Author: rebeccajowers

Legal Spanish Look-alikes: legítima defensa and autodefensa

rebeccajowers Confusing Terms

These similar expressions reflect two very different legal concepts. En légitima defensa is the Spanish criminal law expression for “in self defense” and legítima defensa may contstitute a circumstance that exonerates one from criminal liability (eximente de la responsabilidad criminal). In that regard a person repelling an unlawful aggression (agresión ilegítima) in self-defense or in defense of his rights or the rights of others (en legítima defensa de la persona o de derechos propios o ajenos) may in certain circumstances be deemed free of criminal liability.

In contrast, in procedural terminology (derecho a la) autodefensa is a totally unrelated expresion denoting a party’s legally-established right (in limited cases) to represent himself at trial without the assistance of a lawyer or (in Spain) a procurador (litigar sin abogado o procurador). In the US this is known as “pro se (or) pro per representation,”* and in this context autodefensa denotes “pro se (or) pro per defense,” while el derecho de asumir (or) ejercer la autodefensa is expressed as the “right to proceed pro se (or) pro per.” In England and Wales “pro se litigation” is called “litigation in person,” and a “pro se (or) pro per litigant” is a “litigant in person.” “Self-represented litigant” and “unrepresented litigant” are additional variants.

And the idea that representing oneself in court may not be a good idea exists in both languages. Indeed, the well-known admonishment “he who is his own lawyer has a fool for a client” is often reflected in Spanish as quien se defiende a sí mismo tiene un tonto por cliente.

*pro se, Latin for “for oneself” or “on one’s own behalf;” pro per, a shortened form of the Latin expression in propria persona

Family Law Terminology: “step-relatives”

rebeccajowers Mistranslations?

In Spanish there are specific terms for most step-relatives (step-father/padrastro, step-mother/madrastra, step-son/hijastro, step-daughter/hijastra, step-brother/hermanastro, step-sister/hermanastra, step-grandfather/abuelastro, step-grandmother/abuelastra). But, to my knowledge, there is no specific term for “step-relatives” or one’s “step family” as a group.

Perhaps due to this fact, the expression “step-relatives” has often been mistranslated as parientes politicos or parientes por afinidad, (which are actually “relatives by marriage” or one’s “in-laws”), or as parientes adoptivos, when obviously no adoption is involved among step-relatives.

Thus, and for want of anything better, I render “step-relatives” descriptively as parientes derivados del vínculo matrimonial en segundas (o siguientes) nupcias.” But this is so, so wordy, and I would really welcome other ideas from fellow translators who have had to deal with this term in family law texts.

Congratulations and Thank You!

rebeccajowers Legal English for Spanish-speakers

Last week I finished teaching my 120-hour course in Legal English to the 41 students enrolled in the 2020-21 session of the Máster en Asesoría Jurídica de Empresas in the Law School of the Universidad Carlos III de Madrid. From September to April we studied and discussed together the terminology and basic concepts of Contracts, Corporate Law, Civil Procedure, Criminal Law and Criminal Procedure, Labor Law, Property Law and Tax Law. And we did it all while wearing our masks and maintaining our distance! (Well, with one tiny exception, when we quickly came together for a few seconds to take this photo!)

As I told them on the last day of class, I greatly admire their commitment and enthusiasm during what wasn’t the easiest of times.

Congratulations to you all, and thanks so much for your hard work throughout the year!

Webinar–24 April 2021: “Fundamentals of False Friends”

rebeccajowers False Friends

At the invitation of Peruvian translator Cecilia Morazzani of CMP Traducciones, on April 24 I will be giving a webinar on “Fundamentals of False Friends.” In it I will suggest several ways of classifying Spanish-English legal false cognates to make them easier to learn and remember.

Among them, I’ll review some of the most and least common. These range from the ones I classify as “False Friends 1.0” (the ones that legal translators can’t afford to ignore) to “False Friends 3.0” (that sometimes elude even experienced translators).

Time: 10 am (Peru); 5pm (Spain)

Additional information is available here

Or, you can sign up to attend the webinar at universitytrad@gmail.com.

What is ajenidad ?

rebeccajowers Español jurídico

Yesterday in class a student asked me how to translate ajenidad, noting that it is not in my Léxico (another term I should add). Since she works in a labor law firm, I immediately recognized the context: here ajenidad is derived from the expression trabajo por cuenta ajena, describing the fact of working for an employer, under an employment contract. Thus, ajenidad (and trabajo por cuenta ajena) can be rendered simply as “employment” or “working under an employment contract,” as opposed to trabajo por cuenta propia, which is “self-employment.”

The above defines the concept of ajenidad laboral. But there is also an ajenidad penal in Spanish criminal law, which is one of the essential elements in the definition of hurto (theft). Article 234 of the Criminal Code defines hurto as “tomar las cosas muebles ajenas, con ánimo de lucro, y sin voluntad de su dueño.” In this context ajenidad del mueble is a required element of hurto, referring to the fact that the stolen goods must actually belong to someone else. The appropriation of abandoned or otherwise ownerless property is not an offense: [la ajenidad del mueble] supone que exista un propietario del bien mueble objeto del delito. No cometerá infracción penal quien toma una cosa que está abandonada, pues las cosas pueden adquirirse por ocupación cuando carecen de dueño.*

*Read more here

50 Pairs of Spanish-English Legal False Friends

rebeccajowers False Friends

When learning legal terminology in bilingual contexts one of the first pitfalls encountered are the so-called “false friends,” look-alike terms and expressions that appear to be cognates, but are actually unrelated in meaning. Readers of this blog know that I’m really into false friends because there are so many and they are so confusing. Long ago I set about identifying the “Top 40 False Friends in Spanish-English Legal Translation” to present to my students of Legal English. As the list grew I had to change the title to “101 False Friends.” In my collection I now have several hundred that I have been sharing in this blog.

To be fair, many of these pairs are only partial false friends that may actually be cognates when used in one branch of law, while perhaps qualifying as false friends in another legal practice area. And in some instances, the cognate may simply not be the most appropriate rendering in legal contexts.

Perhaps it should also be underscored that some of the material presented here is Spain-specific, and that the suggested translations may not always reflect the meanings of the terms in other Spanish-speaking countries. Certain expressions that may be considered false friends in legal contexts in Spain may not be in other Spanish-speaking jurisdictions where there may be more English influence. As an example, in Spain in the context of court procedure “evidence” is properly rendered as prueba, although it may be called evidencia elsewhere. Likewise corte denotes a “court” in many Spanish-American jurisdictions, although the use of the term in Spain is most often limited to international tribunals such as the Corte Penal Internacional (also known as the Tribunal Penal Internacional), while Spanish courts are variously called juzgados, tribunales, audiencias, órganos judiciales or órganos jurisdiccionales.

This week I realized that I’ve highlighted 50 pairs of False Friends in the blog and thought it might be of interest to put them together in a single list with links to the entries. So here they are…

absolución-absolution

abstención-abstention

accesión-accession

accidental-accidental

activo; pasivo-active; pasive

actor-actor

adhesión-adhesion

adjudicar-adjudicate

alimentos-alimony

arresto-arresto

audiencia-audience

autor-author

billón-billion

científico/a-scientific

colegio electoral-Electoral College

comisión-commission

contaminación-contamination

corporación-corporation

declaración-declaration

Derecho común-common law

detención-detention

disolución del matrimonio-dissolution of marriage

distracción-distraction

doctrina-doctrine

elegible-eligible

elevar-elevate

evicción-eviction

evidencia-evidence

falta-fault

imposición-imposition

información-information

jurisprudencia-jurisprudence

legado-legacy

magistrado-magistrate

moderno/a-modern

opinión-opinion

órgano-organ

panfleto-pamphlet

patrimonio-patrimony

puro y simple-pure and simple

recuento-recount

redacción-redaction

retribución-retribution

secreto-secret

seguridad-security

sentencia-sentence

social-social

tráfico-traffic

transacción-transaction

trimestre-trimester

usurpación-usurpation

Spanish-English Terminology of Gender Pay Discrimination

rebeccajowers Capsule vocabularies

Today I received a notice from my gestoría indicating that a new law (Real Decreto 902/2020, de 13 de octubre, de igualdad retributiva entre mujeres y hombres) will soon come into force, seeking to bridge Spain’s gender pay gap. Since I’m always on the lookout for new legal terminology, I’m sharing below some of the terms I jotted down as I read the text of the law in the BOE. I’ve included possible English translations. (There may be other appropriate renderings and readers may suggest additional terms).

  • brecha salarial (wage/pay gap)
  • brecha de género (gender gap)
  • igualdad salarial (wage/pay parity)
  • principio de igualdad retributiva (equal pay principle)
  • igual retributiva/igualdad de remuneración por trabajo de igual valor (equal pay for equal work)
  • discriminación retributiva por razón de sexo (gender pay discrimination)
  • transparencia retributiva (pay transparency)
  • auditoría retributiva (salary review)
  • retribuciones/percepciones extrasalariales (non-salary compensation; “perks;” perquisites; fringe benefits)

False Friends: When patrimonio is not “patrimony”

rebeccajowers False Friends

Patrimonio is often translated literally as “patrimony,” but this may sound awkward in several contexts. In that regard, patrimonio often refers simply to one’s “property,” “assets” or “estate.” Thus, for example, the Spanish Criminal Code offense of delitos de falsedad contra el patrimonio y contra el orden socioecónomico may be rendered simply as “offenses against property and economic interests,” since they include crimes such as theft (hurto), burglary (robo con fuerza en las cosas), robbery (robo con violencia o intimidación en las personas), extortion (extorsión) and unauthorized use of a vehicle (robo y hurto de uso de vehículo a motor—often called “joyriding” in English). Likewise, in inheritance law patrimonio del causante denotes the “deceased’s (or) decedent’s estate,” rather than his “patrimony.”

In other respects, in Spain the expressions patrimonio histórico and patrimonio histórico-cultural refer to “cultural heritage assets” protected under the Ley de Patrimonio Histórico Español. And impuesto sobre el patrimonio is simply a “wealth tax,” while incrementos y disminuciones de patrimonio denotes “capital gains and losses.”

The term patrimonio social (in general, “business assets”) warrants a closer look, since its translation may vary according to the type of business entity to which the expression refers. In that regard, the patrimonio social of a sociedad anónima are “corporate assets.” But if, for example, the entity in question is a partnership (sociedad colectiva or sociedad comanditaria), patrimonio social would be better rendered as “partnership assets.”

And as a final example, patrimonio ganancial (also: bienes gananciales) denotes the spouses’ commonly-owned community property in a community property marriage (sociedad de gananciales), in contrast to to their individually-owned property or assets (their patrimonio privativo or bienes privativos).

Español jurídico: Who is el Magistrado Ponente?

rebeccajowers Español jurídico

El magistrado ponente (or just ponente) is the judge on a multi-judge court (tribunal; órgano colegiado) who is assigned to oversee a given case and, ultimately, to write the court’s opinion, reflecting the final decision of his colleagues after their deliberations have concluded. In that regard, in judgments rendered by Spanish courts it is common to see a judge’s name followed by the reference that he was the magistrado ponente:

Ha sido Ponente la Magistrada Doña XXXX, quien expresa el parecer de la Sala.

Ha sido Magistrado Ponente el Ilmo. Sr. D. XXXX, quien expresa el parecer de la Sala

In international courts in which French is one of the official languages, magistrado ponente is often referred to as “judge rapporteur” (European Court of Justice; European Court of Human Rights), prompting some translators to use this expression for ponente or to render it literally as “reporting judge,” or even as “speaker judge (or) magistrate.”

But it should be noted that “judge rapporteur” and “reporting judge” are not used in Anglo-American court opinions, and the key to appropriately translating magistrado ponente actually appears in the Spanish examples above: quien expresa el parecer de la Sala. Indeed, Anglo-American judgments commonly indicate the name of the judge in question followed by the expressions:

  • “writing (or) who wrote the opinion of the court”
  • “delivering (or) who delivered the opinion of the court”
  • “giving (or) who gave the opinion of the court”

Thus, el parecer de la Sala is, obviously, “the opinion of the court.”

“Writing/wrote the opinion of the court” appears to be more common in US courts, while “deliver/delivering (and) giving/gave the opinion of the court” seems to occur more often in UK sources. Here are some examples of all three:

  • Writing for the Court, Justice John Paul Stevens said: “It is true that we have repeatedly recognized the governmental interest in protecting children from…
  • Writing for the Court, Justice Sandra Day O’Connor found that the law school had a compelling interest in attaining a diverse student body and that…
  • The Lord Justice General, writing the opinion of the court, said:. “In view of the difficulties which have arisen with the English prison authorities since …
  • Lord Reed, delivering the opinion of the court, said: “Where the summons has not called within the period specified by the rule, the automatic consequence….
  • The Opinion of the Court was delivered by the Lord Justice General. In that Opinion, he recorded that in the course of the hearing of the petition a number
  • L Phillips MR (delivering the opinion of the court) acknowledged that the difficulties the current “multiple publication” rule posed for Internet publishers…
  • Giving the opinion of the court, Lord Justice Clerk Gill said: “On the information before us, we conclude that the Society is neither secret nor sinister…
  • Giving the opinion of the court, the Lord President said it was clear that the effect of the statutory provisions, when read together, is that the court…

(concerning dissenting or concurring opinions see here)

Legal look-alikes: legado vs. legacy

rebeccajowers Confusing Terms

Many bilingual sources equate legado with legacy, a translation that may sometimes be inappropriate. In the Spanish law of succession (Derecho de sucesiones) legado denotes a testamentary gift of either personal property (legado de bienes muebles) or real property (legado de bienes inmuebles) to someone other than the decedent’s testamentary heirs (herederos testamentarios). But legado cannot always be equated with legacy, because in English a distinction has traditionally been made between a testamentary gift of personal property (properly called a “legacy” or “bequest”) and a testamentary gift of real property (technically called a “devise”). Thus, legado de bienes muebles may be rendered as “legacy” (or “bequest”), but legado de bienes inmuebles is more properly called a “devise.” Likewise, legatario (the beneficiary of a legado) may denote either a “legatee” or “devisee,” depending on whether the beneficiary in question receives a testamentary gift of personal property (“legacy” or “bequest”) or real property (“devise”).

To further complicate matters, perhaps it should also be noted that in modern usage, particularly in the US, this technical distinction between a “legacy” or “bequest” (a testamentary gift of personal property) and a “devise” (a testamentary gift of real property) is often disregarded, and the terms may be mixed or interchanged. In fact, the Uniform Probate Code (adopted in 18 states) has eliminated the distinction altogether. “Legacy,” “legatee,” “bequest” and the verb “bequeath” are not used, while “devise” has been adopted to encompass testamentary gifts of both real and personal property. In that regard, in the Code when used as a noun “devise” denotes a “testamentary disposition of real or personal property” while as a verb “to devise” means “to dispose of real or personal property by will.”