我国各级法院审理案件以起诉作为审判前提。如果没人向法院“告状”，法院则不予审理。法院审理刑事案件，分公诉和自诉两种。

对自诉案件，被害人或其法定代理人可以直接向法院起诉；法院在宣判前，对于前两类案件可以进行调解；自诉人也可以自行和解，第三类不能调解，但是可以和解，三类案件都可以撤回起诉，由法院审查；被告人还可以向自诉人提起反诉。

自诉与公诉相对应。公诉一般译为“public prosecution”，因此自诉则为“private prosecution”。

相应的“自诉人”、“自诉案件”则分别应为“private prosecutor”、“cases of private prosecution”。

private

adj. （1）私人的；个人的 指与个人有关或从属于个人，与公开的、公共的相对。 （2）非公开的；封闭的 封闭性公司是指该公司的股份不能在公开市场上自由买卖和获取。 （3）秘密的；私下的

n. 列兵；二等兵 指部队中等级最低或近于最低者。

prosecution

n. （1）实施；执行；从事 （2）刑事诉讼 也称criminal prosecution。 （3）控诉方；公诉方 指代表政府提起刑事诉讼追究被告人刑事责任的律师。

我国《刑事诉讼法》中与自诉有关的双语规定如下：

Article 210 Cases of private prosecution include:

(1) a case to be handled only upon complaint;

(2) a minor criminal case which the victim has evidence to prove; and

(3) a case where a victim has evidence to prove that a defendant has infringed upon his or her personal or property rights and shall be subject to criminal liability in accordance with the law but a public security authority or a people’s procuratorate decides not to subject the defendant to criminal liability.

第二百一十条 自诉案件包括下列案件：

（一）告诉才处理的案件；

（二）被害人有证据证明的轻微刑事案件；

（三）被害人有证据证明对被告人侵犯自己人身、财产权利的行为应当依法追究刑事责任，而公安机关或者人民检察院不予追究被告人刑事责任的案件。

Article 211 After examining a case of private prosecution, a people’s court shall handle it as follows:

(1) if the facts of a crime are clear and evidence is sufficient, the people's court shall hold a court session to try the case; or

(2) if evidence to prove a crime is insufficient in a case of private prosecution and the private prosecutor cannot provide supplementary evidence, the people’s court shall persuade the private prosecutor to withdraw the private prosecution or render a ruling to dismiss the private prosecution.

Where a private prosecutor refuses to appear before court without justifiable reasons after having been legally summoned twice or withdraws from a court session without the permission of the court, the case shall be deemed withdrawn by the private prosecutor.

Where, during a court session, a judge has any doubt on evidence and deems it necessary to investigate and verify evidence, the provisions of Article 196 of this Law shall apply.