摘要
The jury system is an important legal system within the common law system. At present, the English term “jury” is generally translated as “陪审团” and “陪审” in Chinese. The Chinese translations “陪审团” and “陪审” fail to accurately translate the essential features of this system, and the true implications of the term and are, on the contrary, quite misleading. There are two types of juries： the jury determining criminal guilt or innocence and the jury deciding whether someone should be accused. Both types of juries play leading roles in the democratic legal system and legal procedure. Neither type of jury has anything to do with “陪” or “审”, therefore, the translation “陪审” is totally erroneous. Re-translation of the term ＂jury＂ is necessary. In accordance with its true implications and functions, “jury” can be translated as “决认团” and “决认”. The word stem of the Chinese translations of the term group in the jury system should be “决认”. By analogy, such terms as （a） “jury system”, （b） “juror/juryperson/juryman”, （c） “jurywoman”, （d） “jury duty” and （e） “jury box” should be translated respectively as （a）“决认制度”, （b）“决认员”, （c）“女决认员”, （d）“决认责任” and （e）“决认席”. The Chinese translation “决认” is fully justified to replace “陪审”.
