Several Spanish web sources and a monograph published in English on the Spanish legal system translate Ministerio Fiscal literally as “Fiscal Ministry,” and this rendering may prompt readers unfamiliar with Spanish institutions to assume that the Ministerio Fiscal is in some way related to taxes or the tax authorities. In English “fiscal” often denotes “of or relating to financial matters, public finance or taxation” (Black’s Law Dictionary) and, thus, the literal translation “Fiscal Ministry” may indeed erroneously suggest that the Ministerio Fiscal is a Ministerio para asuntos fiscales or “Tax Ministry.”

But in fact Ministerio Fiscal (as well as Ministerio Público and Fiscalía) all refer to Spain’s “Public Prosecution Service,” (or) “Office of the Public Prosecutor,” and in this context a fiscal is a “public prosecutor” (called “district attorney” in many US jurisdictions). In summary (and despite the name), the Ministerio Fiscal is not a government ministry and is totally unrelated to taxation, the term simply denoting Spain’s autonomous “Public Prosecution Service.” In contrast, as a part of the Ministerio de Economía y Hacienda (“Ministry of Economy and the Treasury”) the Agencia Tributaria is Spain’s tax service, similar to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) in the US or HM Revenue & Customs (formerly Inland Revenue) in the UK.

Likewise, Ministerio Público has also often been translated literally as “Public Ministry,” and even as “ministerial office.” But, once again, these renderings fail to convey the fact that Ministerio Público is simply another term for Ministerio Fiscal.

For US audiences Ministerio Fiscal, Ministerio Público and Fiscalía have sometimes been translated as “Justice Department” or “Attorney General’s Office,” and Fiscal General del Estado has often been rendered as “Attorney General.” But, once again, these may not be accurate renderings for those Spanish institutions. The position of the Department of Justice within the executive branch of the US government is actually more akin to the Spanish Ministerio de Justicia. While the Attorney General is part of the US President’s Cabinet (as is the Ministro de Justicia who sits on the government’s Consejo de Ministros), as underscored above, the Ministerio Fiscal (despite being called a “ministerio”) is an autonomous entity that is not a government ministry at all. Moreover, the Fiscal General del Estado is not a cabinet member (miembro del Consejo de Ministros), but rather may perhaps be described as the “Chief Public Prosecutor” or “Head of the Public Prosecution Service.” Thus, “Public Prosecution Service” would again appear to be a more accurate translation for Ministerio Fiscal, Ministerio Público and Fiscalía, even for US readers. And, in other respects, rendering these three terms as “Crown Prosecution Service” for UK audiences may likewise be equally inappropriate, since criminal prosecutions in Spain are not brought “on behalf of the Crown” as they are in the UK and other Commonwealth countries.

Alevosía appears as one of the basic agravantes (“aggravating circumstances” that may increase criminal liability) in the penal codes of Spain and other Spanish-speaking jurisdictions. It has been translated variously as “treachery,” “perfidy” and “malice aforethought,” none of which really reflects the true meaning of the term. “Treachery” is defined in the Oxford Online Dictionary as “betrayal of trust” or “the quality of being deceptive,” while “perfidy” is the “state of being deceitful and untrustworthy.” “Malice aforethought” is a criminal law term denoting “the requisite mental state for common-law murder” (Black’s Law Dictionary, 7^th ed.).

But do any of these three terms express the meaning of alevosía? Article 22.1 of the Spanish Código Penal affirms that hay alevosía cuando el culpable comete cualquiera de los delitos contra las personas empleando en la ejecución medios, modos o formas que tiendan directa o especialmente a asegurarla, sin el riesgo que para su persona pudiera proceder de la defensa por parte del ofendido.

Thus alevosía implies committing a crime in a manner that prevents the victim from defending himself, ensuring both its consummation and that the perpetrator remains unharmed. Given this definition, instead of “treachery,” “perfidy” or “malice aforethought,” alevosía may perhaps be more accurately translated as “calculated impunity.”

The expression capitulaciones matrimoniales is often translated as “prenuptial (or) antenuptial agreement.” This may be correct in many circumstances, but it should be underscored that the expression can also denote a “postnuptial agreement” entered into after marriage. In effect, capitulaciones matrimoniales traditionally refers to an agreement between the spouses, entered into either before or during the marriage, setting forth the marital property system (régimen económico matrimonial) that will govern their relationaship. As such, it may perhaps be best described simply as a “marital property agreement.”

Briefly, the two most common marital property systems in Spain are régimen de (bienes) gananciales (“community property system”) in which all property acquired during the marriage is jointly owned by both spouses, and régimen de separación de bienes (“separate property system”) in which during the marriage spouses own property separately. In marriages governed by the community property system, bienes gananciales (often shortened to “gananciales”) refers to jointly-owned “community property,” while bienes privativos describes the “separate property” that each spouse owned before marriage or acquires by gift or inheritance during the marriage, and which is not considered a part of jointly-owned marital property.

Other expressions describing this type of spousal agreement include capítulos matrimoniales, pactos matrimoniales and pactos capitulares. In other respects, the term capitulaciones paramatrimoniales is sometimes used in Spain to denote the cohabitation agreement that nonmarital couples sign when registering a nonmarital union (unión de hecho).

The community property system (régimen de gananciales) is the “default system” (régimen por defecto) in the Spanish regions governed by the Civil Code. A separate property system (régimen de separación de bienes) is the default system in Catalonia and the Balearic Islands. Default marital property systems in other regions include comunicación foral de bienes in certain territories of the Basque Country, consorcio conyugal in Aragón, and sociedad conyugal de conquistas in Navarre.

Common law countries traditionally observe strict separate property rules, with the exception in the US of the community property systems in Arizona, California, Idaho, Louisiana, Nevada, New Mexico, Texas, Washington and Wisconsin. (Alaska has an “opt-in” system allowing spouses the option to make their marital property community property). Collectively these are generally known as “community property states” in contrast to the other “separate property states,” sometimes also referred to as “common law states.” In community property states “community property” is normally defined as all property acquired during the marriage, including money and wages, and items purchased with that money. “Separate property” is usually property owned by either spouse before marriage, acquired by gift or inheritance, or purchased with separate funds during the marriage.

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