Terms for the Subjects of Acts in Law in Chinese Legal Language

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to analyze the terms of the subjects of acts in law in Chinese legal language. Morphologically, Chinese is an isolating language. It also uses a non‑alphabetic writing system. Creating the terms of the subjects of acts in law is governed by fairly strict language rules; however, there are numerous exceptions that may be misleading for the translator. These terms are commonly used, among others, in the civil law contracts and therefore are an important element of the legal language, also used by non-specialists (e.g. parties to the contract). The analysis of particular terms has allowed to identify the aforementioned general rules in the legal language, as well as to find some exceptions. The research material included the civil law acts (General Principles of Civil Law of the PRC, new General Provisions of Civil Law of the PRC, the Contract Law, and the Inheritance Law – in modern Chinese law, as yet, no unified civil code has been adopted, therefore its role is played by the general law and the so-called satellite laws). The study is complemented by the comparison of the Chinese legal terms and their suggested Polish equivalents, which can be a valuable help for translators.