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Файл:Английский для юристов основы перевода международных документов. Учебное пособие
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MODULE 2
TRANSLATION OF INTERNATIONAL DOCUMENTS
Unit 1. Legal Language
¾ STARTING UP
1) What is legal translation?
2) Why is it important for a legal translator to have a basic understanding of
the nature of law and legal language?
¾ Part 1.
A. Read the introduction to the text and check your answers to questions
in STARTING UP.
Legal translation is a special and specialised area of translational activity. Legal
translation involves law, and such translation can and often does produce not
just linguistic but also legal impact and consequence, and because of the special
nature of law and legal language. Moreover, the translation of legal texts of any
kind, from statute laws to contracts to courtroom testimony, is a practice that
stands at the crossroads of legal theory, language theory and translation theory.
Therefore, it is essential that the legal translator have a basic understanding of
the nature of law and legal language and the impact it has on legal translation.
B. Study the information about legal translation typology. What are the
two general categories of translation? Why does legal translation fall under the specialist category?
Legal Translation Typology
Translation is classifiable into various categories. It can be divided into two
general categories of literary and non-literary translation.
If we follow the general, literary and specialist classification of translation, legal translation falls under the specialist category, or technical translation. It is a
type of the translational activity involving special language use, that is, language for special purpose (LSP) in the context of law, or language for legal
purpose (LLP). Legal translation has the characteristics of technical translation
and also shares some of the features of general translation.
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Legal translation can be further classified according to different criteria. For
instance, legal translation has been classified according to the subject matter of
the texts into the following categories: (1) translating domestic statutes and
international treaties; (2) translating private legal documents; (3) translating
legal scholarly works; and (4) translating case law.
Legal translation can also be divided according to the status of the original
texts: (1) translating enforceable law, e.g. statutes; and (2) translating nonenforceable law, e.g. legal scholarly works.
Legal translation can be classified according to the functions of the legal texts
into the following categories: (1) primarily prescriptive, e.g. laws, regulations,
codes, contracts, treaties and conventions. These are regulatory instruments
containing rules of conduct or norms. They are normative texts; (2) primarily
descriptive and also prescriptive, e.g. judicial decisions and legal instruments
that are used to carry on judicial and administrative proceedings such as actions, pleadings, briefs, appeals, requests, petitions etc.; and (3) purely descriptive, e.g. scholarly works written by legal scholars such as legal opinions, law
textbooks, articles etc.
One major problem with the existing classifications of legal translation is that
they are based on the function or use of the original legal texts in the SL, without due regard to the various TL factors, such as the functions or status of the
translated texts. However, there is a need to distinguish the functions of the SL
text from those of the TL text. It is necessary to consider the TL variables, in
addition to those of the SL. Another problem of the existing classifications is
that many documents that are used in the legal process and translated as such
are excluded from the classifications, e.g. documents used in court proceedings.
A third major problem is that some of the classifications exclude communications between lawyers and non-lawyers (clients).
Notes:
SL=source language
TL=translation language язык перевода
язык оригинала
C. Answer the questions:
1. What categories can legal translation be classified according to the subject
matter of the texts?
2. What categories can legal translation be classified according to the status of
the original texts?
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3. What categories can legal translation be classified according to the functions
of the legal texts?
4. What types of texts can be considered as purely descriptive?
5. That types of texts have characteristics of descriptive and prescriptive texts?
6. What are the main problems with the existing classifications of legal transla-
tion?
¾ GLOSSARY
A. Study the English words and phrases to their Russian equivalents:
legal impact and consequence юридическое воздействие и последствия
statute laws законодательные акты
courtroom testimony свидетельское показание в суде
literary and non-literary translation
general translation общий перевод
domestic statutes внутренние законодательные акты
international treaties международные договоры
private legal documents частные юридические документы
legal scholarly works юридические научные работы
case law прецедентное право
enforceable law закон, применимый в принудительном
prescriptive предписывающий
rules of conduct правила поведения
descriptive описательный
judicial decisions судебные решения
judicial and administrative
proceedings
литературный и нелитературный
перевод
порядке
судебные и административные
процедуры
B. Complete the sentences with the following phrases: enforceable, judicial
decisions, courtroom testimony, case law, international treaties, judicial and
administrative proceedings, statute law.
1. The ______________ serves a primary role in the Anglo-American
legal system.
2. This Human Rights Act is ______________ in the ordinary courts.
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3. The right to health is universally recognized: each state has ratified at
least one of the _________________ on human rights which enshrines the
right to health.
4. A ____________ is a written law produced by Parliament which
originates from decisions made in other courts and the country's written
constitution
5. Much of _____________ depends on your ability to prepare an
accurate report and other required documents.
6. _____ is the set of past rulings by judges and similar tribunals, and that
meet their respective jurisdictions' rules for formality to be cited as precedent.
7. As an attorney with Lavelle Law, Ltd., I deal with
both ___________________________.
C. Look through the text and find nouns derived from these verbs:
Verb Noun
decide
testify
proceed
translate
classify
D. Complete the sentences with the words form C.
1. Have you ever wondered how judges _________the sentences they pass?
2. The judge will make a ___________ after the hearing based on evidence
from the parties who appeared in court.
3. Court ______________ are time consuming and expensive.
4. __________ is a general process related to categorization, the process in
which ideas and objects are recognized, differentiated, and
understood.
5. The jury heard 10 days of _____________.
6. She is working on a _____________ of the novel.
7. The online system can ___________ books by subject.
8. He agreed to ___________ against his drug dealer.
9. All passengers must ___________ to the baggage claim area.
10. We need someone who can ___________ Japanese into English.
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¾ Part 2.
A. Do you know any examples of legal texts? Skim the text and complete
the table.
legislative texts judicial texts legal scholarly texts private legal texts
Legal language is the language related to law and legal process. This includes language of the law, language about law, and language used in other
legal communicative situations.
We may distinguish four major variants of legal texts in the written form:
(1) legislative texts, e.g. domestic statutes and subordinate laws, international
treaties and multilingual laws, and other laws produced by lawmaking authorities;
(2) judicial texts produced in the judicial process by judicial officers and other
legal authorities;
(3) legal scholarly texts produced by academic lawyers or legal scholars in
scholarly works and commentaries whose legal status depends on the legal systems in different jurisdictions;
(4) private legal texts that include texts written by lawyers, e.g. contracts, leases, wills and litigation documents, and also texts written by non-lawyers, e.g.
private agreements, witness statements and other documents produced by nonlawyers and used in litigation and other legal situations.
Legal texts may have various communicative purposes. They can be for
normative purpose as in the case of bilingual and multilingual statutes and other
laws and documents that establish legal facts or create rights and obligations.
Legal texts can also be for informative purpose as in some legal scholarly
works and commentaries, legal advice, correspondence between lawyers, between lawyers and clients, and documents used in court proceedings.
For the translator, it is necessary to ascertain the legal status and communicative purpose of the original texts and the target texts as these may impact
translation.
Legal translation can be classified into three categories by the purposes of
the TL texts.
Legal language
45
Firstly, there is legal translation for normative purpose. It involves production of equally authentic legal texts in bilingual and multilingual jurisdictions of domestic laws and international legal instruments and other laws. They
are the translation of the law. Often such bilingual or multilingual texts are first
drafted in one language and then translated into another language or languages.
They may also be drafted simultaneously in both or all languages. Examples of
these are the legislation in the bilingual jurisdictions of Canada and Hong
Kong, the multilingual legal instruments of the UN, and the multilingual laws
of the EU. This category of legal translation may also include private documents such as contracts. For instance, in a non-English speaking country, contracts sometimes may stipulate that the versions of the contract in the official
language of the country and English are both authentic, even though the language of the court and the country does not include English. In this first category of legal translation, the communicative purposes of the SL and TL texts are
identical.
Secondly, there is legal translation for informative purpose. This includes
the translation of statutes, court decisions, scholarly works and other types of
legal documents if the translation is intended to provide information to the target readers. This is most often found in monolingual jurisdictions. Such translations are different from the first category where the translated law is legally
binding. An example is the translation of the legal instruments of the WTO,
which has English, French and Spanish as its official languages. Here only the
texts written in the official languages have legal force while their translations
into other languages are not binding, but for information only.
Thirdly, there is legal translation for general legal or judicial purpose.
Such translations are primarily for information, and are mostly descriptive. This
type of translated document may be used in court proceedings as part of documentary evidence. Original SL texts of this type may include legal documents
such as statements of claims or pleadings, contracts and agreements, and ordinary texts such as business or personal correspondence, records and certificates,
witness statements and expert reports, among many others. The translations of
such documents are used by clients who do not speak the language of the court.
The third type of translation is different from the second category described
above in that the third category may include ordinary texts that are not written
in legal language by legal professionals, but by the layperson. This type of legal
translation is often left out in the discussion and classification of legal translation. However, in fact, in the practice of legal translation, it constitutes a major
part of the translation work of the legal translator in real life.
46
B. Answer the questions:
1) What purposes can legal texts have?
2) What is the specifics of translation for normative purposes?
3) How is the translation for normative purposes different from the trans-
lation for normative purposes?
4) What types of texts can be translated for judicial purposes?
C. Are these sentences true or false?
1. There are three types of legal texts.
2. Private legal texts only include texts written by lawyers, such as contracts,
leases, wills and litigation documents.
3. Legal translation for normative purposes involves production of equally authentic legal texts in bilingual and multilingual jurisdictions of domestic and
international law.
4. Translations for judicial purposes are mostly descriptive.
5. Translation for informative purpose is most often found in monolingual jurisdiction.
C. Improve the machine translation of the text.
Secondly, there is legal translation for informative purpose. This
includes the translation of statutes,
court decisions, scholarly works and
other types of legal documents if the
translation is intended to provide
information to the target readers.
This is most often found in monolingual jurisdictions. Such translations
are different from the first category
where the translated law is legally
binding. An example is the translation of the legal instruments of the
WTO, which has English, French
and Spanish as its official languages.
Here only the texts written in the
official languages have legal force
while their translations into other
languages are not binding, but for
information only.
Во-вторых, есть юридический
перевод для познавательной цели.
Это включает перевод уставов,
судебных решений, научных работ и других видов юридических
документов. Это чаще всего
встречается в одноязычных юрисдикциях. Такие переводы отличаются от первой категории, где
переведенный закон является
юридически обязательным. Примером может служить перевод
ВТО, в котором английский,
анцузский и испанский языки
фр
являются официальными языками. Здесь только тексты, написанные на официальных языках,
имеют юридическую силу, а их
переводы – на других языках.
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D. Read the excerpts from different types of documents and decide which
document they belong to: lease agreement, journal article, international trea-
ty, last will, witness statement.
1.
I direct that all my debts, and expenses of my last illness, funeral, and
burial, be paid as soon after my death as may be reasonably convenient,
and I hereby authorize my Personal Representative (or Executor), hereinafter appointed, to settle and discharge, in his or her absolute discretion,
any claims made against my estate.
2.
The Tenant shall deposit an amount of $ _______________ to be held
by the Landlord as security deposit. This deposit shall be refunded to the
Tenant upon termination of this Lease after deducting for any of the following: default of rent payment, loss or damage to the Premises or its
furnishings, any required cleaning of the Premises and for any other reason allowed by law.
3.
It is agreed that:
The purpose of each student exchange is to enable students to take
classes but not to study for a degree at the host institution. Courses
passed at the host institution will normally be accepted for credit towards
the degree at the candidate's home institution in which s/he is enrolled. It
will be the responsibility of each participant in the student exchange
program to obtain official approval from his/her own institution for
courses taken at the host institution.
4.
Government surveillance threatens not only individual privacy but also
the freedom to dissent. Yet courts typically evaluate the lawfulness of
surveillance solely through a Fourth Amendment lens rather than the
First. This Essay briefly sets out how the First Amendment might once
again become a bulwark against overreaching government surveillance.
48
5.
On 17 January 2013 I had a conversation with my supervisor Gary
Irons. I said: "Gary, I wasn’t paid enough for the work I did on
Saturday. I thought I was entitled to be paid at the rate of one and a
half my normal hourly rate. I was only paid at my normal rate".
¾ GLOSSARY
A. Study the English words and phrases and their Russian equivalents:
legislative texts законодательные тексты
judicial texts судебные тексты
academic lawyers академические юристы
leases, wills and litigation documents
private agreements, witness
statements
communicative purposes коммуникативные цели
bilingual and multilingual statutes
establish legal facts устанавливать юридические факты
create rights and obligations создавать права и обязанности
legal advice юридическая консультация
court proceedings судебные разбирательства
ascertain устанавливать
stipulate предусматривать
authentic имеющий силу оригинала
documentary evidence письменные доказательства
statements of claims исковые заявления
layperson неспециалист
binding юридически обязывающий
B. Complete the sentences with the following phrases: legal advice, documentary evidence, stipulated, binding, legal facts.
1. __________ should not be confused with real evidence.
2. ___________ is the giving of a professional or formal opinion regarding
the substance or procedure of the law in relation to a particular factual
situation.
договоры аренды, завещания и судебные
документы
частные соглашения, свидетельские показания
двуязычные и многоязычные законодательные акты
49
3. A valid stipulation is only on the parties who agree to it.
4. A judgment is an agreement between the parties to a case,
which settles the case.
5. are the information on which lawyers base their arguments,
in order to win cases in courts of law.
C. Read the text given below and complete the table:
Noun Adjective
norm
social
humanity
behavioral
prescriptive
The normative nature of legal language
Legal philosophers agree that legal language is a normative language. The
normative language of law derives from the fact that the basic function of law
in society is to guide human behaviour and regulate human relations. Law is
distinguished from most other types of human institutions. Law exists as a set
of prescriptions having the form of imperatives, defining and enforcing the arrangements, relationships, procedures and patterns of behaviour that are to be
followed in a society.
D. Complete the sentences with the words from C.
1 We live in a democratic _____________.
2 His rude ___________ makes me angry.
3 The introduction of the term "regulative" or "_________" is intended to diffe-
rentiate the science from psychology as the science of mental processes or
events.
4 In the past, ______________ has been able to sustain both wars and progress.
5 Taxes will rise, and _______ programs will grow.
6 Courts of law are now the ______ in the world, with laws being democratically established and widely published.
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