经济学人520:菩提 法律的长臂

　　Banyan¹
菩提
The long arms of the law
法律的长臂
Across Asia, judges are having too much say in politics
在亚洲，法官对政治施加了过多影响
AFTER nearly three years, Yingluck Shinawatra's stint² as prime minister of Thailand drew this week to its inevitable³ close. The end came not with the bang of a people-power revolution that at one point seemed likely to unseat her; nor with the muted rumble⁴ of tanks in a coup⁵ like the one that toppled her brother Thaksin from the same job in 2006; still less with the raucous⁶ clamour of a contested election, though one had been called for July 20th. Rather, it petered out in the whimper of a court order. Not for the first time the Thai judiciary has intervened to solve a problem that a broken political system could not fix. And not for the first time its intervention⁷ was to the Shinawatras' detriment⁸.
坚持了约三年之后，英拉·西那瓦的总理岁月也将在本周不可避免地走向终结。然而最终让她认输的，既非一度动摇她职位的人民力量革命的爆发，也非在2006年曾迫使英拉的哥哥他信去职的坦克的低吼与政变。一场具有争议的选举也在民众喧嚷的要求下被推迟到了6月20日，不过英拉的去职与之也关系不大。最终这个故事在法庭判令与阵阵呜咽中渐渐落幕。对于泰国司法来说，这不是第一次介入解决那些由破碎的政治体制无法解决的问题。而西那瓦家族吃司法介入的亏，也同样不是第一次了。
菩提.jpg
However, Thailand is not alone in fighting political battles with legal weapons. A number of Malaysian opposition⁹ politicians find themselves in legal trouble, with potentially serious consequences. In Myanmar the opposition is planning demonstrations¹⁰ this month to demand reform to a constitution that places legal obstacles in the way of the country's democratisation, and of the right of Aung San Suu Kyi, the opposition leader, to stand in a presidential election she would surely win. Even in China a purge¹¹ of potential opponents of Xi Jinping, the president and party leader, takes the form of a series of prosecutions¹² for corruption¹³. More hopefully, in Pakistan, Pervez Musharraf, a former army chief and military dictator, is fighting a charge of treason, in a trial testing the army's willingness to cede¹⁴ privileges and immunity¹⁵ to an elected civilian¹⁶ government.
不过，利用法律武器进行政治斗争，可不仅仅是泰国一家。马来西亚的一些反对派政治家如今正深陷法律麻烦，可能会遭遇严重的后果。缅甸的反对派正在计划在本月展开一场示威游行，要求对一项妨碍国家民主化的宪法进行改革，并为反对派领袖昂山素季争取参加总统大选的权利。只要能参加选举，她就一定能获胜。即便是中国国家主席和党总书记习的清除潜在敌手行动中，也采取了对腐败提起公诉的形式。巴基斯坦则看来更有希望，前陆军参谋长，军事独裁者佩尔韦兹·穆沙拉夫正在与叛国罪的指控相斗争，这是一次对军方限制特权、不干预民选文职政府之意愿的检验。
Various trends are at work. One, evident in India and Pakistan, is an enduring tradition of activism by a robustly¹⁷ independent judiciary. Often this has made the courts popular by comparison with the perceived lethargy, incompetence¹⁸ or malice¹⁹ of politicians. Public-interest litigation and its ability to make rulings suo moto (off its own bat) have encouraged India's Supreme²⁰ Court to meddle²¹ in environmental and social policy. It has forced Delhi's buses, taxis and tuk-tuks to convert to compressed natural gas from dirtier fuels and has taken charge of India's trees. The court's green interests might please liberals, but they rued²² a ruling last December that overturned a Delhi High Court decision lifting a ban on homosexuality. In Pakistan the courts helped bring down Mr Musharraf, but then proceeded to hound his civilian successor, Asif Ali Zardari, through his five-year term.
这其中包含了很多不同的趋势。在印度与巴基斯坦，坚定又独立的司法部门有悠久的激进做派传统。相对于公众心目中陈腐，无能，又阴险的政治家，法院的这一形象更受民众欢迎。公益起诉的资格与独立作出裁决的能力使得印度最高法院乐于干预环境与社会政策。它已经让德里的巴士、的士、嘟嘟车都抛弃了落后的燃料，换上液化天然气，并且接管了全印度的树木。法院的绿色诉求或许能取悦自由派，不过他们也为去年十二月印度最高法院推翻了德里高级法院给同性恋禁令松绑的裁决而感到惋惜。巴基斯坦的法院正对打倒穆沙拉夫有功，不过随后的五年总统任期中，他们又盯上了穆沙拉夫那位文职的总统继任者，阿西夫·阿里·扎尔达里。
Elsewhere, however, governments use the law as an instrument of political control. That is most obvious in one-party dictatorships such as China and Vietnam. But the suspicion of judicial²³ persecution²⁴ lingers even in countries whose governments present themselves as relatively²⁵ liberal—such as Malaysia's, which has lifted some repressive colonial-era legislation. Yet, after a close general election last year, a number of opposition politicians face charges for sedition²⁶ or for breaches²⁷ of the law on assembly. The most serious case has nothing to do with politics. It is the five-year sentence on a charge of sodomy against which Anwar Ibrahim, the leader of the opposition, is appealing.
不过在其他地方，政府把法律当做了实施政治控制的工具。这在中国越南之类的一党专政国家尤为明显。不过，即使那些政府自我标榜为相对自由的国家，也无法摆脱司法迫害的嫌疑——譬如马拉西亚政府就推行了一些殖民地时代的镇压性法律。去年那场势均力敌的大选结束后，就有一些反对派政治家收到了煽动与妨碍法律制定的指控。其中最严重的案例甚至与政治都没有关系。反对党领导人安华·易卜拉欣被控鸡奸罪并最终被判刑五年，他表示将上诉。
When Barack Obama visited Malaysia last month, Najib Razak, the prime minister, stressed that the Anwar case was a judicial matter in which the government had no part. Yet it was the government's own appeal which led to Mr Anwar's earlier acquittal being overturned. He is the figurehead who unites a diverse opposition torn at present by disagreement over the plan of one of its components²⁸, an Islamic party, to introduce fierce hudud punishments, such as amputations, in Kelantan, a state it governs. His disappearance²⁹ into jail would be most damaging.
上个月巴拉克·奥巴马访问马来西亚时，现任总理纳吉·阿都拉萨强调了安华案只是一起司法事件，政府没有参与其中。但正是政府的压力使得早先对安华的无罪裁决被推翻。安华是将反对派团结在一起的精神领袖，如今反对派内部四分五裂，原因是其中一家伊斯兰政党计划在其治下的吉兰丹州引入可怕的固定刑惩罚，而各反对派政党对此意见不一。安华入狱将重创反对派联盟。
Thailand is illustrative of a third trend: for conservative judiciaries, when a time-honoured political dispensation changes, to find themselves, in effect, part of the opposition. Like much of the civil service, army and other pillars of Thailand's royalist establishment, the judiciary abhors³⁰ the Shinawatras' alleged³¹ corruption with a special intensity³² in part because it fears their popularity, and hence their ability to overturn the accustomed order. In the Maldives, too, the courts helped get rid of a popular leader in 2012. Mohamed Nasheed was the first directly elected president after a long dictatorship. He threatened to shake things up, but lost a power struggle with a judge.
泰国则代表了第三种趋势：保守的司法体制长久以来拥有超然的政治地位，但如今格局已渐渐改变，事实上司法部门已经成为了反对派的一部分。与公务员，军队，以及其他泰国保皇派主要群体一样，司法部门非常痛恨西那瓦家族的腐败。而且其中也有畏惧的成分。西那瓦家族拥有广泛的民众支持，进而有能力颠覆现有格局。同样在马尔代夫，法院也在2012年为除去一位广受欢迎的领导人出了一把力。穆罕默德·纳希德是这个国家历经长期独裁后的第一位直选总统。 他曾出言要改天换地，但在与司法的权斗中败下阵来。
The Singapore sting
新加坡之痛
The lesson drawn³³ from all this by authoritarian³⁴ ruling elites³⁵ facing pressure for reform is how important it is to have the courts on your side. Not only does it avoid awkward stand-offs; it helps foster the impression that you are moving towards “the rule of law”. So, in Sri Lanka, the government of Mahinda Rajapaksa early last year impeached³⁶ and sacked a troublesome chief justice. And in Cambodia laws now being considered would have the effect of emasculating judicial independence.
面临改革压力的独裁统治都学到了一课：把司法拉拢到自己一边非常重要。这不单能避开麻烦的制衡状态，更能营造一种正在走向的印象。所以在斯里兰卡，马欣达·拉贾帕克萨的政府就弹劾并解职了一位麻烦的首席大法官。而柬埔寨的现行法律也被认为具有削弱司法独立性的作用。
Cambodia's strongman, Hun Sen, is known to cast an envious³⁷ eye at an unlikely role model: Singapore. There, the ruling People's Action Party has been in power even longer than his own Cambodian People's Party (CPP). And it has managed this without resorting to the thuggery and coups³⁸ that have ensured the CPP's grip. Part of the PAP's secret is its use of the law. Strict defamation³⁹ and contempt-of-court laws inherited from the British were invoked⁴⁰ against foreign critics and domestic opponents, forcing some into bankruptcy⁴¹. Lee Kuan Yew⁴², the founding prime minister, whose son now holds that job, justified⁴³ this as necessary to protect Singapore's leaders' reputations, rather than as a way of hounding the opposition. But it had the same effect.
众所周知，柬埔寨政治强人洪森非常羡慕一位可能不是榜样的榜样：新加坡。新加坡的执政党人民行动党比洪森的柬埔寨人民党掌权时间更久。而且人民行动党并不依靠人民党那套为抓紧政权所施展的阴谋与政变。法律就是人民党的一种秘密武器。严苛的诽谤与藐视法庭法源自英国，被用来打击外国批评家与国内反对派，其中有些人因此破产。首任总理李光耀认为这能保护新加坡领导人的名誉，而不是用来追击反对派。其实效果都一样。
However, those in Cambodia and elsewhere make two mistakes when they see Singapore as a model of efficient authoritarianism⁴⁴ applied⁴⁵ in large measure through the legal system. One is that Singapore is an international city seen as under the rule of law. Its courts are respected, if not always the use the government has made of them. The other is that many Singaporeans are turning against the PAP, which is even trying to change its image.
柬埔寨等国视新加坡为依靠司法实施高效威权主义的榜样，不过他们犯了两个错。首先新加坡是一个法治的国际化城市。要是政府不总是私自动用司法力量，那司法是很受尊敬的。其次很多新加坡人正转而反对人民行动党，甚至人民行动党自己也在寻求改变形象。

1 banyan   

n.菩提树，榕树

参考例句：

• This huge banyan tree has a history of more than 400 years.这棵大榕树已经有四百多年的历史了。
• A large banyan tree may look like a forest.大型的榕树看起来象一片树林。

2 stint   

v.节省，限制，停止；n.舍不得化，节约，限制；连续不断的一段时间从事某件事

参考例句：

• He lavished money on his children without stint.他在孩子们身上花钱毫不吝惜。
• We hope that you will not stint your criticism.我们希望您不吝指教。

3 inevitable   

adj.不可避免的，必然发生的

参考例句：

• Mary was wearing her inevitable large hat.玛丽戴着她总是戴的那顶大帽子。
• The defeat had inevitable consequences for British policy.战败对英国政策不可避免地产生了影响。

4 rumble   

n.隆隆声；吵嚷；v.隆隆响；低沉地说

参考例句：

• I hear the rumble of thunder in the distance.我听到远处雷声隆隆。
• We could tell from the rumble of the thunder that rain was coming.我们根据雷的轰隆声可断定，天要下雨了。

5 coup   

n.政变；突然而成功的行动

参考例句：

• The monarch was ousted by a military coup.那君主被军事政变者废黜了。
• That government was overthrown in a military coup three years ago.那个政府在3年前的军事政变中被推翻。

6 raucous   

adj.(声音)沙哑的，粗糙的

参考例句：

• I heard sounds of raucous laughter upstairs.我听见楼上传来沙哑的笑声。
• They heard a bottle being smashed,then more raucous laughter.他们听见酒瓶摔碎的声音，然后是一阵更喧闹的笑声。

7 intervention   

n.介入，干涉，干预

参考例句：

• The government's intervention in this dispute will not help.政府对这场争论的干预不会起作用。
• Many people felt he would be hostile to the idea of foreign intervention.许多人觉得他会反对外来干预。

8 detriment   

n.损害；损害物，造成损害的根源

参考例句：

• Smoking is a detriment to one's health.吸烟危害健康。
• His lack of education is a serious detriment to his career.他的未受教育对他的事业是一种严重的妨碍。

9 opposition   

n.反对，敌对

参考例句：

• The party leader is facing opposition in his own backyard.该党领袖在自己的党內遇到了反对。
• The police tried to break down the prisoner's opposition.警察设法制住了那个囚犯的反抗。

10 demonstrations   

证明( demonstration的名词复数 )； 表明； 表达； 游行示威

参考例句：

• Lectures will be interspersed with practical demonstrations. 讲课中将不时插入实际示范。
• The new military government has banned strikes and demonstrations. 新的军人政府禁止罢工和示威活动。

11 purge   

n.整肃，清除，泻药，净化；vt.净化，清除，摆脱；vi.清除，通便，腹泻，变得清洁

参考例句：

• The new president carried out a purge of disloyal army officers.新总统对不忠诚的军官进行了清洗。
• The mayoral candidate has promised to purge the police department.市长候选人答应清洗警察部门。

12 prosecutions   

起诉( prosecution的名词复数 )； 原告； 实施； 从事

参考例句：

• It is the duty of the Attorney-General to institute prosecutions. 检察总长负责提起公诉。
• Since World War II, the government has been active in its antitrust prosecutions. 第二次世界大战以来，政府积极地进行着反对托拉斯的检举活动。 来自英汉非文学 - 政府文件

13 corruption   

n.腐败，堕落，贪污

参考例句：

• The people asked the government to hit out against corruption and theft.人民要求政府严惩贪污盗窃。
• The old man reviled against corruption.那老人痛斥了贪污舞弊。

14 cede   

v.割让，放弃

参考例句：

• The debater refused to cede the point to her opponent.辩论者拒绝向她的对手放弃其主张。
• Not because I'm proud.In fact,in front of you I cede all my pride.这不是因为骄傲，事实上我在你面前毫无骄傲可言。

15 immunity   

n.优惠；免除；豁免，豁免权

参考例句：

• The law gives public schools immunity from taxation.法律免除公立学校的纳税义务。
• He claims diplomatic immunity to avoid being arrested.他要求外交豁免以便避免被捕。

16 civilian   

adj.平民的，民用的，民众的

参考例句：

• There is no reliable information about civilian casualties.关于平民的伤亡还没有确凿的信息。
• He resigned his commission to take up a civilian job.他辞去军职而从事平民工作。

17 robustly   

adv.要用体力地，粗鲁地

参考例句：

• These three hormones also robustly stimulated thymidine incorporation and inhibited drug-induced apoptosis. 并且这三种激素有利于胸（腺嘧啶脱氧核）苷掺入和抑制药物诱导的细胞凋亡。 来自互联网
• The economy is still growing robustly, but inflation, It'seems, is back. 经济依然强劲增长，但是通胀似乎有所抬头。 来自互联网

18 incompetence   

n.不胜任，不称职

参考例句：

• He was dismissed for incompetence. 他因不称职而被解雇。
• She felt she had been made a scapegoat for her boss's incompetence. 她觉得，本是老板无能，但她却成了替罪羊。

19 malice   

n.恶意，怨恨，蓄意；[律]预谋

参考例句：

• I detected a suggestion of malice in his remarks.我觉察出他说的话略带恶意。
• There was a strong current of malice in many of his portraits.他的许多肖像画中都透着一股强烈的怨恨。

20 supreme   

adj.极度的，最重要的；至高的，最高的

参考例句：

• It was the supreme moment in his life.那是他一生中最重要的时刻。
• He handed up the indictment to the supreme court.他把起诉书送交最高法院。

21 meddle   

v.干预，干涉，插手

参考例句：

• I hope he doesn't try to meddle in my affairs.我希望他不来干预我的事情。
• Do not meddle in things that do not concern you.别参与和自己无关的事。

22 rued   

v.对…感到后悔( rue的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• He rued the day they had bought such a large house. 他懊悔他们买了这样大的一所房子。
• She rued the trip with him. 她后悔不该和他去旅行。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

23 judicial   

adj.司法的，法庭的，审判的，明断的，公正的

参考例句：

• He is a man with a judicial mind.他是个公正的人。
• Tom takes judicial proceedings against his father.汤姆对他的父亲正式提出诉讼。

24 persecution   

n. 迫害,烦扰

参考例句：

• He had fled from France at the time of the persecution. 他在大迫害时期逃离了法国。
• Their persecution only serves to arouse the opposition of the people. 他们的迫害只激起人民对他们的反抗。

25 relatively   

adv.比较...地，相对地

参考例句：

• The rabbit is a relatively recent introduction in Australia.兔子是相对较新引入澳大利亚的物种。
• The operation was relatively painless.手术相对来说不痛。

26 sedition   

n.煽动叛乱

参考例句：

• Government officials charged him with sedition.政府官员指控他煽动人们造反。
• His denial of sedition was a denial of violence.他对煽动叛乱的否定又是对暴力的否定。

27 breaches   

破坏( breach的名词复数 )； 破裂； 缺口； 违背

参考例句：

• He imposed heavy penalties for breaches of oath or pledges. 他对违反誓言和保证的行为给予严厉的惩罚。
• This renders all breaches of morality before marriage very uncommon. 这样一来，婚前败坏道德的事就少见了。

28 components   

（机器、设备等的）构成要素，零件，成分； 成分( component的名词复数 )； [物理化学]组分； [数学]分量； （混合物的）组成部分

参考例句：

• the components of a machine 机器部件
• Our chemistry teacher often reduces a compound to its components in lab. 在实验室中化学老师常把化合物分解为各种成分。

29 disappearance   

n.消失，消散，失踪

参考例句：

• He was hard put to it to explain her disappearance.他难以说明她为什么不见了。
• Her disappearance gave rise to the wildest rumours.她失踪一事引起了各种流言蜚语。

30 abhors   

v.憎恶( abhor的第三人称单数 )；（厌恶地）回避；拒绝；淘汰

参考例句：

• For the same reason, our party abhors the deification of an individual. 因为这样，我们党也厌弃对于个人的神化。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• She abhors cruelty to animals. 她憎恶虐待动物。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

31 alleged   

a.被指控的，嫌疑的

参考例句：

• It was alleged that he had taken bribes while in office. 他被指称在任时收受贿赂。
• alleged irregularities in the election campaign 被指称竞选运动中的不正当行为

32 intensity   

n.强烈，剧烈；强度；烈度

参考例句：

• I didn't realize the intensity of people's feelings on this issue.我没有意识到这一问题能引起群情激奋。
• The strike is growing in intensity.罢工日益加剧。

33 drawn   

v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的

参考例句：

• All the characters in the story are drawn from life.故事中的所有人物都取材于生活。
• Her gaze was drawn irresistibly to the scene outside.她的目光禁不住被外面的风景所吸引。

34 authoritarian   

n./adj.专制(的)，专制主义者，独裁主义者

参考例句：

• Foreign diplomats suspect him of authoritarian tendencies.各国外交官怀疑他有着独裁主义倾向。
• The authoritarian policy wasn't proved to be a success.独裁主义的政策证明并不成功。

35 elites   

精华( elite的名词复数 )； 精锐； 上层集团； （统称）掌权人物

参考例句：

• The elites are by their nature a factor contributing to underdevelopment. 这些上层人物天生是助长欠发达的因素。
• Elites always detest gifted and nimble outsiders. 社会名流对天赋聪明、多才多艺的局外人一向嫌恶。

36 impeached   

v.控告（某人）犯罪( impeach的过去式和过去分词 )；弹劾；对（某事物）怀疑；提出异议

参考例句：

• Elected officials can be impeached. 经过选举产生的官员可以被弹劾。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The judge was impeached for taking a bribe. 这个法官被检举接受贿赂。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

37 envious   

adj.嫉妒的，羡慕的

参考例句：

• I don't think I'm envious of your success.我想我并不嫉妒你的成功。
• She is envious of Jane's good looks and covetous of her car.她既忌妒简的美貌又垂涎她的汽车。

38 coups   

n.意外而成功的行动( coup的名词复数 )；政变；努力办到难办的事

参考例句：

• China has seen many political coups within the ruling class. 中国统治阶级内部发生过很多政变。 来自互联网
• Thailand has had eighteen coups or coup attendance since nineteen thirty-two. 泰国1932年以来有18次政变或参加政变。 来自互联网

39 defamation   

n.诽谤；中伤

参考例句：

• Character defamation can be either oral or written.人格诽谤既可以是口头的也可以是书面的。
• The company sued for defamation.这个公司因受到诽谤而提起诉讼。

40 invoked   

v.援引( invoke的过去式和过去分词 )；行使（权利等）；祈求救助；恳求

参考例句：

• It is unlikely that libel laws will be invoked. 不大可能诉诸诽谤法。
• She had invoked the law in her own defence. 她援引法律为自己辩护。 来自《简明英汉词典》

41 bankruptcy   

n.破产；无偿付能力

参考例句：

• You will have to pull in if you want to escape bankruptcy.如果你想避免破产，就必须节省开支。
• His firm is just on thin ice of bankruptcy.他的商号正面临破产的危险。

42 yew   

n.紫杉属树木

参考例句：

• The leaves of yew trees are poisonous to cattle.紫杉树叶会令牛中毒。
• All parts of the yew tree are poisonous,including the berries.紫杉的各个部分都有毒，包括浆果。

43 justified   

a.正当的，有理的

参考例句：

• She felt fully justified in asking for her money back. 她认为有充分的理由要求退款。
• The prisoner has certainly justified his claims by his actions. 那个囚犯确实已用自己的行动表明他的要求是正当的。

44 authoritarianism   

权力主义，独裁主义

参考例句：

• Modern authoritarianism is a vestige of traditional personal rule. 现代独裁主义则是传统的个人统治的残余。
• In its latter days it was a byword for authoritarianism, incompetence, and corruption. 在后期，它是独裁、无能和腐化的代号。

45 applied   

adj.应用的；v.应用，适用

参考例句：

• She plans to take a course in applied linguistics.她打算学习应用语言学课程。
• This cream is best applied to the face at night.这种乳霜最好晚上擦脸用。