A Study Of The Translation Strategies In The Translation Of Law

Mitsukuri Rinshou, the famous Japanese jurist, translated many foreign law literature and have made outstanding contributions on Japanese legal modernization. In Meiji late, he was ordered to translate French law literature and created some legal terms such as “Dongchan”, “Budongchan”, “Xiangsha” etc. He laid a solid foundation for Japanese legal modernization. This paper researches and analyzes the translation strategies of Mitsukuti Rinshou, not only make readers know more about the translation strategies of Mitsukuti Rinshou, but also hope his translation strategies and spirits can give a reference for our legal translation. The paper is divided into five parts, the introduction separately introduces the topic basis, research value, content and objectives, research data sources and research status.The first chapter introduces the strategy of borrowing the Chinese characters of literature, including the analysis of “Right” and borrowing the Chinese characters of Modern Chinese literature and Chinese or Japanese classical literature. This chapter uses “Quan Li”, “Bei Gao Ren” and “Kong Su” as examples to discuss the strategy of borrowing. "Quan Li", a representative word, has always been treated as the research subject by many scholars in legal profession. Although there are many different opinions about it, I do not want to think about supporting which viewpoint, at least it can be confirmed that Mitsukuri Rinshou borrowed the word "Quan Li" to translate "right". Outsuki Fumihiko also corroborated it in "the story of Mitsukuri Rinshou". The word "Bei Gao Ren" is from "Elements of International Law", a Translated Western book of the late Tokugawa.In addition, as Mitsukuri Rinshou replaced the word "Bei Gao Ren" of "Bei Gao Zhe", it can be thought that he took some Translated Western books such as "Elements of International Law" of his reference when he translated. The word "Kong Su" appeared in our "Jian Deng Xin Hua" as far back in 1378 and also appeared in "Fu Ku Quan Shu" in 1850. They both meant statement and report. Before "The procedural law of French" appeared, they used "Zai Su", "Yue Su" and "Kong Gao" to express the meaning of "Kong Su". "Kong Su" did not mean appeal at first, with the establishment of modern judicial system, it started to be used in "the verdict of the first trial appeals to a higher court." The meaning of "Kong Su" became complicated with the development of the meaning of justice system. From the analysis of the element, it is not accurate to say that Mitsukuri Rinshou only borrowed the word from Japanese Modern literature because the word "Kong Su" had existed in Chinese classical literature. In other hand, it is also not accurate to say that Mitsukuri Rinshou only borrowed the word from Chinese classical literature because the morpheme "Su" had existed in Japanese Modern literature. So we can say that Mitsukuri Rinshou borrowed the word from Japanese Modern literature and Chinese classical literature when he translated. These examples are representative because they are often used in modern law and normal life. They have both similarities and differences in Chinese or Japanese literature, but anyway, the fully understanding to the words of literature was essential when Mitsukuri Rinshou translated law literature.In the second chapter, the author researches the strategy of the creation of new words. This chapter explains two terms "Zhong Shen" and "Zheng Ren Yin Wei". Although the element of the term "Zhong Shen" has existed in literature before "The procedural law of French", some are not concise, while others cannot fully express the original meaning. Mitsukuri Rinshou created a more refined and more user-friendly version of "Zhong Shen" after he referred to other legal literatures. This strategy allows for the translation of Mitsukuri Rinshou to achieve perfection, and also lets the legal terms become more widely-spread. Mitsukuri Rinshou simplified the word "Zui Zhong De Sheng Pan" and replaced it of "Zhong Shen", which made the translation more concise. It shows that creating new words by simplifying original translation words is one of the strategies of Mitsukuri Rinshou.The concept of "Zheng Ren Yin Wei" never appears before the translation of "The procedural law of French". Mitsukuri Rinshou cleverly combined the existing words "witness" and " perusal" to create the new expression and to define the new legal concepts. According to the explanation of "Yin Wei" in Japanese dictionary, we can say that Mitsukuri Rinshou was likely to take the meaning "careful examination affairs, Heart Survey" and "investigation of evidence" of "Yin Wei" and combined the word "Zheng Ren" and " Yin Wei " into a new word "Zheng Ren Yin Wei." to express the meaning of the examination of witnesses.In the third chapters, the author illustrates optimized translation by Mitsukuri Rinshou on the basis of understanding the original version. This chapter discusses in detail the term "Wei Sui". We found that Mitsukuri Rinshou translated the passive sentences into active sentences after throughout thinking, which highlights the meaning of "tentative" and makes it closer to the original meaning. Regardless of whether "Wei Sui" or "Mou Shi" is the more suitable translation, at least it shows that this translation is done under sincere consideration and more relating to the original translation. It do have rationality that Mitsukuri Rinshou insisted to use the word "Mou Shi" because compared to "Wei Sui", "Mou Shi" can really reflect the meaning of "attempt". In the other hand, Mitsukuri Rinshou replaced the general word "Qi Shi" of the clear word "Zhi Xing De Kai Duan", which made the translation more close to the original. It is because Mitsukuri Rinshou deepened the understanding of the original that he could improve his translation again and again and make his translation more and more close to the original.Finally, the fourth chapter summarize this thesis. This thesis studies the translation strategy in Mitsukuri Rinshou’s legal translation, illustrates through representative terms in the translation of legal language, and thus systematically collects the translation strategies used by him.