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1.3 Enactment of Legislative Bodies
1.3 立法机构的立法
This includes the Acts of Congress and statutes of state legislatures.
立法机构的立法包括《国会法》和州立法机构制定的法律。
The legislatures of each of the 50 states may pass and enforce their own laws without exceeding the principles established by the United States Constitution and the United States Congress.
在美国，每一个州的立法机构都可以在《美国宪法》和国会规定的原则范围内制定自己的法律。
Their results in the fact that the state law in the same fields may be different from one to another.
因此，各州的法律即使在同一领域内也会有所不同。
For instance, the length of time within which one must commence a civil lawsuit or be time-barred, referred to as the statute of limitations,
例如，诉讼时效法规中的关于提起民事诉讼的时限，
can vary dramatically from state to state;
各州也大相径庭;
and various other matters such as how trade secretes or torts are defined also may vary significantly.
而且许多其他事情，如商业剽窃和侵权，各州的规定也有很大的不同。
1.4 Case Law
1.4 判例法
In a common law country, case law plays a very important part in determining the law that applies to a particular set of facts.
作为普通法国家，判例法在确定某一系列特定事实的法律适用方面起着重要作用。
In application of case law, the weight that case law is given by a particular court in the United States depends significantly upon the court in which the precedent occurred.
在适用判例法时，判例产生地法庭的地位在很大程度上决定着这一判例在特定案件中被适用时的影响力。
For example, when a case is brought in Federal court, decisions of the Supreme Court are obviously the most binding on a particular issue,
例如，当一个案件被起诉到联邦法院时，最高法院对某一特定争议的裁决无疑最有约束力，
followed by decisions of the circuit court to which an appeal from a district court lies and finally, prior decisions of the district court itself.
其次是巡回法院审理地区法院上诉案件时做出的裁决，最后才是地区法院自己先前做出的裁决。
In many instances, a district court will look to the law of the appropriate state while rendering a decision in a case where issues of state law are of priority.
在许多情况下，地区法院在就一个案件做出裁决时，如果该案件属于优先适用州法律的情况，地区法院也会参照相关州的法律。
