翻译、编辑:JENNY

2019年4月6日20:42PM

大陪审团是由一群公民组成的陪审团,由法律授权,可以进行法律程序,调查潜在的犯罪行为,并决定是否应该提起刑事诉讼。大陪审团可以传唤物证或证人作证。大陪审团与法院是分开的,法院不负责大陪审团的运作。

A grand jury is a jury – a group of citizens – empowered by law to conduct legal proceedings and investigate potential criminal conduct, and determine whether criminal charges should be brought. A grand jury may subpoena physical evidence or a person to testify. A grand jury is separate from the courts, which do not preside over its functioning.

美国和利比里亚是仅有的保留大陪审团的国家,尽管其他普通法司法管辖区以前使用大陪审团,以及其他大多数国家现在使用其他形式的初步听证。大陪审团既履行指控职能,也履行调查职能。

The United States and Liberia are the only countries that retain grand juries,though other common law jurisdictions formerly employed them, and most others now employ some other form of preliminary hearing. Grand juries perform both accusatory and investigatory functions.

大陪审团的调查职能包括取得和审查文件和其他证据,以及听取出庭证人的宣誓证词;控罪职能决定是否有可能有理由相信一名或多名人士在区域法院的审判地点内犯了某种罪行。

The investigatory functions of grand juries include obtaining and reviewing documents and other evidence, and hearing sworn testimonies of witnesses who appear before it; the accusatory function determines whether there is probable cause to believe that one or more persons committed a certain offense within the venue of a district court.

1913年,马萨诸塞州波士顿的阿卡迪亚酒店被大火烧毁,大陪审团对此展开调查。

A grand jury investigating the fire that destroyed the Arcadia Hotel in Boston, Massachusetts in 1913.

美国的大陪审团通常由16至23名公民组成,但在弗吉尼亚州,普通或特别大陪审团的成员较少。在爱尔兰,他们也扮演着地方政府的角色。

A grand jury in the United States is usually composed of 16 to 23 citizens, though in Virginia it has fewer members for regular or special grand juries. In Ireland, they also functioned as local government authorities.

大陪审团之所以如此命名,是因为传统上它比初审陪审团拥有更多的陪审员,(初审陪审团)有时也被称为小陪审团(源自法语单词"petit",意为“小”)。

The grand jury is so named because traditionally it has more jurors than a trial jury, sometimes called a petit jury (from the French word petit meaning "small").

注释1(帮助理解):

Common law普通法,习惯法,判例法〔由普遍的习俗和法官的判决发展而来而不是议会制定的法律〕;[专业] 英美法系 [法学];规律 [经济学]

the system of laws that has developed from customs and the decisions of judges rather than from laws made by Parliament

普通法系又称英美法系或海洋法系,是指英国中世纪以来的法律,特别是它以普通法为基础的、与以罗马法为基础的民法法系相比较而存在的一种法律制度。普通法系以英国普通法为基础,但并不仅指普通法,它是指在英国的三种法律,即普通法、衡平法和制定法的总称。

美国法律,作为一个整体来说,属于普通法法系,但它有自己的、不同于英国法的很多特征。该法系与欧陆法系(又称“大陆法”)并称为当今世界最主要的两大法系。普通法起源于中世纪的英格兰,世界人口的三分之一生活在普通法司法管辖区或混合民法系统中 。

英国、美国及其他过去曾受英国殖民统治的国家和地区,主要包括加拿大、澳大利亚、新西兰、爱尔兰、印度、巴基斯坦、马来西亚和新加坡,我国香港地区也采用英美法。南非是大陆法与普通法的混合物,斯里兰卡也有类似情况。菲律宾法也是一种混合体。但是,联合王国的苏格兰、美国的路易斯安那州和加拿大的魁北克属于大陆法体系。

在诉讼程序上,英美法系的诉讼程序以原告、被告以及其辩护人和代理人为重心,法官只是双方争论的仲裁人而不能参与争论,与这种对抗式程序同时存在的是陪审团制度,陪审团代表人民参加案件审理,但主要做出事实上的结论和法律上的基本结论(如有罪或无罪), 法官负责作出法律上的具体结论,即判决。

复习(Review):

美国司法部为(怎样)公布穆勒(特别检察官罗伯特.穆勒)报告(通俄门调查报告)的初步总结进行辩护

DOJ defends releasing initial summary of Mueller report

2019-04-04 23:15PM(北京时间)

POLITICO(美国政治新闻网)

美国司法部(Department of Justice)为(怎样)公布特别检察官罗伯特.穆勒(Robert Mueller)调查俄罗斯串谋案(指穆勒对2016年美国总统大选之“通俄门”调查)的初步总结进行了辩护,称无法披露完整报告,因为其中包含受保护的大陪审团信息。

The Department of Justice defended releasing an initial summary of special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into Russian collusion, saying it couldn't disclose the full report because it contained protected grand juryinformation.

在此声明前有报道称,穆勒团队的一些成员对司法部长威廉.巴尔(William Barr)对他们调查工作的描述感到不满。

The statement came after some members of Mueller's team were reportedly unhappy with Attorney General William Barr's characterization of their investigatory work.

司法部女发言人说,巴尔提供初步的(通俄门)调查结果“有一项谅解,即报告本身将在编校程序后公布”以及“不认为报告应该‘序列连续的或零敲碎打’地公布”。

A Justice Department spokeswoman said Barr provided the initial findings "with the understanding that the report itself would be released after the redaction process" and "does not believe the report should be released in 'serial or piecemeal fashion."