French to English Legalese, Part 3

 

This is our final instalment on legalese.

Yes, we realize that legal lexicon is expansive and we could easily create a blog exclusively for legal terminology, but that would take the fun out of our vocabulary-building efforts for numerous other domains of activity.  We're just starting! 

We have yet to cover IT, Psychology and other social sciences, cyberspeak, marketing, the film industry - the entire gamut of professions and trades that have built their own reservoir of words and phrases.

We promised earlier that part 3 would not mean an end to a series.  When we did flowers, health conditions, and baby items, we said we'd go back to them and continue from where we left off.  So, we intend to tackle more legalese in the future.  For those of you who want more legal terms in French and English, stay tuned!

Let's finish this thread.

FRENCH	ENGLISH
exception de litispendance	(lis alibi pendens) plea of suit pending elsewhere
juridiction d'exception	jurisdiction of an exceptional court
acte en forme exécutoire	instrument ready for enforcement
jugement exécutoire	enforceable judgment
à la condition expresse que...	on the distinct understanding that...
faute délictuelle	transgression committed with the intention to harm someone
certificat fiduciaire	trustee's certificate
le bien-fondé d'une demande	the merits of a case
en foi de quoi	in witness whereof
garantie étendue	comprehensive guarantee
grève patronale	lock-out, turn-out
droits de greffe	registry dues
hypothèque en premier rang	first mortgage
incommutabilité de la possession	absolute ownership
inadmissible	inadmissible; out of the question

How about some legal humor?  Here are two from http://www.re-quest.net/g2g/humor/lawyer-jokes/index.htm:

(1)  A defendant was asked if he wanted a bench trial or a jury trial. "Jury trial," the defendant replied. "Do you understand the difference?" asked the judge. "Sure," replied the defendant, "That's where twelve ignorant people decide my fate instead of one."

(2)  An attorney ran over to the office of his client. "I can't believe it!" said the angered attorney, "You sent a case of Dom Perignon to the judge in your case? That judge is as straight as an arrow. Now we're certain to lose this case!" "Relax," said the client, "I sent it in the prosecutor's name."

French to English Legalese, Part 2

Legal documents are intimidating.  When you have a lawsuit and your lawyer writes procedures,  you want to scrutinize them with a fine-toothed comb to make sure you understand what is being said (or alleged) in the procedure. 

But if you aren't involved in any lawsuit, these legal procedures become less interesting.   Your tendency would probably be to set them aside or merely scan them with some indifference.  This indifference could be due to the legal terms and phrases that permeate through the documents of which the lay person knows very little about. 

When I was a paralegal, some people asked me why legal documents were too cumbersome to read.  Like it or not, legalese is something that's here to stay.  Legal language is so steeped in tradition that there has been little deviation from the way lawyers and judges communicate, especially in writing.  In declarations for example, it is common for lawyers (or paralegals) to start with the word "whereas", wherein certain conditions are outlined before presenting the facts of the case.  That hasn't yet been replaced by the more modern phrase "Given that" or "taking into account."  Somehow it's a lot easier and more customary to simply say "whereas."

Below are some legal phrases that you've probably come across before.

FRENCH	ENGLISH
à bon droit	lawfully, rightfully
à la condition que	provided that
à peine de	under penalty of
advenant	in the event of something happening
avant dire droit	injunction, provisional, interlocutory judgment
bien fondé	merits of a case, claim
ci-après	hereafter
ci-dessous	hereinafter (or herewith below)
consigner par écrit	to write down
débats judiciaires	proceedings, hearings
detente fiscale	tax cut
en tout état de cause	whatever the situation, the legal situation

An interlocutory judgment is a judgment that is issued by a judge during hearings or proceedings. It is not a  final judgment. . It is provisional - temporary - until the judge hears all evidence submitted.

My lawyer-boss often took me to examinations for discovery (interrogatoire préalable) which were frequently held in lawyers' offices.  Lawyers from both camps are present along with their clients.  There is a stenographer who takes down the entire examination and then submits the transcription 24-48 days later.  To me these were enlightening sessions; I enjoyed listening to the tit-for-tat among lawyers.  An examination for discovery (also called examination on discovery or oral examination) is a lawyer's right to question the adverse party prior to a trial.  It is one way for lawyers to collect information (or proof) which they can present to the judge during the actual trial in a court of law.

French to English Legalese, Part 1

For this blog and the next two blogs, we'll take a new theme - law.

I used to work as a paralegal in a small Montreal litigation firm.  Despite the firm's size, there were numerous procedures to write for the lawyers' signatures and eventually, for pleading before the judge.  Writing legal procedures was a challenging task but I enjoyed it immensely. 

It was while I worked as a paralegal that I was forced to hone my French to English skills.  I managed well at the written and verbal levels, but the auditory level was where I had to roll up my sleeves and do some hard work.  I would sit with my boss at the judge's chambers and try to make sense out of the arguments and counter-arguments.  My first six months as a paralegal was an uphill battle, all because I was rusty in the listening department.   I had to stop listening to English radio and switch to a French radio station just to get les oreilles used to listening to the sounds. 

At first I thought that if I could read, write and speak some French, I'd have no problem listening and understanding.

Wrong!

It was a rude awakening.  Listening was a different ballgame - I stumbled often especially when I had to do a lot of listening in a court of law!

I remember one morning when my boss was arguing before His Lordship about a case.  He paused and then looked at me.  Even the judge had his eyes on me.  I wondered if it was my posture so I shifted my weight, feeling suddenly ill at ease.   Then he whispered something to the judge and walked towards me. 

"Didn't you hear?  I need to show the affidavit!"

"Ah, the affidavit.  Yes of course."

The province of Quebec is the only province that uses Civil Law, which is patterned after the legal system of France.  The other Canadian provinces operate under Common Law after the British legal system.

A look at some of those French to English terms:

disposition générale	general provision
tutelle légale	legal tutorship
curatelle	curatorship
dissolution et liquidation des personnes morales	dissolution and liquidation of legal persons
prestation compensatoire	compensatory allowance
demande et la preuve	application and proof
union civile	civil union
renonciation	renunciation
testaments	wills
testament olographe	holograph wills
droit au partage	right to partition
propriété	property
usufruit	usufruct
servitudes	servitudes
fiducie	trust
compte annuel	annual account
consentement	consent

Legal translation can be tricky.  The idea is to consistently think "context."  Depending on the context, the type of law (insurance, divorce and family, banking, maritime) and the circumstances, various terms may apply.  Take "property" as an example.  It could be propriéte or des biens (collective) or domicile. 

In legal translation, context should be the deciding factor when choosing the appropriate equivalent.  This rule is valid as well for other domains of activity.