Lesson Four：Judicial System 司法系统.docxVIP

Lesson Four：Judicial System 司法系统Part One： Courts第一部分 法院There are fifty-two separate court systems in the United States. 美国共有五十二个独立的法院系统。Each state, as well as the District of Columbia, has its own fully developed, independent system of courts and there is a separate federal court system.哥伦比亚特区以及每一个州都有其自己非常发达和独立的法院系统，另外还有一个独立的联邦法院系统。The federal courts are not superior to the state courts; they are an independent, coordinate system authorized by the United States Constitution, Art. Ⅲ,§2, to handle matters of particular federal interest.联邦法院并不高于州法院；它们是由美国宪法第3 条第2 款授权的一个处理特定联邦利益的独立的并列存在的系统。The presence of two parallel court systems often raises questions concerning the relationship of the state and federal systems, presenting important issues of federalism.存在两套平行的法院系统经常会产生关于州和联邦系统的关系问题，这是联邦主义的重要问题。The United States Supreme Court, composed of nine justices, sits as the final and controlling voice over all these systems.由九位大法官组成的美国最高法院位于所有这些系统之上，具有最终的和支配性的发言权。Although a few states, such as Nebraska, have a two-tiered system, most states, as well as the federal courts, are based on a three-tiered model.尽管不少州如内布拉斯加有一个两级体制，而联邦法院和大多数州都是三级模式。That means that for any litigant there will be the opportunity to plead his case before a trial court and then, should he lose, there are two levels of appeal at which he ultimately may succeed.这意味着对于任何诉讼人，都有机会将其案件提交到审判法院，如果他败诉了，那么还有两个级别的上诉的权利，而他最终有可能在上诉中胜诉。For example, in the federal system the trial court is the United States District Court, of which there is at least one in every state.比如，在联邦系统内，受理法院是美国地区法院，每个州都至少有一个审判法院。Many larger states are divided into two, three or even four judicial districts, depending on population, geography and caseload.许多大的州根据人口、地理以及待处理案件数量等因素划分为两个、三个甚至四个司法管辖区。There are ninety-four districts in the United States and each district court has one judge, or more commonly two or more.美国共有94 个地区，而每一个地区法院有一个或者（通常）有两个以上法官。After an adverse judgment in the district court, a litigant may appeal to the United States Cour