缘起：

回炉学习《公司法》的初衷，是源于在网上找资料时，偶然看到了下述这篇文章（参见附件）。而在日常接触的翻译任务中，最常接触的翻译文件也的确是与文中所述内容有着非常密切的联系，于是，便有了重新系统学习的想法。文章中一共推荐了6本书，如果要深入学习的话，初步估算至少需要一年时间，但是我相信，收获肯定会颇为丰富。为了可以坚持下去，便在此处记录读书笔记，见证每日的学习所得。计划先从比较 简单的《公司法》起步，在学习的同时，正好可以顺便整理自己之前积累的一些碎片化材料，使之系统化，巩固基础。欢迎有意愿的小伙伴们一起加入，共同进步！

Company Law

—Translated by John Jiang & Henry Liu

DISCLAIMER:

免责声明

免责声明（Disclaimer），即法律明文规定的当事人对其不履行合同不承担违约责任的声明。不可抗力、货物本身的自然性质、货物的合理损耗和债权人的过错是免责的条件。

A disclaimer is generally any statement intended to specify or delimit the scope of rights and obligations that may be exercised and enforced by parties in a legally recognized relationship. In contrast to other terms for legally operative language, the term disclaimer usually implies situations that involve some level of uncertainty, waiver, or risk.

解释：

中国法律规定的免责条件主要有：

1.不可抗力：《合同法》第117条规定，因不可抗力不能履行合同的，根据不可抗力的影响，部分或者全部免除责任，但法律另有规定的除外。当事人延迟履行后发生不可抗力的，不能免除责任。本法所称不可抗力，是指不能预见、不能避免并不能克服的客观情况。

2.货物本身的自然性质、货物的合理损耗：《合同法》第311条规定：承运人对运输过程中货物的毁损、灭失承担损害赔偿责任，但承运人证明货物的毁损、灭失是因不可抗力、货物本身的自然性质或者合理损耗以及托运人、收货人的过错造成的，不承担损害赔偿责任。

3.债权人的过错：《合同法》第311条规定、第370条规定：寄存人交付的保管物有瑕疵或者按照保管物的性质需要采取特殊保管措施的，寄存人应当将有关情况告知保管人。寄存人未告知，致使保管物受损失的，保管人不承担损害赔偿责任；保管人因此受损失的，除保管人知道或者应当知道并且未采取补救措施的以外，寄存人应当承担损害赔偿责任。

（摘自百度百科）

A disclaimer may specify mutually agreed and privately arranged terms and conditions as part of a contract; or may specify warnings or expectations to the general public (or some other class of persons) in order to fulfill a duty of care owed to prevent unreasonable risk of harm or injury. Some disclaimers are intended to limit exposure to damages after a harm or injury has already been suffered. Additionally, some kinds of disclaimers may represent a voluntary waiver of a right or obligation that may be owed to the disclaimant.

Disclaimers vary in terms of their uniformity. Some may vary depending on the specific context and parties involved, while other types of disclaimers may strictly adhere to a uniform and established set of formalities that are rarely or never modified, except under official authority. Some of these formal disclaimers are required pursuant to industry regulation, qualification for protection under a safe harbor, and other situations where the exact wording of a particular clause or document may be dispositive in the event of a legal dispute. (See e.g., Product liability, Toxicity Class, Rule against perpetuities, Public Health Cigarette Smoking Act.)

The presence of a disclaimer in a legally binding agreement does not necessarily guarantee that the terms of the disclaimer will be recognized and enforced in a legal dispute. There may be other legal considerations that render a disclaimer void either in whole or part.

（摘自维基百科）

Neither the author nor Babelcom makes any express or implied warranty to the accuracy or completeness of the information contained herein. Neither the author nor Babelcom shall be liable for any direct, indirect, incidental, consequential or special damages resulting from use of materials contained herein.

框架：

Neither A nor B makes any (express or implied)  warranty to the accuracy or completeness of the information (contained herein).

Neither A nor B shall be liable for any (direct, indirect, incidental, consequential or special) damages ((resulting from use of materials (contained herein)).

解析

1. makes any express or implied warranty 明示或默示保证

2. Contained herein 本文包含的

 包含的几种说法：

① Contain: have inside / have as part

Box contains six Barbie dolls with pet ponies in matching outfits.

Meaning there’s nothing else in the box, only the six dolls and the ponies.

Coca-Cola contains no alcohol.

Meaning alcohol is not part/ingredient of Coca-Coca.

② Include: be part of the whole / make part of the whole

Box includes six Barbie dolls with pet ponies in matching outfits.

Meaning there are other things in the box, not only the dolls and the ponies. For example, there might be three toy Chevrolets and six Ken dolls too.

I haven’t included my tap-dancing history in my resume.

Meaning I haven’t made my tap-dancing history part of my resume.

③ Involve: have as necessary part / make somebody participate in an activity

Superman’s job involves a lot of travel.

Meaning that travel is a necessary part of his job.

④ Consist: have as the main or only part / be formed from different things

Batman’s true strength consists in his courage.

Meaning courage is the main part of Batman’s strength.

The X-Men team consists of Cyclops, Storm, Jean Grey, Archangel, Beast, Xavier and Wolverine.

Meaning the team is formed from the superheroes mentioned.

⑤  Compose:同Consist，但是主被动不同 consist of = be composed of

3. 句式：Neither.. nor 二者都不/Either...or 二者之一

4. 负责：

(1) "Responsible" is a general term, meaning that a person has some obligation, or deserves some blame. All of the other words could be considered "special cases" of responsibility.

(2) "Liable" means you have a legal responsibility. A court can force you to pay or send you to prison. You could do something that is totally dishonest, evil, and unfair, but if there is no law against it, you can get away with it. You have no legal liability. On the other hand, a court may force you to pay some penalty when you've done nothing morally wrong. Like, if you make an honest mistake on your taxes, you can be forced to pay fines and penalties even though you did not intentionally harm or cheat anyone.

(3) "Culpable" means you are guilty of something, i.e. morally responsible. A dictionary that I just checked said "deserving of blame". This can be used in a legal or non-legal sense. "The police believed George was culpable for the crime." "Mary was just as culpable for the end of her friendship with Susan as Susan was."

(4) "Accountable" means that you have a legal or moral obligation. You may or may not be personally responsible. The president of a company is accountable for everything that goes on in that company, even if he personally didn't do it or didn't even know about it. If, say, someone is embezzling money from the company, even if the president has no part in the theft, probably didn't even know it was going on, he's "accountable" because he's supposed to have procedures in place to prevent that from happening.

5. 赔偿金：direct, indirect, incidental, consequential or special damages

(1) Damage VS damages

① Damage means “loss or injury to a person or property”. It is an uncountable singular noun and has no plural form.

The cost of the damage to the US caused by Hurricane Ike was estimated at USD 18 billion.

Other words you could use instead of damage:  loss, injury

② Damages means “money claimed by, or ordered to be paid to, a person as compensation for loss or injury”. It is an uncountable plural noun and has no singular form.

The Claimant wishes to sue Acme for damages as a result of a loss sustained by the Claimant after Acme’s failure to perform its obligations.

Other words you could use instead of damages:  compensation, satisfaction

(2) 赔偿金的区分与区别：

The appeals court famously split contractual damage computations into two components:

damages that are naturally and ordinarily foreseeable from the breach (general or direct damages) and

damages that arise from special circumstances actually brought to the attention of the defendant at the time the contract was entered (special or consequential damages).

引申：direct, indirect,consequential, incidental, exemplary, special, or punitive damages

自译：直接、间接、结果性、附带性、示范性、特别、或惩罚性赔偿金-赘词特征

① Under the UCC, incidental damages are incidental expenses reasonably incurred in inspection, receipt, transportation, care and custody of goods rightfully rejected as well as cover and replacement. Incidental damages are incidental expenses incurred by the non-breaching party in order to avoid other direct and consequential losses of breach. For example, assume that a seller of an airplane falsely reports the mechanical repair and flight history of the airplane in its logbook, which the buyer relies on when purchasing the airplane. Months after the purchase, the airplane’s engine malfunctions during flight. The buyer in this case will be entitled to incidental expenses incurred in transporting the airplane to a repair shop, as well as repair costs.

② Under the UCC, consequential damages are damages resulting from the seller’s breach including (a) any loss resulting from requirements and needs of the buyer of which the seller had reason to know at the time of contracting and which could not reasonably be prevented by cover or otherwise; and (b) injury to persons or property proximately resulting from any breach of warranty. Consequential damages therefore require certainty as to the amount of loss, foreseeability of loss incurred as a result of breach at the time of contracting, and an inability to mitigate loss by cover or otherwise. Commonly, consequential damages include property damage, personal injury, attorneys’ fee, lost profits, loss of use, liability of buyer to customers, loss of goodwill, interest on money withheld by customers, and damages related to third party claims.

③ exemplary damages which often called punitive damages, are damages requested and/or awarded in a lawsuit when the defendant's willful acts were malicious, violent, oppressive, fraudulent, wanton or grossly reckless.

1) Examples of acts warranting exemplary damages: publishing that someone had committed murders when the publisher knew it was not true but hated the person; an ex-husband trashes his former wife's auto and threatens further property damage; a stockbroker buys and sells a widow's stocks to generate commissions resulting in her losing all her capital (money). These damages are awarded both as a punishment and to set a public example. They reward the plaintiff for the horrible nature of what she/he went through or suffered. Although often requested, exemplary damages are seldom awarded. There have been major awards in egregious (remarkable or outstanding) cases, such as fraud schemes, sexual harassment or other intentional and vicious actions even when the provable actual damages were not extensive.

④ Liquidated Damages 违约赔偿金，事前约定损害赔偿金-合同中的重要条款

1) 延时违约金Liquidated Damages for Delay

2) 违约金条款的特点？

a. 事先确定/可确定的数额，是双方在签订合同时对一方违约而给另一方所带来的损失事先的预估的真实损失-补偿性质，违约金条款的目的是补偿因违约而受损失的一方，并不是惩罚性质的，但违约金也不意味着其必须和实际损失一致-只要满足事先的对可能损失的真实估计

b. 如果被认定为非事先的真实预估、，则可能被视为罚金（Penalty）而在英国法下不可执行

c. 证明违约金是罚金的负担在于违约一方，非违约方只需证明违约事件发生及合约中有违约金之规定即可

3) 如何认定合约中规定的是Liquidated Damages而非Penalty？

a. 缔结合约的是有经验的商业实体

b. 有无律师参与谈判的商业合同

c. 谈判双方地位没有明显的不平等

d. 约定违约金的主要目的不是为了阻止违约

4) 一般对LD条款的挑战多是声称其为“unenforceable penalty clause”- 无法执行的罚金条款-如前所述，罚金条款的目的是为了阻止一方违约，而非事先预估的真实损失。一旦被认为为罚金条款，则约定的数额不可执行，受到损害的一方只能通过违约损害赔偿来进行损失的回收，此时，受损害一方需要将因果关系、违约行为、近因、减损义务等全部证明一遍，丧失了违约金条款的简便及快速。

6. 源自

(1) resulting from

to exist, emerge, or occur as a direct consequence or outcome of something.

(2) arises from/out of

if something arises from or out of a situation, event etc, it is caused or started by that situation etc

COPYRIGHT NOTICE:

All Rights Reserved, Babelcom, 2000. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without written permission from Babelcom.

解析：

1. All Rights Reserved -版权所有，翻版必究

2. Copy right：版权

(1) 术语解释：

Copyright is the exclusive right given to the creator of a creative work to reproduce the work, usually for a limited time. The creative work may be in a literary, artistic, educational, or musical form. Copyright is intended to protect the original expression of an idea in the form of a creative work, but not the idea itself. A copyright is subject to limitations based on public interest considerations, such as the fair use doctrine in the United States. Some jurisdictions require "fixing" copyrighted works in a tangible form. These rights frequently include reproduction, control over derivative works, distribution, public performance, and moral rights such as attribution.

Copyrights can be granted by public law and are in that case considered "territorial rights". This means that copyrights granted by the law of a certain state, do not extend beyond the territory of that specific jurisdiction. Copyrights of this type vary by country; many countries, and sometimes a large group of countries, have made agreements with other countries on procedures applicable when works "cross" national borders or national rights are inconsistent. （地域差异）

Typically, the public law duration of a copyright expires 50 to 100 years after the creator dies, depending on the jurisdiction. Some countries require certain copyright formalities[5] to establishing copyright, others recognize copyright in any completed work, without a formal registration.

(2) 版权侵权Copyright infringement (colloquially referred to as piracy) (与tort 区别）

It refer to the use of works protected by copyright law without permission for a usage where such permission is required, thereby infringing certain exclusive rights granted to the copyright holder, such as the right to reproduce, distribute, display or perform the protected work, or to make derivative works. The copyright holder is typically the work's creator, or a publisher or other business to whom copyright has been assigned. Copyright holders routinely invoke legal and technological measures to prevent and penalize copyright infringement.

Copyright infringement disputes are usually resolved through direct negotiation, a notice and take down process, or litigation in civil court. Egregious or large-scale commercial infringement, especially when it involves counterfeiting, is sometimes prosecuted via the criminal justice system. Shifting public expectations, advances in digital technology, and the increasing reach of the Internet have led to such widespread, anonymous infringement that copyright-dependent industries now focus less on pursuing individuals who seek and share copyright-protected content online, and more on expanding copyright law to recognize and penalize, as indirect infringers, the service providers and software distributors who are said to facilitate and encourage individual acts of infringement by others.

(3) Intellectual Property Right is composed of Copyright, Patent and Trademarks.

(4) Classification of patent:

① 中国专利包括发明专利 patent for invention、实用新型专利utility model patent、外观设计专利 design patent 

② 美国的专利申请受理单位是美国专利商标局（USPTO）。与中国、日本及欧盟的专利制度不同，美国的专利体系与其他主流专利体系相去甚远。美国专利的类型包括实用专利（Utility Patent）、植物专利（Patent for Plant）和外观设计（Patent for Design）。

1) Utility Patent又称实用专利，但Utility Patent并不是中国的实用新型，在美国法典中是这样定义的:any new and useful process, machine, manufacture, or composition of matter, or any new and useful improvement thereof(35 U.S.C. §101)。Utility Patent更类似于中国的发明专利，而中国的实用新型专利在美国也可以申请Utility Patent,但是如果创新性非常低的话，则很难被授权。

2) 植物专利：1952年颁布的35U,S,C,161规定了植物专利(PlantPatent)，又称植物发明专利。1952年专利法不仅规定了植物新品种的新颖性、显著的特征、非显而易见和无性繁殖等特点,也不排除对种子、植物、植物组织培养物等主题给予专利保护。

3) 外观设计专利：35U,S,C,171定义了外观设计专利标准：任何人发明制造品的新颖、独创和装饰性的外观设计,均可按照本编规定的条件和要求取得对于该项外观设计的专利权。

4) 包括中国专利局在内的绝大多数专利局都不保护软件、商业方法、互联网方法和疾病的诊断和治疗方法，唯独美国专利保护类型中包括这些方法。

3. 未经书面允许（批准/授权/认可/同意）：

(1) Permission: authorisation or consent (especially formal consent from someone in authority)

(2) Approval: an expression granting permission; an indication of agreement with a proposal; an acknowledgement that a person, thing or event meets requirements.

(3) Authorization: almost equal to permission

(4) Approbation: the act of approving; an assenting to the propriety of a thing with some degree of pleasure or satisfaction; approval, sanction, commendation or official recognition-合同中少见

(5) Consent: voluntary agreement or permission, 也可以用 without written agreement

词意对比网站：https://wikidiff.com/permission/approval

附注：

原出处：

http://blog.sina.com.cn/s/blog_7de25cc10101c5f8.html

转载：法律英语学习途径

做了这么多年的法律翻译，混迹了几家律所，又做了自由译者，时光又荏苒了一下，白驹又过隙了一下，也积累了不少心得，想在这里跟大家分享一下，希望大家能够事半功倍地找到提高法律英语的捷径。我只推荐两部中翻英的法律，两本关于翻译的书，和两部英翻中的法律，此外还有一些实践经验总结。

理论篇——两部中翻英法律

Henry Liu和John Jiang翻译的中国《合同法》和旧版《公司法》。不难发现，中国法律法规有其特有的风格和措辞，而《公司法》和《合同法》可以算是中国最基础和普遍的两部法律，也是我们平时接触比较多的，其风格和措辞基本能够代表中国立法特色。如果我们能熟练翻译这两部法律，就能将大多数中国法律轻车熟路地翻译成英文。同时，选择好的翻译版本进行学习至关重要。不得不提一下这两位译者，现在可都是律师界的泰斗了。Henry Liu曾是中国证监会的首席律师，神马南开、北大、哈佛、斯坦福和牛津的学位拿了个遍，不久前去了DLA，大家有兴趣可以看一下他在网站上的简介。我在之前单位跟他有过两三次接触（他基本在美国）：德高望重，作风低调。这是我的第一家单位，他对我影响还挺大的，叫我好好学习法律英语，天天向上来着，我听了就真的好好学习了一年，果然迅猛提高。John Jiang目前应该还是在路伟吧，他合著了那本著名的《合同与法律咨询文书制作技能》，得到了蛮多的赞誉，值得一看，我也看了两遍。

他们两个翻译的《公司法》和《合同法》十分娴熟，用词准确老道，如果能够细细分析，肯定会有很大很大的收获，关键这是他们亲自翻译的哦。我认为，中国法律法规的英译不要看太多，但一定要看精华，其实目前鱼龙混杂的翻译太多了。能把这两部认真学习上两遍，掌握精髓，基本就能一劳永逸了，翻译其他也就是万变不离其宗的事情了。

理论篇——两本关于翻译的书

这两本书基本是公认的法律翻译最好的入门书籍，孙万彪老师的《英汉法律翻译教程》和《汉英法律翻译教程》。我认为，其地位相当于《新概念英语》在英语学习中的作用。遥想当年在学校时，我就看了好几遍，甚至还一大早跑到柳树下去背诵，书都看黄了。结果，刚毕业找工作，就好多不错的offer，书中果然有黄金屋啊。甚至在工作前两年，还会不时把它当作工具书。后来，基本上他们就印在我的脑海里了。现在，他们对我来说已经变得非常基础了。虽然有好几年不看了，我还是要强调一下这两本书确实很适合打基础。应该来说，大多数常见的合同术语和条款都在书中进行了介绍，而且对于重点难点还有注释、讲解、归纳和总结。孙老师毕竟是英语科班出生，也是上外的老教授了，而且在外滩中心某顶级律所从事翻译，这两门书绝对是教科书级别的。当然，这两本书写的比较早，当时国内的法律翻译市场和法律英语教育还是启蒙阶段，因此用现在的眼光看来其内容和编排略显单薄，而且很多内容已经跟不上不断发展的中国立法和法律实践了。最近也看到网上有不少认真细心的人在指出其中的不足之处，这很好。作为教科书，确实应该不断完善，经得起时间的推敲。但我还是想指出，在当时法律翻译理论和实践都还很不成熟的情况下，编者能够抛砖引玉，编出这么好的书，让无数后人受益匪浅，我们应该对这样敬业的教授表示尊敬。话说孙老师人也是相当不错的，非常刻苦和严谨。我论文答辩还碰到他了，当时我写的是合同法翻译方面的，我讨巧顺着他的意思回答了，后来给了我优秀。

理论篇——两部英翻中的法律

张路老师主持编译的《美国1933年证券法》和《美国1934年证券交易法》。到第三阶段了，该看这两本书了。前两阶段完成之后，你的法律英语能力足以翻译大多数法律文件了，能够进入法律翻译或者涉外律师领域了。但是，要想真正靠这吃饭，要想脱颖而出，要想比别人贵，有必要看看世界范围内算是立法典范的美国证券法和证券交易法了。记得我是在工作之后接触这两本书的，还是有点难度的，尤其涉及很多外国法的东西，句子一般也都比较复杂。对于没有普通法教育背景的来说，还是有点吃力的。我当时也比较忙，偷闲看完了一遍，在我写这文章之际，我打算开始看第二遍。看这两部法，一是能够让你领略成熟国家真正的法律英语，而不是每天就是跟带有中国味道的合资合同、章程什么的打交道。其次，也让你在做翻译时明白一个道理，专业翻译要做到的是概念的对等，而不是文字的对等。这是当时一位姓洪的律师在我刚工作时跟我说的，他拿了美国三个州的执照。我现在也算是深刻领悟了这个道理。举个例子来说吧，我在中翻英某VC的一个有限合伙协议时，碰到这样一个概念“普通合伙人分配所得之返还”。如果没有风险投资领域内的法律概念，一般都会按照字面翻译。但是，如果你接触比较多的英文风险投资相关合同条款后，就会用“general partner clawback”这个对等概念来翻译，这就是你让你加分的东西。还有，你会发现中国的“有限责任公司”和国外的“limited liability company”是完全不同的概念。恩，还有更值得一提的，我们证券法上说的上市公司定向增发、非公开发行，其实英语就是“private placement”（“私募”），而我们有时候说开口闭口说的“私募基金”（为区别于证券投资基金，称“私募股权基金”或“私人股权基金”更妥；“私募基金”称“hedge fund”更为准确），英语是“private equity fund”，而私人股权投资上市公司，可以叫“PIPE (private investment in public equity)”，而“创投”和“风投”，一般都叫“venture capital investment”。概念有点乱，呵呵，其实这些本来就不是严格的法律概念，而且不同国家、学理界、实务界的定义都略微有所区别。上述概念的具体含义我在这里不多赘述了，否则变成学术大讨论了，大家有兴趣可以自己研究一下。我只是想为法律翻译的提高找个思路，抛砖引玉吧，呵呵！在翻译时，你有时候还真得琢磨一下他想表达什么概念，尤其是中文翻译成英文的时候，其中文很可能是不准确的。张路老师的介绍大家可以网上看一下。我只记得几年前，他帮我东家翻译一份两三万字的开曼法内容，不到两天就准确翻译出来了，那时候我的翻译速度还在每天四五千字，现在也高不到哪里去，再接再励啊。

随着时代的不断发展，近几年来，美国风险投资协会（NVCA）的一套合同以及《 美国上市公司最新立法与内部控制实务》经常会在律师实务和翻译中碰到。大家如果有兴趣可以看一下李寿双律师和张路老师分别主持翻译的作品。

基本把我想要推荐的书说完了。我想再指出一下，我推荐这些书有一个假设前提，你要么是法律专业，英语6级以上的；要么是英语专业，有一定legal sense的；或者跟我说的差不多的人吧。没有任何法律意识或者英语很差，还是先把基本功补上来。或是像张路老师那样法律英语早就登峰造极了，也不用看了，快去赚钱吧，市场很好很强大啊！

让我们一起进步！