民元開國期間憲法用語與其翻譯問題試探

中國歷史各代皆注重制定律典，傳統律例之發展，除了理論系統已臻成熟，其立法技術亦已自成一格，燦然完備。然而，古來中國法律思想中並無與近代憲法相當之概念，民國肇建之欲仿行西方民主憲法，不論在理論上，或在立法技術上，整個過程自是問題叢生。自1905年日俄戰爭結束以來，日本的立憲成就便是中國官民豔羨之目標。1912年民國創建前後，日本對中國的影響力更達到了高潮。當時，南京臨時臨時參議院制定〈臨時約法〉，其依據的憲政原理雖然淵源於西洋，但是所需要的憲政知識卻主要係經由日本而傳來；臨時參議院制定憲法所採取之條文，因此常係直接翻譯援用自日本法典。然而，因為於憲法學理尚非極熟稔，又因立法及翻譯技術之煩難，制定之基本法典中乃出現陌生難解的憲政名詞，及寓意流變的回饋漢字；尤其於參考日本法條並進行翻譯時，亦可能產生模糊，甚至發生重要錯誤。本文擬以法律繼受的概念，依據比較憲法的學理，循文本參核的途徑，對於立法技術上的法律用語以及翻譯問題進行初步的探討與整理。

關鍵字

辛亥革命；臨時約法；憲法繼受；法律用語

並列摘要

From the imperial ages on, China had been developing a legal system of herself. After the victory in the 1911 Revolution (Xinhai Revolution), the old empire was toppled and a new republic set up. It was the first time China made up her mind to fetch a democratic constitution. When the revolutionist forces seized Nanking, they established a new government based on ”the Organizational Law of the Provisional Government”. As this fundamental law was too simple and crude for further applications, it had then been revised and reformed into ”the Draft of the Provisional Constitution of the Great ROC” firstly, and to ”the Provisional Constitution of the Republic of China” further. After that, the governmental system had been improved and the articles about civil rights completed. But, as the full legal revision or a constitutional reception was unprecedented, it had brought about numerous complicated problems. By probing original text, the middle draft and the related resolutions in the constitution-making procedure, this paper purported to study the new legal terms and translational problems during the founding period of the ROC.