GRE作文范文 Issue-27

"Laws should not be stationary and fixed. Instead, they should be flexible enough to take account of various circumstances, times, and places."

嘉文博譯Sample Essay

The very function of law is to bring stability and order to the group of people that the laws are enforced upon. For a legal system to work for a society, the laws must be knowable, fair and implemented equally among the population. Compliance is impossible without knowing the laws, and knowing the laws is impossible without them being relatively stationary and fixed. The rule of law as a system requires not only the written laws themselves, but also the institutions and people that enforce the laws and adjudicate those accused of breaking those laws. At the enforcement and judgmental stages, the law can become more adaptable to the particular circumstances.

In the beginning, laws became necessary as civilizations began to develop. One of the earliest known set of laws was known as Urukagina's Code, developed in 2350 B.C. by Mesopotamian kings. These were the first known laws that allowed normal citizens to know what types of actions would be punished and the penalties that could be expected for violating those laws. From that time onward, human societies have tried to perfect a legal system through such famous documents as the Ten Commandments, the Magna Carta, the Constitution of the United States of America, and more recently, the World Trade Organization's international trade agreements. Despite the centuries that separate them, they all have in common that they were written down as rules of law and relatively fixed and unchangeable. This allowed the members of a society to know how they were expected to behave, and in most cases, what rights they had under that particular governmental system.

Furthermore, these written documents showed that as a general rule of fairness, the laws had to be knowable and at least in theory, equally applicable to certain segments of the population. The popular expression "ignorance of the law is no excuse" would not be practicable if the laws were not written and available for those who are to comply with them. Without written and published laws, ignorance of the law would be an excuse, for an individual would have no way of knowing what the laws required. In addition, the laws needed to be fixed and stable so that they could be equally applied (in theory) to everyone. Frequent changes, especially those that were made in response to particular circumstances, times and places, would make for an unworkable legal system. No one could no what to expect from the law because no one could no what the law would be on a certain date or under certain circumstances.

However, in reality, the law is adaptable and flexible in certain situations, places and times. Although the written rules of law must be fixed and seldom changed, the people that enforce the laws, as well as those who judge those who break the laws, have a certain amount of built-in discretion to see that justice is done. A policeman can usually decide, depending on the particular circumstances of a situation, whether to make an arrest or give a verbal warning. Once charged with a crime, the prosecutor can make the decision whether to prosecute the offense or dismiss the charges. Even during a trial, the judges and juries have wide discretion in most cases to adjust the punishment to the individual situation. It is in the enforcement and judicial stages that laws and punishments can be made flexible to allow justice to be served.

In conclusion, without fast and hard rules of law, a society cannot be expected to be able to comply with those laws. Certain standards for enforcement and judgment must of course be followed, but with a certain amount of discretion allowed to make sure that, although justice is blind, it is not stupid.

(622 words)

參考譯文

法律不應是一成不變的。反之，法律應該是靈活的，以便考慮到不同的環(huán)境、不同的時代和不同的地域

法律的本質功用是給被實施法律的民眾帶來穩(wěn)定和秩序。為了使一個法律體系對社會產(chǎn)生作用，這個體系的法律必須是可被人知曉的，公平的，可以在民眾當中平等地實施的。不知曉法律，則守法是不可能的;法律不相對固定，則人們知曉法律是不可能的。作為一個體系的法治不僅需要書面的法律條文，而且需要實施法律及判決那些被控告違法之人的機構和人員。在執(zhí)法和裁決的階段，法律可以根據(jù)特殊的環(huán)境更具變通性。

在最初的時期，隨著文明的發(fā)展，法律變得十分必要。已知的最早的一套法律是Urukagina法典，公元前2350年出自美索不達米亞歷代國王。這就是已知的最早法律，它使普通公民了解什么樣的行為將受到懲處以及違反法律將被處以什么樣的刑罰。從那以后，人類社會一直努力通過各種條文完善法律體系，例如十誡、大憲章、美國憲法以及最近國際貿(mào)易組織的國際貿(mào)易協(xié)定等。盡管這些條文相隔幾百年，但是有一點是共同的，這就是，它們都是作為法律條文形諸文字而且是相對固定和不變的。這就允許社會成員知曉他們應該怎樣行為以及在大多情況下他們在某個特定的政府體制里擁有何種權利。

再者，這些形諸文字的法律文件表明，法律作為表現(xiàn)公平的一般原則必須是易于令人知曉的，而且至少在理論上是平等地適用于各個階層的民眾的。倘若法律沒有形諸文字，那些守法遵律的人不能了解它們，那么我們常說的"對法律無知并不是借口"就不能成立。如果沒有形諸文字并公開發(fā)表的法律，"對法律無知"就能成為一個借口，因為一個人就沒有辦法知曉法律所要求的是什么。另外，法律也需要是固定和穩(wěn)定的，這樣它們就可以平等地(在理論上)應用于每一個人。經(jīng)常變化--尤其為了適應特殊的環(huán)境、時期和區(qū)域而做出的變化--將會導致產(chǎn)生一個無法操作的法律體系。沒有人能夠知曉從法律中期待什么，因為沒有人知曉在某個日子或在某種情況下法律會變成什么樣子。

然而在現(xiàn)實生活中，法律在某些情況下，在某些地區(qū)和某些時期是可以變通的。盡管形諸文字的法律條文必須是固定的，且?guī)缀跏遣蛔兊?，但是?zhí)法的人員以及裁決那些違法之人的人員具有某種程度的法定酌處權，以保證正義得到申張。一位執(zhí)法的警員根據(jù)某個特殊的情況決定執(zhí)行逮捕還是口頭警告。一旦提起公訴，公訴人可以決定是起訴這個違法事件還是撤消公訴。甚至在審判期間，法官和陪審團在大多數(shù)情況下具有很大的酌處權，針對個別情形對懲處進行調(diào)整。正是在執(zhí)法和司法階段，法律和量刑可以靈活變通以保證正義得到申張。

總之，沒有牢固且嚴厲的法律條文，一個社會群體就不可能指望能夠遵法守律。當然，進行執(zhí)法和審判的某些準則是必須要遵奉的，但是那必須是允許有一定的酌處權以保證公正實施得不愚蠢，盡管公正的原則是不分你我的。