请帮忙翻译一篇关于法律方面的短文

Prima facie is a Latin expression (which originates from Middle English) meaning "on its first appearance," or "by first instance" used in common law jurisdictions to denote evidence that is sufficient, if not rebutted, to prove a particular proposition or fact. In most legal proceedings, one of the parties has the burden of proof, which requires that party to present prima facie evidence of all facts essential to its case. If that party fails to present prima facie evidence on any required element of its case, its claim may be dismissed without any response by the opposing party. A prima facie case may be insufficient to enable a party to prevail if the opposing party introduces contradictory evidence or asserts an affirmative defense. Sometimes the introduction of prima facie evidence is informally called making a case or building a case.

Prima facie 一词来自于拉丁语，（这种表达方式出现于中世纪的英语中）。它被用于在普通法的司法管辖下，去提出足以证明一个特别的主张成立或者事实存在的证据，意思是“表面的”或者是“初步的”，否则将被驳回。在大多数的诉讼程序中，一方当事人有这样的证明责任，这方当事人基于关有于这个案子的所有必要事实中提交初步证据。如果这个当事人没能提交任何有关于这个案子所需要件的初步证据，则即使对方当时文人没有做出任何反应的情况下，他的主张也能会被驳回。一份初步证据可能不足以让一个当事人在对方当事人提出相反的证据或者一份肯定性的答辩中占据上风。有时，提交初步证据被非正式的称作造个案子。

For example, in a criminal prosecution, the Government has the burden of presenting prima facie evidence of each element of the crime charged. In a murder case, this would include evidence that the defendant's act caused the victim's death, and evidence that the defendant acted with malice aforethought. If the prosecution were to fail to introduce such evidence, then its case would fail on grounds of "failure to make out a prima facie case," even without rebuttal by the defendant. This evidence need not be conclusive or irrefutable, and evidence rebutting the case may not be considered.

例如，在一单刑事诉讼中，政府有责任提交关于被起诉犯罪案件的每一构成要件的初步证据。 在一桩谋杀案中，就要提交证据证明被害者的死亡是由于被告的行为所引起的，证明被告的行为是恶意预谋的。如果公诉方没能提交这样的证据，那么这个案子很可能虽然没有被告的反驳，但基于没有清楚的初步证据就失败了。这样的初步证据不需要是确凿无疑或者不可反驳的，并且案件中的反驳证据可能不会被考虑。

Prima facie is often confused with res ipsa loquitur ("the thing speaks for itself"), the common law legal doctrine which in its modern incarnation allows a tort plaintiff to reach the jury on the question of a defendant's negligence, despite the plaintiff's failure to produce any evidence explaining exactly how the defendant was negligent, by establishing circumstantial evidence from which unspecified negligence by the defendant can fairly be inferred.

Prima facie经常被与res(标地物)Ipsa(证明)loquitur(主张)（事情证明其本身）这个法律术语相混淆。后者作为普通法中的一个法律原则，在现代的翻版就是允许一个侵权案件中的原告就被告的过失出现在陪审团的面前。尽管原告不能提供任何可以准确地说明被告人是怎样的过失的，但是通过建立起来的情境证据，被告不是很确定的过失就会被很好地推论出来了。

The phrase prima facie is sometimes misspelled *prima facia in the mistaken belief that *facia is the actual Latin word; however, the word is in fact faciēs (fifth declension), of which faciē is the ablative.

短语prima facie有时会因为人们误以为*facia是一个真正的拉丁语词汇而被错拼为*prima facia。然而，事实上这个词是faciēs（第五种词尾变化），在这些词尾变化中，faciē i是夺格。

The phrase is very commonly used, in exactly the same sense, in academic philosophy as well. Among the most notable uses of it in that discipline is the theory of ethics first proposed by W. D. Ross, often called the Ethic of Prima Facie Duties.

这个词组在准确的相同意义上,同样被非常普遍地被学院派哲学所采用。在学院派哲学这个学科中最引人注目的对prima facie的应用的就是由W. D. Ross（罗斯）提出的伦理学理论，经常给称作伦理初步责任（初向责任，初定义务）理论。

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