decided by a statute or principles of general law which apply to the contract. The first step to assess whether - and how - force majeure applies to any particular contract is to ascertain the law of the country which governs the contract.

任何特定情况下的不可抗力均受合同管辖法律的约束，而不是不可抗力的一般概念。合同法通常由协议中的法律选择条款规定，若没有，则由适用于合同的法规或一般法原则决定。评估不可抗力是否以及如何适用于任何特定合同的第一步是确定管辖该合同的国家的法律。

术语总结

1.不可抗力：force majeure, act of god

2.negligence or malfeasance疏忽或渎职

3.materially adverse effect 重大不利影响

4. in light of 根据；依照