Author: rebeccajowers

False Friends (23): sentencia; sentence

rebeccajowers False Friends

Oh, no! False Friends

This pair of legal false cognates definitely belongs in the False Friends 101 category, terms that translators and legal professionals just can’t afford to confuse. Sentencia denotes a court’s final disposition of a matter: decisión formulada por el juez o tribunal que resuelve definitivamente todas las cuestiones planteadas en el proceso.* In English, this is a court’s “judgment,” its “final determination of the rights and obligations of the parties in a case.”**

In previous blog posts I examined in detail the terminology of Spanish sentencias,*** but what about the legal meanings of “sentence”? The term generally denotes the punishment (condena or pena) imposed on a criminal defendant found guilty, and it is used as both a noun and a verb: He served a 10-year sentence (Cumplió una condena/pena de 10 años); He was sentenced to 10 years in prison (Fue condenado a 10 años de prisión).

To look at some of the related terminology, under Spanish criminal law sentences are divided into penas privativas de libertad (custodial sentences), i.e., some form of incarceration, and penas no privativas de libertad (noncustodial sentences). Several types of alternative sentence (pena sustitutiva de la pena privativa de libertad) exist. Penas privativas de derechos entail the forfeiture of certain rights including, for example, several types of inhabilitación (disqualification from holding certain offices, exercising certain professions, etc.) or privación del derecho a conducir vehículos a motor (loss of the right to drive; suspension of driver’s license).

Mandatory community service (trabajos en beneficio de la comunidad) and fines (multas) are also often imposed. The most common fines are day fines (penas de días-multa) that take into account the offender’s financial situation based on his assets, income and family obligations, and other circumstances (situación económica del reo deducida de su patrimonio, obligaciones y cargas familiares y demás circunstancias). Less common are proportional fines (penas de multa proporcional) expressed as an amount proportional to the damage caused or injury inflicted, the value of the object of the offense or the proceeds obtained from the crime (cuantía del daño causado, el valor del objeto del delito o el beneficio reportado por el delito) (arts. 50-51 CP).

Judges likewise sometimes place offenders on a type of probation, referred to in the Spanish Criminal Code as suspensión de la execución de la pena privativa de libertad (literally, “suspension of the execution of custodial sentences”) (art. 80 CP). Also sometimes called “condena condicional” or “remisión condicional,” this type of probation or suspended sentence may be granted to first time offenders (delincuentes primarios) sentenced to less than two year’s incarceration (condena no superior a dos años de privación de libertad).

*F. Gómez de Liaño. Diccionario jurídico. Salamanca, 1979.

**Black’s Law Dictionary, 8th ed., 2004.

***  Additional terminology on sentencias with possible English translations can be found here , here , and here .

Legal Meanings of pieza

rebeccajowers Common words with uncommon legal meanings

legal words

In procedural law contexts, pieza does not mean “piece,” but rather denotes a “proceeding.” Certain aspects of a case may be adjudicated en pieza separada, i.e., in a separate proceeding from the main trial or proceeding (called pieza principal), and will be recorded in a separate case file (likewise often referred to as pieza separada). In civil proceedings, for example, pieza de medidas cautelares denotes a “provisional remedies proceeding” incident to civil litigation. In criminal procedure, in ordinary felony proceedings (proceso ordinario por delitos graves), a preliminary criminal investigation (instrucción sumarial) is typically conducted in four piezas. In addition to the main investigatory proceeding (pieza principal), a second pieza de situación personal reflects any pretrial measures (medidas cautelares personales) ordered against a suspect (investigado), including arrest (detención), pretrial release (libertad provisional) or pretrial detention (prisión provisional). The remaining two concern civil liability (responsabilidad civil) arising from the commission of the crime in question. The pieza de responsibilidad civil principal contains all measures ordered against the suspect’s property (medidas cautelares reales) to ensure that, if convicted, he will be able to pay the victim the compensation awarded by the court. These may include requiring the accused to make a pretrial deposit into court (prestar fianza) or ordering attachment (embargo) of his property. In the fourth pieza de responsibilidad subsidiaria similar measures may be ordered against third parties who may likewise be liable for civil damages resulting from the offense.

In other respects, the term pieza de convicción refers to the physical evidence of the commission of a crime, defined as objetos inanimados que puedan servir para atestiguar la realidad de un hecho relevante para el proceso.* The expression has sometimes been inappropriately translated as “incriminating evidence,” but whether a pieza de convicción is incriminating or not must subsequently be established at trial.

*Juan Manuel Fernández Martínez, coord. Diccionario jurídico. Thompson-Aranzadi, 2004.

False Friends (22): panfleto isn’t a “pamphlet”

rebeccajowers False Friends

Oh, no! False Friends

Panfleto appears in several bilingual dictionaries translated literally as “pamphlet.” But “pamphlet” is more appropriately folleto while, at least in Spain, panfleto is something quite different. Indeed, as defined in the DLE, panfleto denotes libelo difamatorio or an opúsculo de carácter agresivo. Fundéu likewise distinguishes between the two, indicating that “folleto” es una obra impresa, no periódica, de reducido número de hojas, while “panfleto” siempre tiene sentido difamatorio. Indeed, the term panfleto is often associated with political propaganda (un panfleto político) and is defined as such (papel o folleto de propaganda política) in Clave.* Thus the informal expression nos echó un panfleto implies “(he/she) subjected us to a (political) diatribe.” And the adjectives panfletario/a (estilo propio de los panfletos) and the noun panfletista (autor de un panfleto) also have this meaning. Thus “pamphlet” should be rendered as folleto rather than panfleto, unless the reference is to some sort of biased, partisan or propagandistic writing.

*Clave: Diccionario de uso del español actual. Ediciones SM, 2006.

Terminology Sources: Swimming in the “Alphabet Soup” of European Union Agencies

rebeccajowers Terminology Sources

EU Agencies

As translators we often have to use the official names of EU agencies and their abbreviations, initialisms or acronyms in other languages. Their names are sometimes easily confused and, moreover, to further complicate matters they often appear to be in flux, being amended from time to time to more accurately reflect the agency’s purpose and scope. A prime example is the former Office for Harmonisation in the Internal Market (Trade Marks and Designs)—OHIM) (in Spanish, Oficina de Armonización del Mercado Interior (Marcas, Dibujos y Modelos)—OAMI), located in Alicante, Spain, which as of March, 2016 is now known as the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) (or Oficina de Propiedad Intelectual de la Unión Europea—OPIUE).

Navigating this complicated maze is much simplified by an article published in the May/June, 2016 issue of “puntoycoma: Boletín de los traductores españoles de las instituciones de la Unión Europea” that provides the current (and some possible future) names and abbreviations for dozens of EU agencies in Spanish, English and French. It’s entitled “Las siglas de los organizmos descentralizados de la Unión Europea: situación actual” and is available here:

In addition, the EU Agencies Network maintains a current interactive map with the name, location and link to the website of EU agencies.

 

 

Mistranslations: Don’t confuse libertad condicional and libertad provisional

rebeccajowers Mistranslations?

Is this really a mistranslation_

It is all too frequent to see libertad condicional and libertad provisional confused in the Spanish press. Here are some recent headlines: “Paco Pérez* abandonó en la tarde del viernes la prisión de Picassent (Valencia) al haberle sido concedida la libertad condicional tras abonar una fianza de 30.000 euros.” Or, “Manolo Martínez,* presunto coautor de una estafa de más de 900.000 euros, salió en la tarde de ayer de la cárcel de Puerto II en libertad condicional.” Of course, what was actually meant here is libertad provisional, not libertad condicional.

Journalists can’t afford to make this mistake, and translators certainly can’t either. So what’s the difference between libertad provisional and libertad condicional?

In Spain libertad condicional generally denotes the early release of a prison inmate who is classified in what is termed tercer grado del tratamiento penitenciario (the minimum security level of the offender treatment program), has served at least three-fourths of his sentence (que haya cumplido las tres cuartas partes de la condena) and who has exhibited good behavior (observado buena conducta).** When granted libertad conditional, an inmate is allowed to serve the remainder of his sentence in the community. In that regard, libertad condicional may perhaps be rendered as “early release” or as “parole” (the latter defined in Black’s Law Dictionary as “the release of a prisoner from imprisonment before the full sentence has been served”). Related terminology includes conceder/revocar la libertad condicional (to grant/to revoke parole) and violación de la libertad condicional (parole violation).

Thus Pepe and Manolo appearing in the headlines above are not en libertad condicional (on parole), because they have not been formally accused, tried or convicted of an offense, nor are they serving a custodial sentence (cumpliendo una pena privativa de libertad) for which they could be granted parole. What the journalists meant to say was that they have been granted libertad provisional, having been released on bail pending their respective trials.

Indeed, in Spanish criminal proceedings libertad provisional generally denotes “pretrial release,” or “release pending trial,” referring to the release of a criminal suspect or defendant pending the outcome of a criminal investigation or while awaiting trial. In this case a judge may order libertad (provisional) con fianza (“release on bail”) or libertad (provisional) sin fianza, a “release without bail” similar to “release on recognizance” (ROR) in the US in which the releasee promises to appear for trial at a later date. In Spain libertad sin fianza is often granted with medidas cautelares (in this context, “conditions”) such as the requirement to periodically report to the court (obligación de comparecer en el juzgado).

___________________

*”The names have been changed to protect the innocent”

**Early release can granted exceptionally under other circumstances (supuestos especiales de adelantamiento de la libertad condicional). These include libertad anticipada por enfermedad (often referred to in English as “compassionate release”) for inmates suffering from a serious incurable disease (internos aquejados de enfermedad grave incurable), or inmates over 70 years old (internos mayores de 70 años).

Mistranslations(?): “attorney-at-law”

rebeccajowers Mistranslations?

Can this be a MISTRANSLATION_

“Attorney-at-law” has sometimes been mistranslated as licenciado en Derecho. But a licenciado en Derecho has completed an undergraduate law degree (similar to the LL.B. or “Bachelor of Laws” awarded at British universities) but may (or may not) decide to practice law. In contrast “attorney-at-law” is the term generally used in the US to denote a lawyer who is engaged in the practice of law, a “practicing attorney” (ejerciente or abogado en ejercicio). A practicing attorney must of course hold a law degree (licenciatura en Derecho) but, in fact, many licenciados en Derecho are engaged in professions other than the practice of law.

It should perhaps be noted that with the adoption of the European Union’s Bologna Process, Spanish universities have phased out their licenciatura programs and now offer a Bologna-compatible undergraduate degree called grado. Thus a law degree is now known as grado en Derecho and those who graduate in law now are called graduados en Derecho rather than licenciados.

Multiple Meanings of delación

rebeccajowers Multiple Meanings

 

Legal Terms with Multiple Meanings

Delación has at least two “legal” meanings, one used in criminal law contexts that would likely be familiar to non-lawyers, and one whose meaning is clearly limited to inheritance law (Derecho de sucesiones). As a criminal law term delación is a synonym of acusación or denuncia, being defined in the Diccionario del español jurídico (DEJ) as revelación de datos que permiten identificar al culpable.

But in inheritance law its meaning is quite different, delación referring to the offer of an inheritance to prospective heirs so that they may accept or reject it. Quoting a Spanish Supreme Court opinion, the DEJ explains that delación is an ofrecimiento de la herencia al heredero, que da lugar a un derecho subjetivo, ius delationis, que faculta la adquisición por la aceptación. In that regard ius delationis denotes an heir’s right to accept or reject an inheritance and, in the meantime, to take measures to preserve the deceased’s estate.

False friends (21): When an audiencia isn’t an “audience”

rebeccajowers False Friends

Oh, no! False Friends

Audiencia has at least three meanings in legal contexts in which the term cannot be translated as “audience.” First, when audiencia is a synonym for tribunal it may be translated simply as “court.” (In Spain two types of courts are referred to as “audiencias,” the Audiencias Provinciales located in each province that hear civil and criminal cases, and the Audiencia Nacional, which has nationwide jurisdiction over certain types of criminal, administrative and labor proceedings and is located in Madrid). Audiencia may also mean “hearing,” being generally synonymous in that sense with vista. Thus, audiencia pública is a “hearing in open court,” while audiencia a puerta cerrada refers to a “closed hearing” or an “in camera hearing” (now referred to as a “hearing in private” in England and Wales). In other respects, for example, when a judge issues a ruling previa audiencia de las partes, this indicates that he has considered their opinions before taking his decision. As such the expression may be translated as “having previously heard (or considered the opinions of) the parties… .”

In Spanish civil procedure audiencia previa denotes a “pretrial hearing,” a specific stage in ordinary civil proceedings (juicio ordinario) that plays a role in case management, similar to the “pretrial conference” in US practice. And, in other respects, audiencia al demandado rebelde refers to a special procedure allowing a defendant to appeal a default judgment (sentencia dictada en rebeldía) rendered in his absence when his nonappearance proved to be involuntary.

And, finally, in the context of juvenile justice, audiencia designates the trial of a minor on criminal charges that is held in a juvenile court (Juzgado de Menores). In this sense, audiencia is the juvenile justice equivalent of the trial of an adult criminal defendant (juicio oral) under the Criminal Procedure Act (Ley de Enjuiciamiento Criminal). (For additional peculiarities of Spanish juvenile justice terminology, see https://rebeccajowers.com/2016/05/19/espanol-juridico-3/ )

Pitfalls of Spanish-English Legal Translation (II) (Non-linguistic and Cultural Aspects)

rebeccajowers ES-EN Legal Translation

Pitfalls of Spanish-English Legal Translation(2)

As noted in previous blog entries, in March I was invited by the European Commission’s Spanish translators at the Directorate General for Translation (DGT) to give a conference on Spanish-English legal translation in Brussels and in Luxembourg. The conference has been published in three issues of puntoycoma, Boletín de los traductores españoles de las instituciones de la Unión Europea, and in the event it may prove of interest, the third installment in the latest issue of puntoycoma entitled “‘Trampas’ en la traducción del español jurídico (II) (Aspectos extralingüísticos y culturales)” is available here:

http://ec.europa.eu/translation/spanish/magazine/documents/pyc_154_es.pdf

In this issue I look at some of the non-linguistic pitfalls of legal translation, including the ellipses, cryptic expressions and general legalese used by Spanish legal professionals that rarely appear in bilingual dictionaries, as well as changes in legal terminology derived from legislative reform. In addition, I examine how a translator’s own legal culture may prompt translation mistakes, with examples from Spanish criminal law and criminal procedure that could easily be misinterpreted from a common law perspective.

A previous (second) installment of this article entitled “‘Trampas’ en la traducción del español jurídico (II) (Aspectos lingüísticos) reviewed some of the most common language-based pitfalls that Spanish-English translators encounter when rendering legal concepts, including different levels of “false friends,” polysemy in legal language, the problem of legal synonyms that appear to be the “same thing with a different name,” whether to translate expressions in Latin, and differences between legal language in the US and the UK:

http://ec.europa.eu/translation/spanish/magazine/documents/pyc_153_es.pdf

And the first installment of this article “Aciertos y desafíos en la traducción jurídica español-inglés” focused on four specific aspects of Spanish-English legal translation: “Traducciones que sí ‘encajan’” (concepts of Spanish law that fortunately have a close “functional equivalent” in Anglo-American law); “Traducciones (dudosas) generalmente aceptadas” (a controversial topic concerning generally-accepted renderings that are actually mistranslations in certain contexts); “Traducciones inventadas” (a look at a couple of invented translations that, nevertheless, appear in Internet publications and elsewhere; and “Traducciones imposibles” (which addresses the problem of translating legal terms that have no corresponding concept in Common Law):

http://ec.europa.eu/translation/spanish/magazine/documents/pyc_152_es.pdf

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.”