scholarly journals The Translation of Judgments

2006 ◽  
Vol 51 (3) ◽  
pp. 551-569 ◽  
Author(s):  
Emily Poon Wai-Yee
Keyword(s):  
Pilot Project ◽  
Case Law ◽  
Legal Knowledge ◽  
Plain Language ◽  
Legal Language ◽  
Front Line ◽  
Legal Translation ◽  
Syntactic Differences

Abstract This paper advocates the adoption of a plain language approach in the translation of judgments. The front-line objective is to gradually develop among legal practitioners the consciousness of using Chinese as a legal language, whether it is for judgment writing or for use as the trial language. While the pilot project on the translation of case law launched by the Subcommittee on the Translation of Case Precedents was a good attempt to boost the translation incentive, it exposed a number of problems in legal translation as yet unsolved. This paper explores potential solutions to these problems, including studying the syntactic differences between English and Chinese, the employment of common Chinese usages, and the application of legal knowledge, among others. This paper argues that legal bilingualism in courts will not be fully achieved if the problems of writing or understanding judgments persist.

A study of legal translation from the perspective of error analysis

2016 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Pi-Chan Hu ◽  
Le Cheng
Keyword(s):  
Error Analysis ◽  
Ordinary Language ◽  
Target Language ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Legal Knowledge ◽  
Legal Language ◽  
Source Language ◽  
Legal Translation ◽  
Legal Texts ◽  
Reference Tools

AbstractIn this research, we established a small scale corpus with abstracts in English and Chinese from the law reviews of Taiwan. We identified problems found in these abstracts and classified them into several categories. After analyzing the problems, we found that translators are faced with numerous problems when translating legal texts: the influence of ordinary language, lack of reliable reference tools, insufficiency of legal knowledge, deficiency in the target language or source language, and the peculiar characteristics of legal language. These problems simply render the task of translating even more intricate. Strategies will be proposed to enhance the ability of legal translators and to help them to overcome these obstacles.

Hong Kong bilingual legislation and plain language drafting: A communicative approach

Multilingua ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 37 (6) ◽  
pp. 681-700
Author(s):  
Clara Ho-yan Chan
Keyword(s):  
Hong Kong ◽  
Plain Language ◽  
Legal Language ◽  
Department Of Justice ◽  
Communicative Approach ◽  
Using Data

Abstract This paper proposes law drafting techniques, especially in Chinese, that aim to enhance the fluency and readability of Hong Kong bilingual legislation. The study is based on the plain language guide published by the Department of Justice of Hong Kong in 2012, with the goal of helping the current legislation to comply with the guidelines. Using data from seven recently-enacted ordinances, the analysis illustrates drafting techniques for their English and Chinese versions in accordance with the plain language guide published by the Department of Justice. This process is accomplished by suggesting revisions for relevant Chinese sections of legislation and their corresponding English sections according to contrasting aspects of English and Chinese grammars. The discussion will also evaluate the plain language drafting and the overall theoretical and philosophical trend of law drafting in Hong Kong, in light of the “Seven Standards of Textuality” proposed by de Beaugrande and Dressler. This is believed to be the first undertaking to study plain legal language against its official guidelines in the Hong Kong context.

scholarly journals On Legal English Translation from the Perspective of Legal Linguistics

2019 ◽  
Vol 2 (3) ◽  
pp. 6
Author(s):  
Weifeng Hu
Keyword(s):  
English Translation ◽  
Transnational Corporations ◽  
International Exchange ◽  
Legal Language ◽  
Translation Process ◽  
Legal Translation ◽  
Rights And Interests ◽  
Transnational Trade

With the deepening trend of globalization and the development of economy and society, the demand for international exchange talents is increasing. Especially with the increasing number of transnational corporations, almost every company should have professional legal translation employees to guarantee their legitimacy of transnational trade and effectively prevent the infringement of related rights and interests. Therefore, to improve the quality in transnational translation business and optimize legal English translation skills from the perspective of legal language can not only offer a reference for the industry, but also provide evidence for the problems arising from the actual legal translation process. Based on the perspective of legal linguistics, this paper tries to puts forward appropriate legal English translation measures mainly by analyzing the skills of legal English translation, with a view to providing some references for relevant scholars.

8. Mistake

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard Taylor ◽  
Damian Taylor
Keyword(s):  
Case Law ◽  
Legal Knowledge ◽  
Face To Face ◽  
Mistaken Identity ◽  
Common Mistake ◽  
Key Points ◽  
The Difference

Without assuming prior legal knowledge, books in the Directions series introduce and guide readers through key points of law and legal debate. Questions, diagrams and exercises help readers to engage fully with each subject and check their understanding as they progress. This chapter discusses the various ways of classifying mistakes including communication mistakes, mistakes of fact, common mistake and unilateral mistake. It then looks at the case law on mistaken identity and the distinctions between face-to-face and correspondence contracts. Finally, it looks at the restrictive rules on common mistake, including the difference between fundamental mistake and mistake as to quality, and their relationship with the doctrine of frustration and the demise of the category of equitable mistake.

9. Employers’ liability and non-delegable duties

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vera Bermingham ◽  
Carol Brennan
Keyword(s):  
Common Law ◽  
Tort Law ◽  
Case Law ◽  
Duty Of Care ◽  
Legal Knowledge ◽  
Key Points ◽  
The Common

Without assuming prior legal knowledge, books in the Directions series introduce and guide readers through key points of law and legal debate. Questions, diagrams, and exercises help readers to engage fully with each subject and check their understanding as they progress. While tort law is largely based on case law developed by judges through the common law, the liability of occupiers for the injuries suffered by those on their premises is governed by two statutes: the Occupiers’ Liability Act 1957 and the Occupiers’ Liability Act 1984. The chapter explains the scope of an occupier’s liability and how it relates to other aspects of negligence, considers the duty of care owed by occupiers to lawful visitors under the Occupiers’ Liability Act 1957, discusses the duty of care owed by occupiers to trespassers under the Occupiers’ Liability Act 1984 and how it relates to the previous common law duty of care.

scholarly journals Translation of the Proper Nouns in Legal English

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (6) ◽  
pp. 711-716
Author(s):  
Gang Tang
Keyword(s):  
Legal Knowledge ◽  
Proper Nouns ◽  
Legal Translation ◽  
Long Time ◽  
Internet Application

Proper nouns have posed a challenge to translators of legal English for a long time. Legal English has the characteristics of formality, accuracy, ambiguity, professional, etc. These characteristics have made it more difficult for translation of the proper nouns in legal English. However, due to not paying enough attention to translation of the proper nouns in legal English, translators engaged in legal translation often make a lot of mistakes during the process of translation. Generally speaking, names of people or places are transliterated, while names of institutions or books are semantic translated. Transliteration should follow the principle of conformity to the original and the principle of convention, the former is mainly applied to proper nouns of non-English origin, while the latter concerning established wording or phrasing. In order to translate the proper nouns in legal English better, firstly, we should be aware of the difficulties of translation of the proper nouns in legal English; secondly, we should try our best to accumulate extensive legal knowledge and improve our translation skills; thirdly, we should make full use of reference books and master the skills of Internet application; last but not the least, we should ask for advice from others.

scholarly journals Cognitive Stylistic Conceptualization of Legal Translation

2022 ◽  
Vol 3 (33) ◽  
pp. 86-102
Author(s):  
Hasan Said Ghazala ◽  
Keyword(s):  
The Other ◽  
Legal Language ◽  
Strong Link ◽  
Legal Translation ◽  
Other Hand ◽  
Cognitive Approaches ◽  
Arabic And English ◽  
Relationship Of ◽  
The Relationship

Among the newly developed ideas in the relationship of translation to style is the strong link between translation and cognitive stylistics. The result of this link is the introduction of cognitive conceptualization to translation as one way of comprehending and rendering meaning of the SL into the TL. On the other hand, it can help solve some problems of legal translation based on cognitive cultural conceptualization of legal terms and expressions. This paper is an attempt to introduce new clues for sorting out a number of legal terminology in the light of latest cognitive approaches to the conceptualization of style which can be applied to legal language in the translation between the two languages, Arabic and English. This is achieved through introducing cognitive stylistic approaches to the conceptualization of the style of legal language in translation and how untrodden ways of legal meanings and implications can be traced and unearthed in the process. The paper ends up with some conclusions about suggesting way-out solutions to several problems of legal translation between the two languages concerned, to be put in use later by legal translators.

The limits of plain legal language: understanding the comprehensible style in law

2019 ◽  
Vol 15 (03) ◽  
pp. 246-262 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zsolt Ződi
Keyword(s):  
Problem Solving ◽  
Plain Language ◽  
Legal Language ◽  
Language Understanding ◽  
Corpus Linguistic ◽  
Linguistic Research ◽  
Legal Texts ◽  
Linguistic Problem ◽  
Technical Rules

AbstractThe comprehensible style of legal texts seems to be a predominantly linguistic problem. This is how the plain-legal-language movements present it. But, while plain-language statutes have been on the agenda for decades in every civilised country, laws still become more and more complicated. The paper attempts to explain this controversy. First, it argues that comprehensibility has more aspects beyond the linguistic or stylistic one. Sometimes it is the linguistically simplest texts that raise the most serious comprehensibility problems. The paper refers to two pieces of corpus linguistic research that provide evidence that vocabulary and grammar in themselves do not explain the incomprehensibility of the legal texts. Second, for a more subtle handling of the comprehensibility problem, the paper offers a framework of three typical pragmatic situations – the processual, the problem-solving and the compliance settings – where comprehensibility problems arise in different ways. The conclusion of the paper is that, contrary to the usual explanation that the main reason for incomprehensibility is that, in law, clarity and accuracy can be only employed at each other's expense, it is rather the systemic and interpretive character of law and the growing importance of technical rules that hinder the understanding of legal texts.

14. Elements of defamation

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vera Bermingham ◽  
Carol Brennan
Keyword(s):  
Strict Liability ◽  
Case Law ◽  
Recent Case ◽  
Personal Injury ◽  
Duty Of Care ◽  
Legal Knowledge ◽  
Current State ◽  
Key Points ◽  
Continuous Activity ◽  
State Of Affairs

Without assuming prior legal knowledge, books in the Directions series introduce and guide readers through key points of law and legal debate. Questions, diagrams, and exercises help readers to engage fully with each subject and check their understanding as they progress. Rylands v Fletcher was an 1868 case that gave birth to a rule imposing strict liability for damage caused by the escape of dangerous things from land. The tort in Rylands v Fletcher differs from nuisance because it does not consider the involvement of the defendant in a continuous activity or an ongoing state of affairs. What distinguishes Rylands v Fletcher from actions in negligence is that there is no need for the existence of a duty of care and its breach, along with the questionable place of personal injury as an actionable type of damage. This chapter examines the tort in Rylands v Fletcher and the nature of the rule that arose from it. It also considers recent case law developments concerning Rylands v Fletcher and their impact on the current state of the law. Finally, the chapter evaluates the defences pertaining to Rylands v Fletcher.

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