Month: September 2017

Common Words with Uncommon Legal Meanings: pacífico/a

rebeccajowers Common words with uncommon legal meanings

legal words

The simple adjective pacífico/a denotes lo que no tiene o no halla oposición, contradicción o alteración en su estado (DLE), and is used in several legal contexts. Obviously its most common meaning is “peaceful,” as in derecho de reunión pacífica (right of peaceful assembly). The term likewise denotes “peaceful” or “non-violent” in expressions such as solución pacífica de conflictos (peaceful conflict resolution).

Goce pacífico denotes “quiet enjoyment,” that is, use of property that is unopposed by someone claiming paramount title (mejor derecho). Thus goce pacífico de la cosa durante la duración del arrendamiento refers to the right to quiet enjoyment of the property in question for the duration of the rental lease. Posesión pacífica (unopposed possession) is one of the elements that must be proved to establish adverse possession (usucapión, also called prescripción adquisitiva).

And pacífico is also used in legal writing to describe something that is considered unquestionable, undeniable or well-established: según es pacífico afirmar… (as is generally accepted…). In that regard, for example, the much-used term jurisprudencia pacífica simply denotes “established (or) settled caselaw.”

What are costas procesales ?

rebeccajowers Español jurídico

juez

A translation client recently asked me what is meant by costas. Costas procesales are “court costs,” expenses arising in litigation, and in Spain include, among others, the following:

  • honorarios del abogado/letrado (attorney’s fees, also called “lawyer’s fees” or “legal fees”)
  • derechos del procurador (party agent’s fees)*
  • derechos de peritos (expert witness fees)
  • indemnizaciones a testigos (witness fees)
  • tasas judiciales (filing fees), and
  • derechos arancelarios de registradores y notarios (registrars’ and notaries’ fees—for certifications, certified copies, etc.)

It should be noted that in Spanish the losing party is “ordered to pay costs” (condenada en costas). But in English this concept is generally expressed from the perspective of the prevailing or successful party who is “awarded costs” (literally, premiada con las costas), which will be borne by the losing party. In this context, condena en costas may be rendered as “costs order,” “order for costs,” “order to pay costs,” or from the Anglo-American perspective, “award of costs.”

*For more ways to translate procurador see: https://rebeccajowers.com/2017/01/18/what-is-a-procurador/