连带责任（即民事连带责任）是指依照法律规定或者当事人的约定，具有一定民事法律关系的两个或者两个以上当事人对其共同债务、共同民事责任或他人债务、他人的民事责任全部承担或部分承担，并能因此引起其内部债务关系的一种民事责任。它属于共同责任中的一种。
下面我们来看看joint and several这个词组的英文解释，选自：The Real Life Dictionary of the Law
joint and several
adj. referring to a debt or a judgment for negligence， in which each debtor （one who owes） or each judgment defendant （one who has a judgment against him/her） is responsible （liable） for the entire amount of the debt or judgment. Thus， in drafting a promissory note for a debt， it is important to state that if there is more than one person owing the funds to be paid， the debt is joint and several， since then the person owed money （creditor， promisee） can collect the entire amount from any of the joint signers of the note， and not be limited to a share from each debtor. If a party injured in an accident sues several parties for causing his/her damages， the court may find that several people were “jointly” negligent and contributed to the damages. The entire judgment may be collected from any of the defendants found responsible， unless the court finds different amounts of negligence of each defendant contributed to the injury. Defense attorneys should require the trier of fact （jury or judge sitting without a jury） to break down the amount of negligence of each defendant and the plaintiff if there is contributory negligence. Often the court will refuse to do so， allowing the plaintiff to collect from whichever defendant has the “deep pocket” （lots of money）， and letting the defendant who pays demand contributions from the other defendants.
简言之，“连带责任”可以译为：joint and several liability |
