《大清律例》英譯本有關篇名及「十惡」翻譯的比較

A Comparison on the English Translations of Main Divisions and “Ten Abominations” in The Great Qing Code

中華帝國封建制度最後一部法典《大清律例》的英譯本誕生於英國（1810）。英國政治家斯當東（George Thomas Staunton，1781-1859）克服清末對於外國人的法律知識掌控，同時鑽研漢學完成此部鉅作。此後又有根據斯當東譯本的法文、西班牙文、義大利文版本，以及1994年美國William Jones（譯：鐘威廉或鐘斯）的英文譯本。據傳清末香港殖民地的英國法官手持斯當東的譯作處理當地的司法事務，間接視此譯作為西方英語世界對中國封建制度及大清帝國法律的一大解密 。《大清律例》計七篇分47卷，共有律文436條，以及律文之後所附的條例，律文大體沿襲自《大明律》，固定於乾隆年間，例文則根據實際辦案每年不斷增修，整體上於是漸與《大明律》不同。本論文乃聚焦於斯當東及鐘威廉對於《大清律例》的七篇篇名及首篇〈名例律〉第二條有關「十惡」的翻譯，嘗試發現兩部譯作有意無意失蹤的意涵。後殖民主義理論家薩依德（Said）在其《東方學》（Orientalism）（1978）提出，西方國家自18世紀以來所建構的「東方學 」存在著權力、支配與霸權關係，真正的「東方」（the Orient）不存在於現實世界，只存在於西方人的意識之中，並透過知識生產不斷綿延。筆者透過第一手資料思考由西方翻譯《大清律例》的任何偏頗與失真，進而重新書寫二十一世紀法律界的「東方學」。

 

The first English translation of the last codified work of the Chinese feudal system, The Great Qing Code (Da Qing lüli), was completed in 1810 by the English politician George Thomas Staunton (1781-1859). Staunton accomplished such a daunting task while overcoming the barriers set by the Qing Empire. After Staunton’s work, there were many translations based on Staunton’s work, and even another English translation accomplished by American William Jones at the end of the twentieth century. The British judges of the Hong Kong colony in late Qing drew on Staunton’s translation in dealing with the local judicial cases. This translation undoubtedly represented a great decryption of the Chinese legal system in the Western English world. The Great Qing Code consists of 436 articles (lui) divided into 47 volumes in seven books as well as the accompanying examples of each law (li) under most of the lui. The lui itself generally followed the “Da Ming Law” and got established without modification in the Qianlong period. The examples were continuously updated according to real practice. The whole piece gradually got different in its overall content from the “Da Ming Law”. This researcher focuses on Staunton’s and William Jone’s translations of the seven main divisions as well as “Ten Abominations” in Book 1 of the first division and aims to find any loss of the original meaning in the two translations intentionally or unintentionally. Edward Said proposed in his famous work Orientalism (1978) that the “Orient” constructed by Western countries since the 18th century involves power and dominance, ant that the true “Orient” does not exist in the real world, but only in the consciousness of most westerners and strengthened through the reproduction of knowledge. This researcher hopes to use the first-hand information to reflect any bias of the English translation in the West, and then possibly re-write the legal “Orientalism” of the 21st century.