A dialog between Sino-Western legal traditions: Yan Fu’s translation of “natural law” in Montesquieu’s The Spirit of Laws

As an integral component of legal culture, legal concepts possess distinct cultural characteristics. Translating legal concepts between different cultures to facilitate effective cultural exchange and mutual understanding poses a significant challenge for legal translators. This paper examines Yan Fu’s Chinese translation of “natural law”, a key concept in Montesquieu’s classic The Spirit of Laws, as a case study to analyze the connection between legal translation and cultural traditions in the socio-historical contexts of the early 20th century China. By analyzing Yan’s choice of words, the paper unveils how Yan Fu reinterpreted Western natural law from both religious and ethical perspectives, thereby creating a dynamic dialog between Sino-Western legal cultural traditions.