Lesson One Modern Legal Education1 French lawyers are trained in universities, and English barristers, on the other hand, enter the profession as members of one of four Inns of Court, which are combinations of a law school and professional organization法国律师是在大学里培养出来的，而英国的大律师是作为四大律师学院之一的成员进入律师这一行的，这些律师学院是由法学院和专业组织组成的。
2 Today, American legal education is almost uniformly postgraduate professional education at a formal law school, usually affiliated with a university. And a degree from an ap proved law school is common requirement for admission to the bar, although the apprenticeship route is still open, theoretically, in a number of states.今天，美国的法律教育几乎统一都是在正式的法学院进行大学后职业教育，这所法学院通常隶属于一个大学。
得到经美国律师协会批准的法学院的学位是进入律师行业的通常要求，尽管在理论上许多州仍允许存在经过学徒期成为律师这样的路径3 State university law school tend to concentrate on thetraditional law courses: contracts, torts, constitutional law, procedure, property, wills, trust and estates, corporation, partnerships, agency, international law, maritime law, labor law, administrative law.州立大学法学院往往注重传统课程：合同法，宪法，程序法，财产，遗嘱，信托和财产，公司，合伙，代理，国际法，海商法，劳动法，行政法。
4 One reason lawyers are found in so many of the most sensitive spots in American political and economic life is simply that their legal education has exposed them to a broader range of public problems than any other graduate program.在美国政治经济生活中这么多最敏感的职位上都能发现律师的一个原因只是由于他们的法律教育使他们比其他专业的毕业生更广泛的接触到社会问题。
5 More than ever before, law school today offer you a opportunity to apply your legal skills as you require them, to use what you learn as you learn it. School all over the country now have programs under which you can spend time while in law school working for the city’s legal aid department or the public defender organization. You are also given opportunitiesto work with governmental agencies in drafting legislation, codes and regulations.今天的法学院比以前能提供更多机会让你在获得法律技能的时候能应用它们，当你在学习的时候就能用你所学。
全国各地的法学院都有这样的项目，即你可以在法学院读书的时候就为城市的法律援助部门和公设律师组织工作。
你还有机会与政府的代理机构一起起草法律法规和规范。
6 Most of our law schools do not try to teach you the “law”of one state or another; they concentrate on teaching you legal principles, legal reasoning and something of the philosophy of law.我们的大多数法学院并不教你某一个州或另一个州的法律，他们注重教你法律原则，法律推理和一些法律哲学。
7 Minor troubles such as traffic violations or fines for breaking windows during a spree at college will not be held against you. But a conviction for having committed a felony will in all likelihood prevent your being admitted to practice, as will membership in any subversive group or organization, unless you can explain away as something you did when you were youngand foolish and show that you have long since resigned.一些较小的麻烦比如违反交通或因在大学里的一次狂欢中打碎窗户而被罚款都不会阻碍你成为律师，但是因犯重罪而被宣告有罪的话就完全不可能成为律师了，同样的如果你是任何破坏性集团或组织的成员的话也不可能成为律师，除非你能解释清楚你当年的所作所为是因为年少无知而犯的错误并且表明你已经退出很久了。
8 Judges in the United States, with exceptions in some minor judiciary, are selected from the ranks of lawyers. In England they are chosen from the select group of barristers known as Queen ’s Counsel.美国的法官，除了一些级别较低的法官外，都是从律师中选出来的。
在英国法官是从出庭律师当中精选出来的御用大律师中选出来的9 The diverse training and careers of common ---and civil ---law judges is significant. Similar backgrounds and experience provide a certain feeling of fellowship and mutual sympathy between the common-law bench and bar.普通法系和大陆法系法官的截然不同的培训和职业生涯的区别是非常重要的。
相同的背景和经历使普通法系的法官和律师之间有某种伙伴感情，这使他们能惺惺相惜10 The prestige of the English and American judiciary is greater than that of their civil-law counter-part, partly because of the general feeling that only the better lawyers get judicial posts.英美国家的法官威望要比大陆法系国家的法官威望更高，部分是因为一般觉得只有好的律师才能做法官的缘故吧。
Lesson Two Bases of the Legal SystemⅠKey sentence:1 The law is the set of rules by which the citizens of a country regulate their conduct in relation to their fellow citizens and to the State.法律是这样的一套规范，即用它来规范一国公民的行为，调整公民与其他公民和国家的关系2 In the United Kingdom there is no written set of rules; whether an action is recognized as being in conformity with the law is determined by a consideration of the authorities. These may be statutes, statements by legal experts, or reports of decided cases. If none of these fits the circumstances, the judge makes hisdecision by analogy with the past decisions made in somewhat similar circumstances.在英国没有成文的成套法律规范，某个行为是否符合法律规定要由权威来认定。
这些权威可能是成文法规，法律专家的评述，或者即判案例的报告。
如果以上都不能确定，法官会根据过去相似情况的判例来作出判决。
3 The base of the legal system , in historical order, are: common law; case law; statute law.法律制度的基础，按历史顺序是：普通法，判例法，成文法4 The essence of common law is that it grew through judicial decisions recorded by lawyers and is not based on express enactment. It is administered by examination of the decisions made in previous cases of the same kind, known as “precedents”, and arrival at a commonsense decision on that basis.普通法的精髓在于它是随着律师所记录的司法判决而发展起来的，而不是建立在明示的制定法的基础上的。
