The Chinese expression “罪刑法定” can be translated into the English “No crime without law” and other terms. A translation guide for various contexts is provided below.
Contexts
Criminal Law
Translation Equivalents
- No crime without law
- Nullum crimen sine lege
Evidence for Translation Approach
According to National People’s Congress criminal law manual :
“罪刑法定:“法律明文规定为犯罪行为的，依照法律定罪处刑；法律没有明文规定为犯罪行为的，不得定罪处刑。”这一规定，就是通常所说的“罪刑法定”原则。具体说，只有法律将某一种行为明文规定为犯罪的，才能对这种行为定罪。”
According to Cornell Legal Information Institute Legal Encyclopedia:
“Nullum crimen sine lege is latin for “no crime without law.” Nullum crimen sine lege is the principle in criminal law and international criminal law that a person cannot or should not face criminal punishment except for an act that was criminalized by law before he/she performed the act. ”
Analysis
Chinese lacks the suffix -ment and therefore uses a two-word expression with an ambiguous noun. A word-for-word translation would call this “infringing behaviors.” Legal English with more systematic infringement refer to a practice of infringement, but in general simply infringement.
The Chinese legal terminology here is a fixed term with no morphological variation in different contexts, much like how the Latin was previously used. In contemporary English law cases, judges citing this doctrine have the flexibility to utilize morphological variances and therefore some differences in English expression may be necessary in different use cases. A good example of the wide morphological variation in English is found in legal treatises cited in Bruce v. State(317 Md. 642 (1989): “Basic to our theory of justice is the principle that there can be no punishment for harmful conduct unless it was so provided by some law in existence at the time.” Clark & Marshall, A treatise on the Law of Crimes 11 (7th ed. 1967). Consult reference texts similar to the Chinese to be translated to determine which of the numerous embodiments of the Latin maxim is most appropriate to your use case.