legal-translation

name

legal-translation

description

Chinese-English legal terminology translation using a curated glossary of 34,000+ legal terms. Use when the user asks about Chinese legal term translation, English legal equivalents, PRC law terminology, legal vocabulary lookup, or needs to find how specific legal concepts are expressed in Chinese or English. Covers general legal vocabulary plus dedicated PRC Civil Code, Criminal Law, Company Law, and procedural law terminology.

Legal Translation Skill — 法律术语中英互译

Overview

This skill provides authoritative Chinese-English legal terminology lookup based on:

Data Source	Entries	Coverage
glossary.csv	~34,000	General legal terms (cleaned from HK DOJ bilingual glossary)
mainland_terms.csv	~950	PRC-specific legal concepts (Civil Code, Criminal Law, Company Law, etc.)

Coverage: Civil law, criminal law, commercial law, procedural law, constitutional/administrative law, international law, plus Latin legal terms.

Limitations: The general glossary leans toward common law terminology (Hong Kong origin). For PRC-specific socialist legal system concepts, supplement with mainland_terms.csv.

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信息来源 / Information Sources

通用法律术语 (glossary.csv ~34,000条)

来源	说明
香港律政司 (DoJ) 双语法律词汇表	原始78,912条，经温和清洗后保留33,996条
英汉民商事法律词汇	通用英汉法律词典，质量最高的子来源
刑事诉讼词汇集	刑事程序专门词汇
香港法例中的通用术语	去除香港独有机构/概念后保留

清洗策略详见 scripts/clean_glossary.py，完整说明见 references/source-guide.md

中国大陆法律术语 (mainland_terms.csv ~950条)

来源	条目	说明
《中华人民共和国民法典》 NPC官方英译本	~290	全7编定义条款与核心概念
《人民法院组织机构、职务名称、工作场所英译文》 法〔2021〕184号	~90	最高人民法院发布的法院系统英译权威标准
《中华人民共和国刑法》 NPC官方英译本	~135	总则+分则重点罪名+刑罚体系
《中华人民共和国公司法》(2023修订) 等商法	~155	公司/破产/证券/保险/知识产权等
三大诉讼法 NPC官方英译本	~145	民事/刑事/行政诉讼+仲裁+调解
《中华人民共和国宪法》+行政法 NPC官方英译本	~95	国家机构+行政许可/处罚/强制/复议
国际法相关法律法规	~35	对外贸易/引渡/涉外法律适用

核验方式

• 北大法宝 (PKULaw) MCP 工具 — 逐条核验中文术语在现行法条原文中的存在性
• 英文翻译基于 全国人大 (NPC) 官方公布的英文译本
• 法院系统术语依据 最高人民法院法〔2021〕184号通知

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Quick Start

Basic Lookup

# Chinese → English
python "$SKILL_DIR/scripts/lookup.py" -q "不可抗力"

# English → Chinese
python "$SKILL_DIR/scripts/lookup.py" -q "force majeure"

Fuzzy Search

python "$SKILL_DIR/scripts/lookup.py" -q "合同违约" --fuzzy

Domain Filtering

python "$SKILL_DIR/scripts/lookup.py" -q "证据" --domain 诉讼法 -n 10

JSON Output (for programmatic use)

python "$SKILL_DIR/scripts/lookup.py" -q "tort" --format json

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Lookup Workflow

When a user requests legal terminology translation, follow this priority:

1. Determine Query Direction

• Chinese query → Search cn field → return English equivalents
• English query → Search en field → return Chinese equivalents
• Mixed or uncertain → Search both fields

2. Search Strategy (in order)

Exact match → Substring match → Fuzzy match

1. Exact match first: lookup.py -q "term" --exact
2. If no result: lookup.py -q "term" (substring mode, the default)
3. If still no result: lookup.py -q "term" --fuzzy
4. For domain-specific queries: Add --domain filter

3. When to Use Domain Filtering

User mentions specific legal area → use --domain flag:

• 民法 → Civil law (contracts, torts, property, family, succession)
• 刑法 → Criminal law
• 商法 → Commercial law (companies, securities, insurance, IP)
• 诉讼法 → Procedural law (litigation, arbitration, evidence)
• 宪法行政法 → Constitutional & administrative law
• 国际法 → International law (treaties, maritime, extradition)

4. For Mainland PRC Law

When users work with PRC law specifically, load both glossaries:

python "$SKILL_DIR/scripts/lookup.py" -q "物权" -g "$SKILL_DIR/references/mainland_terms.csv"

The mainland terms cover PRC-specific concepts NOT found in the general HK-sourced glossary:

• 物权 (Real Rights), 用益物权 (Usufructuary Rights)
• 人民调解 (People's Mediation), 行政复议 (Administrative Reconsideration)
• 审判委员会 (Judicial Committee), 指导性案例 (Guiding Case)
• Socialist legal system concepts unique to PRC

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Output Format

Standard Text Output

查询: "tort"
找到 3 条结果:
------------------------------------------------------------

[1] 侵权法
    EN: tort
    来源: HK Ordinance
    标签: 民法, 单词

[2] 侵权行为
    EN: tort
    来源: HK Ordinance
    标签: 民法, 单词

[3] 侵权（行为）
    EN: tort
    来源: 英汉民商事法律词汇
    标签: 民法, 短语

Presenting Results to Users

When relaying results back to the user:

1. Single exact match: Present directly with source and domain
2. Multiple matches: List all, noting differences in context/usage
3. Partial/fuzzy matches: Clearly indicate match quality
4. No match found: Suggest trying broader terms or alternative expressions

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Important Translation Conventions

PRC Legal English vs HK Legal English

The same Chinese term may have different English translations in different contexts:

Chinese	HK/Common Law	PRC/Mainland
物权	property right	real right
法定代表人	(no direct equivalent)	legal representative
司法解释	(no direct equivalent)	judicial interpretation
调解	mediation	mediation / conciliation
审判委员会	(no direct equivalent)	judicial committee / adjudication committee

Latin Legal Terms

The glossary includes ~430 Latin legal terms with bilingual annotations. These are marked as type 拉丁术语. Example:

CN: 不可抗力
EN: vis major ["superior violence"]
CN: 不可抗力
EN: force majeure ["superior strength"]

Dual Translations

Some terms have multiple valid translations — present all options when relevant and note the context.

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Integration with PKULaw MCP Tools

This skill complements the PKULaw MCP tools already configured. For legal research tasks:

1. Term lookup first: Use this skill to find English equivalents
2. Statutory verification: Use mcp__pkulaw-law-search__search_article to verify the term's usage in actual statutes
3. Citation validation: Use mcp__pkulaw-citation-validator__adjust_provisions to check legal references
4. Case reference: Use mcp__pkulaw-case-search__search_case for how terms appear in judicial decisions

Example workflow:

User: "How do you say 善意取得 in English?"
1. lookup.py -q "善意取得" → "Bona Fide Acquisition / Good Faith Acquisition"
2. (Optional) mcp__pkulaw-law-search__search_article → verify in Civil Code Art. 311

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Reference Files

File	Description
references/glossary.csv	Main terminology database (33,996 entries)
references/mainland_terms.csv	PRC-specific legal terms (320+ entries)
references/source-guide.md	Source column explanation and data provenance
references/legal-domains.md	Legal domain classification taxonomy

Scripts

Script	Description
scripts/lookup.py	Query tool (exact/fuzzy/substring, domain filter, JSON/text output)
scripts/clean_glossary.py	Reproducible data cleaning pipeline from raw DOJ CSV
scripts/scrape_mainland.py	Mainland China legal term scraper (with built-in fallback)

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Data Cleaning (Reproducible)

To regenerate the clean glossary from the raw DOJ CSV:

python "$SKILL_DIR/scripts/clean_glossary.py" /path/to/doj_glossary.csv

The cleaning pipeline:

1. Filters out Hong Kong-specific institutions, roles, and concepts
2. Removes report/consultation paper sources
3. Filters template/placeholder patterns
4. Deduplicates by (CN, EN) with source priority
5. Classifies by legal domain and term type
6. Outputs references/glossary.csv

Source priority for deduplication: 英汉民商事法律词汇 > 刑事诉讼词汇集 > PRC Law > HK Ordinance > Other