商务合同模板英文

2009年2月第12卷·第1期宿州教育学院学报

【摘要】商务合同用语属半法律性语言，它要求用词准确、正式、严谨。依据对典型实例的分析，从书卷词语，专业术语，古体词，外来词，词语并列及模糊限制词等方面论述商务合同英语在词汇层次方面所体现出来的文体特征，对实际写作具有一定的指导意义。【关键词】商务合同英语词汇特征严谨性【中图分类号】H319【文献标识码】A【文章编号】1009－8534（2009）01－0122－05

*[收稿日期]2008－12－20[作者简介]董乐（1982－），女，安徽宿州人，宿州职业技术学院助教。一、Introduction：EnglishforbusinesscontractanditsgenreAcontractinContractLawreferstoanagreementes-tablishing，modifyingandterminatingthecivilrightsandobligationsbetweensubjectsofequalfooting，thatis，be-tweennaturalpersons，legalpersonsorotherorganizations．Businesscontractisacontractwithanaturalpersonoralegalpersonreachesaccordingtocertainlegalprocedureinordertorealizecertainbusinesspurpose．Ithasbindingoneachparty．Englishforbusinesscontractisakindofstylisticformatformedwithcontinuousdevelopmentofgoodsproduc-tionandincreasingfrequencyoftraderelations，itisakindofwrittenlanguagewhichiswidelyusedinbusinesscon-tract，agreement，L／G，bond．Businesscontractisalegaldocumentwhichissignedinbusinessactivities，therefore，ithasbothcharactersofbusinessEnglishandlegalEnglish．MartinJoosputforwardfivestylesintermsofthescaleofformality：frozenstyle，formalstyle，consultativestyle，casu-alstyleandintimatestyle．Interpersonalpurposeisamajorfactorinforminglanguagescope，differentcommunicationpurposesrequiredifferentstyles．Englishforbusinesscontractbelongstofrozenstyle：themostformalleveloflanguage，whichisusedonpublic，seriousoccasionsorintheformalwrittenlanguage．二、LexicalcharacteristicsFromtheangleoflinguistics，lawlanguageisliketech-nicalterms，businessterms，belongstoonestyle，exactlyspeaking，registerorprofessionaljargon，thusEnglishforbusinesscontractshouldbelongtooneofregisters．Therea-sonwhylawlanguageexistsisthatithasseveralcharacter-isticsasprecision，formalityandambiguity．Precisionistheintrinsicnatureoflawlanguage．“Sosomeonesaysprecisionislifelineoflawlanguage．”Onedistinctcharacterlawlan-guageisdifferentfromliterature，technology，newsbroad-cast，opera，advertisingisitsformality，formalitybeingde-terminedbycommunicationfunctionoflawlanguage．An-otherdistinctcharacteriscompactness．Englishforbusinesscontractbelongstosemi－lawlanguage，soithascharacteris-ticsofprecision，formality，compactness．ThepurposeEng-lishforbusinesscontractpursueisnotlanguage’sartisticbeauty，butlogic’saccuracyandcompactness，expression’sformalityandlogic’slucidityandorderliness．Theuseoflit-erarywords，technicalterms，archaism，loanword，juxtaposition，andhedgesembodiesstylisticcharacteristicsEnglishforbusi-nesscontractongradationoflexicon．Thesecharacteristicsarecloselyrelatedtonatureofcontractandhavecloserelationswithwritingofeveryclauseofcontract．1．Formalterms，amassuseofliterarywordsorlearnedwordsEnglishforbusinesscontractmakesdirectandclearspecificationsforexactmeaningandscopeofeachparty，thewordingmustbecompact，frozen，formalanddoesn’tbring商务合同英语的词汇特征董乐（宿州职业技术学院安徽·宿州234101）122第12卷·第1期2009年2月宿州教育学院学报JournalofSuzhouEducationInstituteVol.12，No.1Feb.2009individualemotionalhint．Wecanseethispointfromthewideuseof“small”incontract．“Shall”expressesobligationthepartyneedtobearorstipulationtheymustdo，havingthemeaningof“should”，“must”．Hereisanexample：TheBoardmeetingshallbecalledandpresidedoverbythechairman．Shouldthechairmanbeabsent，thevice－chair-manshall，callandpresideovertheboardmeeting．Inthissentence，if“shall”isreplacedby“should”or“must”，themeaningiscompletelydifferent．“Shall”expressesmandatoryobligation．LatinatewordsareoftenusedtoreplacegeneralEnglishvocabulary．Wecallthemliterarywordsorlearnedwords．Forexample：Thefirstboardmeetingshallbeconvenedwithinonemonthaftertheissuanceofthecompany’sbusinesslicense．Inthissentence，“called”and“convened”havethesamemeaning，buttheformerisreplacedbythelatter，“con-vened”ismoreformalthan“called”．Besides，thecomplicateprepositionphrasesareusedtoreplacesimpleprepositionandconjunctions．Forexample：Theparticipantsinthejointventureshallcommencediscussionwithregardtotheextensionoftheperiodofexis-tenceoftheventureandintheeventoftheiragreeinguponsuchextension，theyshallrecordsuchagreementinawrit-tendocumentsignedbyallofthemnotlaterthanthreeyearspriortotheexpiryofthecurrentperiod．Inthissentence，weuse“withregardto”，“intheeventof”and“priorto”respectivelytoreplace“about”，“incaseof”and“before”．Anumberofphrasesandidiomsareusedincontracts，buttheymustbeformalwords．Afewofexam-plesareusedbelow：“根据”，“按照”weshoulduse“inaccordancewith”toin-steadof“accordingto”，because“accordingto”isinformalandisoftenusedinoralEnglish．“因为”weuse“byvirtueof”in-steadof“dueto”，“becauseof”isseldomused．“财务年度末”weuse“atthecloseofthefiscalyear”insteadof“intheendofthefiscalyear”“事实上”use“ineffect”insteadof“infact”．“停止做”use“ceasetodo”insteadof“stoptodo”．Itisobviouslyinappropriatetouseslanginfrozenstyle，itcan’tstrengthenexpressioneffect，onthecontrary，itmakesthelanguagefunnyandridiculous．Ofcourse，thechoiceofformalnessandinformalityisrelative，nodifferenceofsuperi-orityorinferiority，allmustdependonconcreteoccasions．Understandingthedifferencebetweenwordsandliterarywordsinstylisticgenrehelpsrealizelanguagecommunica-tion’sappropriatenessandproperness．2．AmassuseoftechnicaltermsTechnicaltermspossessbrightstylisticcharacters．Themeaningisaccurate，unique，clear．Inordertodescribeeachtradelinkandrelevantdocuments，manybusinesstechnicaltermsappearinbusinesscontract．Hereisanexample：Withinthevalidityperiodofcontract，licenseshallnotdiscloseordivulgeknow－howtoanythirdpartywithoutpriorwrittenconsentoflicensor．Inthissentence，“know－how”isabusinesstechnicalterm，itreferstocharteredproducts’production，use，salesandnon－charteredproducts’alltechnicaldata，design，techni-calstandard，productionprogram，descriptivepaper，otherdata．Contractdocumentisalegaldocumentwhichissignedandobeyedbybothparties，thereforethelanguageofcon-tractshouldembodydefinitiveness．OnecharacterofEnglishcontractisshowinginusingtechnicalterms．Besides，inor-dertogiveanaccuratedescriptionofeachparty’srightandobligation，anumberoflegaltermsareused．Inanarrowsense，itreferstospecialtermswhichappearinlegaldocu-mentsinmostcases，thenumberisnotlarge．Forexample；imputednegligenc（转嫁的过失责任）．Thiskindoflegaltermsaretransferredindependentofthepublic’sunderstandingoracceptance，itisindemnityforlanguage’saccurateexpres-sion，itisauniquephenomenon．However，legalterms，inabroadsense，referstocommonwordswhichareendowedwithspecificlegalmeaninginalegalstyle．Forexample：action（诉讼），party（当事人），financialresponsibility（经济责任，指违约责任，具体可指“赔偿损失”、“支付违约金”和“支付迟延支付金额的利息”）．ItcanbeseenthatthesewordsarecommonineverydayEnglish，buthavespecializedlegalmeanings．Thefollowingiscontractclauseaboutarbitrationoneimportcompanyandexportersigned，thebracketedpartsarecommonlegaltech-nicalterms．Alldisputesinconnectionwiththiscontractortheexe-cutionthereofshallbeamicablysettledthroughnegotiation．Incasenosettlementcanbereachedbetweenthetwopar-ties，thecaseunderdisputesshallbesubmittedtotheFor-eignTradeArbitrationCommissionoftheChinaCouncilforthePromotionofInternationalTradeforarbitratio（仲裁），arbi-trationshalltakeplaceinBeijing，Chinaandshallbeexe-cutedinaccordancewiththeProvisionalRulesofProcedures（仲裁程序）ofthesaidcommission，andthedecision（终局裁决）madebythecommissionshallbeacceptedasfinal（）andbindinguponbothparties．ItcanbeseenthatwordingofEnglishforbusinesscontracthasthecharacteroftechnicalterms．Besides，tech-nicaltermsaredifferentfromjargon，jargonoftenhavestylisticcolorofinformalwords，howevertechnicaltermsbe-longtoformalwords．Specialphrasessuchas“whereas，inwitnesswhereof，knowallmenbythesepresents”oftenap-pearincontract．Thesewordsorphrasesareseldomusedindailycommunication．Forexample：123

买 卖 合 同

买受方： 合同编号：2011-0

合同签订地：

出卖方: 合同签约时间：2010.

根据《中华人民共和国合同法》及相关法律、法规的有关规定，经双方平等自愿、友好协商达成如下协议。

一、产品名称、规格型号、商标、数量及价款（含税，税率17%）：

序号 物料编码 产品名称

规格型号 商标 含税到厂价

(元) 计量

单位 备注

1 供货清单见附页 件

2

3

二、产品技术标准／及质量要求

（一）技术标准

出卖方须按国家标准： 、行业标准： 、买受方企业标准： 、双方共同认可的标准/协议： 进行供货。如双方未做约定或约定不明确的，以本协议项下产品的使用目的和买受方的解释为准。

（二）质量要求

出卖方供货的产品必须符合双方签订的《产品质量保证协议》或《技术协议》中的相关约定，出卖方保证供货的产品在买受方主机产品“三包”期以内无任何瑕疵或缺陷，并以此作为评审质量级别的依据（买受方原因除外）。

（三）产品标志

出卖方供货的产品，要具有买受方认可的生产厂家的标志。因产品体积太小无法标注的，则必须经买受方同意后，使用双方共同认可的符号，以区分不同的生产厂家。

三、包装、运输要求及费用承担

1、产品包装必须符合国家标准 、行业标准 、买受方企业标准 ；买受方无特别要求的，适用商业惯例。出卖方应当保证产品的包装能够使产品安全的运输和储存，包装费用由出卖方负担。

2、产品由出卖方转移至买受方的运输责任及费用由出卖方承担，出卖方应制做相应的

工位器具进行运输，以保证产品在转运过程中的实物状态不被损毁。

合 同

CONTRACT

日期： 合同号码：

Date: Contract No.:

买 方： (The Buyers) 卖方： (The Sellers)

兹经买卖双方同意按照以下条款由买方购进，卖方售出以下商品：

This contract is made by and between the Buyers and the Sellers; whereby the

Buyers agree to buy and the Sellers agree to sell the under-mentioned goods

subject to the terms and conditions as stipulated hereinafter:

(1) 商品名称:

Name of Commodity：

(2) 数 量：

Quantity:

(3) 单 价：

Unit price:

(4) 总 值：

Total Value:

(5) 包 装：

Packing:

(6) 生产国别：

Country of Origin :

(7) 支付条款：

Terms of Payment:

(8) 保 险：

Insurance:

(9) 装运期限：

Time of Shipment:

(10) 起 运 港：

Port of Lading: (11) 目 的 港：

Port of Destination:

(12)索赔：在货到目的口岸45天内如发现货物品质，规格和数量与合同不符，除属保险公司或船方责任外，买方有权凭中国商检出具的检验证书或有关文件向卖方索赔换货或赔款。

Claims:

Within 45 days after the arrival of the goods at the destination, should the

SALES CONTRACT

NO.:

DATE：

THE SELLER：

THE BUYER：

THE AGENT：

THIS CONTRACT IS MADE BY AND BETWEEN THE SELLERS AND THE BUYERS. WHERE BY THE SELLERS AGREE

TO SELL AND THE BUYERS AGREE TO BUY THE UNDER MENTIONED GOODS ACCORDING TO THE TERMS AND

CONDITIONS STIPULATED BELOW AND OVERLEAF：

（1）NAME OF COMMODITY

AND SPECIFICATION （2）QUANTITY （3）UNIT PRICE （4）TOTAL AMOUNT

KGS USD /KG

CIF USD

TTL：

TTL AMOUNT：SAY US DOLLARS

NOTE: ALL THE PRODUCTS UNDER THE CONTRACT ARE ONLY USED FOR MANUFACTURING AND SELLING AS

GENERAL CHEMICAL PRODUCTS. ANY PRODUCTS PROTECTED BY VALID PATENTS ARE NOT OFFERED FOR SALE

IN COUNTRIES, WHERE THE SALE OF SUCH PRODUCTS CONSTITUTES A PATENT INFRINGEMENT. AS IT IS

IMPOSSIBLE FOR SELLER TO BE INFORMED ABOUT THE PATENT SITUATION IN ALL COUNTRIES, THE LIABILITY

FOR PATENT INFRINGEMENT IS EXCLUSIVELY TO BE UNDERSTOOD AS BUYER'S RISK.