Cross-cultural legal convergence in translation: George Jamieson's adoption of English legal concepts in translating Qing marriage law

In the translation history of Chinese legal classics, George Jamieson was an eminent legal translator recognizing the significance of modern English law in translating and interpreting traditional Chinese family law. This article looks at how Jamieson correlated Qing marriage clauses with key elements in English contract and marriage law. Through detailed textual analysis and comparative legal studies, it discovers the underlying common ground that prompted Jamieson to make the parallels. While bringing about a cross-cultural legal convergence, his translation led to obscuring the special facets of Chinese marriage. By positioning English and Chinese laws in the same legal axis, he also incurred the unexpected and easily ignored effect of making their differences more manifest. His packaging demonstrates English law as the benchmark against which Qing law was judged, revealing an asymmetrical relation between them. Avoiding vague generalization, this study casts light on the importance of drawing on comparative legal studies to probe the inner intricacies of transcultural legal dialogue so as to pave the way for in-depth understanding between Chinese and English legal traditions.