Dr. Miguel A. Campos Legal English Unit 0 – Legal English UNIT 0: LEGAL ENGLISH

I. Legal English: latinisms, tautologies (couplets), , etc.

Read sections 2 and 3 in Lesson 5 of El inglés jurídico (Alcaraz 2003: 75-85). Then do the following exercises:

A. Match the expressions in the sentences with the English paraphrase given below. after the event, don’t want to prosecute, of sound mind, guilty mind, in good faith, in itself, in the matter of, in good faith, guilty act, let the buyer beware, in the capacity of, beyond somebody’s power, inappropriate forum

1.The doctrine of forum non conveniens originated in Scotland in the nineteenth century. 2. It was said that the agents had acted . 3. The witness was held to be compos mentis at the time of the event 4. He represented himself as a bona fide purchaser. 5. The party has failed to present prima facie evidence on any required element of its case. 6. Some crimes require proof of both actus reus and mens rea 7. Ex post facto laws are prohibited in many constitutions. 8. Caveat Emptor is a principle of classical . 9. In re: Julian Enterprises, Inc. as plaintiffs, and Julian Marine, Inc. as Owner of the vessel. 10. Violation of the general duty clause may not constitute negligence per se. 11. the state entered a nolo prosequi in county court for all charges.

Now, using the Internet, verify if the same expressions are used in Legal Spanish, and if so, copy and paste one example for each of them.

On Latin (and French) terms in Legal English: http://www.uklegal.com/articles/latin.htm http://depthome.brooklyn.cuny.edu/classics/englatin.htm http://www.dl.ket.org/latin3/mores/legallatin/legal04.htm http://publib.upol.cz/~obd/fulltext/Anglica-2/Anglica-2_07.pdf

B. Complete the couplets below with the options given. Remember that, in general, couplets consist of words very similar in meaning. agree, aiding, desist, proper, confessed, correct, every, entering, exclusive, testament, void

1. Orders are entered related to the custody of minors as is deemed fit and ______. 2. The receipt of such is hereby acknowledged and ______. 3. The parties hereby consent and ______to all the stipulations contained herein. 4. The force majeure clause applies to each and _____ party hereof. 5. They pleaded guilty to breaking and ______. 6. The information contained in this leaflet is true and ______to the best of my knowledge 7. We request that you immediately cease and ______from reproducing our corporate signature,

1 Dr. Miguel A. Campos Legal English Unit 0 – Legal English 8. I make, publish and declare this instrument to be my last will and ______. 9. We hereby appoint XXXX as the sole and ______for the rental of the property. 10. All orders issued prior to February 2, 1991 are hereby declared null and _____. 11. Major US banks are ______and abetting illegal aliens by allowing them to set up bank accounts using a "sham" ID card.

C. Read the following paragraph on “collocations”:

What is a collocation? Here are two definitions:

* The frequency or tendency some words have to combine with each other. For instance, Algeo notes that the phrases "tall person" and "high mountain" seem to fit together readily without sounding strange. A non-native speaker might talk about a "high person" or "tall mountain," and this construction might sound slightly odd to a native English speaker. The difference is in collocation. (http://web.cn.edu/kwheeler/lit_terms_C.html)

* phrases composed of words that co-occur for lexical rather than semantic reasons, for example, a heavy smoker is one who smokes a great deal, but someone who writes a great deal is not a heavy writer. This seems to be a lexical fact, not related to the meanings of smoker or writer. (http://www.essex.ac.uk/linguistics/clmt/mtbook/html/node98.html )

Read also a fuller explanation in Wikipedia, in http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Collocation, and also the related entry on “Siamese twins”.

Now, complete the following sentences with one of the options provided. Although grammatically (and even semantically) all the options appear to be right, and there is no logical reason to say otherwise, only one of the options “collocates” with the remaining words, i.e. only one option corresponds to real usage.

1. The Tribunal may, on its own ______or on the application of either party… a) motion b) desire c) discretion d) authority

2. I solemnly declare that I shall give evidence to the best of my ______and belief. a) wisdom b) capacity c) knowledge d) awareness

3. These Rules shall come into ______on 1 February 2004. a) force b) vigour c) strength d) validity

4. The defendant, while in police ______, was questioned by police officers. a) custody b) wardship c) protection d) imprisonment

5. The confession was admitted into evidence over the ______of defense counsel. a) protest b) objection c) complaint d) opposition

6. You have the right to remain ______, and anything you say will be used against you in court. a) mute b) dumb c) quiet d) silent

7. This Court has ______over the subject matter of this action.

2 Dr. Miguel A. Campos Legal English Unit 0 – Legal English a) power b) competence c) jurisdiction d) authority

8. The will of the People shall be expressed by equal, direct and secret universal ______. a) suffrage b) vote c) decision d) consultation

9. No law shall be made abridging the right of the people peaceably to ______. a) meet b) convene c) reunite b) assemble

10. Everyone has the right to a ______and public hearing by an independent and impartial court. a) just b) fair c) correct d) equitable

II. The fight against ambiguity and obscurity in Legal English.

Read the following extract from the Plain English Campaign website (www.plainenglish.co.uk) Here are some of the most common questions about Plain English Campaign.

What is Plain English Campaign? We are an independent organisation fighting for crystal-clear language and against jargon, gobbledygook and other confusing language. We are based in New Mills, Derbyshire in England.

What is plain English? We define plain English as something that the intended audience can read, understand and act upon the first time they read it. Plain English takes into account design and layout as well as language.

Where should plain English be used? Plain English is needed in all kinds of public information, such as forms, leaflets, agreements and . The golden rule is that plain English should be used in any information that ordinary people rely on when they make decisions.

What's wrong with gobbledygook? We can't put it better than a nurse who wrote to us about a baffling memo. She said that 'receiving information in this form makes us feel hoodwinked, inferior, definitely frustrated and angry, and it causes a divide between us and the writer.'

Who pays for Plain English Campaign? We are entirely self-funded, which allows us to stay totally independent. We raise our funds through our commercial services, which include editing documents and training courses. We have a downloadable brochure covering all our services. This is in Adobe Acrobat (also called PDF) format. The brochure will take about one to two minutes to download on most computers.

Can I join the Campaign? If you would like to register as a Plain English Campaign supporter, please type your e-mail address in the box below and click the 'Join' button. We will then send you the weekly news update from our site by e-mail. We will not pass your e-mail address on to anybody else. More than 6000 people have signed up as supporters so far. We always welcome nominations for our awards, both the Plain English awards and the legendary Golden Bulls. Organisations can join as corporate members. For a set fee, they will get free Crystal Marks for all documents that pass our testing, free training places, and discounts on our diploma courses.

How can I learn to write plain English? A good first step is our free guide 'How to write in plain English'. We also have a range of guides with advice on writing in specific situations. You may be interested in our training courses.

What is the Crystal Mark? The Crystal Mark is our internationally recognised symbol of clarity. It applies to a particular document,

3 Dr. Miguel A. Campos Legal English Unit 0 – Legal English and shows that it is in plain English. Can I get the Crystal Mark for a website? We have a special 'Internet Crystal Mark' scheme for websites.

What gives you the right to say whether something is in plain English? As well as passing 35 technical tests at our campaign headquarters, every document must pass our independent testing on the public. This means actually testing ordinary people's understanding of a document, rather than just asking 'is it clear'?

Do you have any examples of gobbledygook? Yes - click here for our examples page. This includes classic gobbledygook from our 20 years of campaigning, some plain English translations, and our new gobbledygook generator!

Where did the Campaign come from? Our founder director Chrissie Maher took up the battle for crystal-clear language after seeing two elderly ladies, who had been baffled by a benefits form, die of hypothermia. After fighting on her own for ten years, she launched Plain English Campaign as a full-time movement in 1979, infamously shredding forms in Parliament Square.

Who are the worst offenders for gobbledygook? In our experience, the legal profession and finance industries cause the most concern. Many companies have worked extremely hard to use plain English, but these industries will always be our most important targets. Plain English is about language affecting ordinary people's lives, and people have the right and the need to make informed decisions about money and the law.

Are you having any success? We believe we have won the first stage of a two stage battle. In many cases, we have won the battle to persuade people that plain English is good news for customers, good news for companies and good news for government. We are still working on the second stage - the hard slog of redrafting the gobbledygook, and making sure that writers start to get it in plain English first time.

Are there any laws against gobbledygook? Many states in the US require insurance contracts to be in plain English. In and , many new laws must actually be drafted in plain English. In Britain, the Unfair Terms in Consumer Contracts Regulations 1999 say that terms in consumer contracts must be in 'plain and intelligible language'. The regulations also say these terms must be accessible, which means using clear design and typography. Consumer contracts are those between a member of the public and a firm that is selling or supplying a product or service. If a consumer challenges a term, and it is found to be unclear or ambiguous, a court must interpret it in whichever way best favours the consumer. The Office of Fair Trading regularly warns firms to change such terms before they are challenged in court. Similar regulations apply to all countries in the .

What is the next big battle? We are terrified by the growing trend for people to claim something is in plain English without testing it on the public. Gobbledygook used to be easy to hunt down, but now it is often camouflaged with fancy titles and logos. We do not expect every document to go through Plain English Campaign, but we demand that organisations test their documents on the public before claiming they are in 'plain English'.

A. Find words in the text corresponding to the following definitions:

______: change the wording of a text (e.g. because it is wrong, or outdated) ______: to take exception to; call in question; assert that something is invalid. ______: to revise or correct, as a manuscript. ______: language characterized by circumlocution and jargon ______: language, esp. the vocabulary, peculiar to a particular trade, profession, or group. Also applied to unintelligible or meaningless talk or writing.

4 Dr. Miguel A. Campos Legal English Unit 0 – Legal English B. Now, answer the following questions: 1. Is this campaign restricted to only one country? 2. Which government department is responsible for the organization and funding of this campaign? 3. Does it apply only to Legal English? 4. What kind of audience will mostly benefit from the use of plain English? What may happen if that kind of listener/reader is given gobbledygook instead of plain English? 5. What is the “Golden Bull”? 6. Is there any way organizations can avoid excessive gobbledygook?

3. According to the Office of Fair Trading, a term is unfair in a contract if it causes a significant imbalance in the parties' rights and obligations under the contract, to the detriment of consumers. It must fulfil the plain language requirement, or in other words: “a standard term must be expressed in plain and intelligible language. A term is open to challenge if it could put you at a disadvantage because you are not clear about its meaning - even if its meaning could be worked out by a lawyer. If there is doubt as to what a term means, the meaning most favourable to the consumer will apply.” (http://www.consumerdirect.gov.uk/before_you_buy/think_of/unfair- contracts) What follows is a list of examples of inappropriate wording in legal documents, which had to be modified after the Office of Fair Trading decided to intervene. Match the following fragments with the new wording. (from http://www.plainenglish.co.uk/consumercontracts.htm) This Agreement and the benefits and If you are a customer we will end this advantages herein contained are personal agreement straight away if we find out to the Member and shall not be sold, that your belongings have been taken assigned or transferred by the Member. away from you to pay off your debts, or a receiving order has been made against you. The agreement shall determine forthwith Membership is not transferable if a receiving order is made against Hirer (or being a company Hirer goes into liquidation, whether voluntarily or compulsorily) or if Hirer shall call a meeting of his creditors or any distress or execution is levied against any of his goods Lessor shall not be liable for loss of or We shall retain ownership of the goods damage to any property left, stored or until you have finished paying for them. transported by Hirer or any other person in or upon Vehicle either before or after the return thereof to Lessor. Hirer hereby agrees to hold Lessor harmless from, and indemnify Lessor against all claims based on or arising out of such loss or damage unless caused by the negligence of Lessor. Title to property in the goods shall remain We are only responsible for loss or vested in the Company (notwithstanding damage to property left in the vehicle if the delivery of the same to the the loss or damage results from our Customer) until the price of the Goods negligence. comprised in the contract and all other money due from the Customer to the Company on any other account has been paid in full.

On the reforms of Legal English:

5 Dr. Miguel A. Campos Legal English Unit 0 – Legal English http://www.davidelliott.ca/papers/wipl.htm

III. Potential contrastive problems between legal English and legal Spanish: anglicisms, false friends and “paronymic temptation”.

Read pages 94-96 of El inglés jurídico. Then do the following exercises:

A. Complete the following sentences in Spanish using the lexical units given. article / section assign consideration magistrate represent tribunal a) En el inglés jurídico británico, los términos ______y ______, que designan partes de una ley escrita o statute, son falsos amigos porque, a diferencia del castellano, un ______comprende varias ______, con lo cual ______habría que traducirlo como “título” o “sección”, mientras que ______se tendría que traducir como “artículo”. b) ______es un falso amigo porque no designa cualquier “tribunal”, sino algunos muy específicos con funciones laborales o de arbitraje. c) ______es un falso amigo porque, contrariamente al “magistrado” español, a veces designa a personas que ejercen sus función en los tribunales de menor rango, el escalón más bajo de la judicatura, y que ni siquiera es necesario han estudiado derecho. d) ______puede resultar un falso amigo porque no significa “consideración”, sino la “contraprestación”, es decir, aquello que se ofrece a cambio de algo, y sin lo cual no puede considerarse que exista un contrato en los países de habla inglesa. e) ______es un falso amigo porque no significa “asignar”, es decir, “señalar lo que corresponde a alguien o a algo”, sino “ceder”, es decir, traspasar los derechos de alguna cosa. “Asignar” sería allocate. f) ______puede ser un falso amigo porque no sólo significa “representar”, es decir, “actuar en nombre de alguien”, sino “afirmar” o “declarar”, como en Customer represents that any information he has provided is correct, que significa “El Cliente declara....”

B. Match the italicized expressions with their Spanish equivalents. cumplir, denunciar, disponer/establecer, fallar, remitir

1. The plaintiff believed that she had discharged her obligations. La demandante consideraba que ______con sus obligaciones.

2. Section 4 of the Act provides that such application must be made before the proper authorities. El artículo 4 de la Ley ______que tal solicitud debe presentarse ante los organismos correspondientes

3. XXX, charged with two offences of armed robbery, was committed to the Crown Court. El procedimiento contra XXX, acusado de dos delitos de atraco a mano armada, ______al Crown Court.

6 Dr. Miguel A. Campos Legal English Unit 0 – Legal English

4. XXX laid an information against a police officer for assault. XXX ______a un agente de policía por agresión.

5. The court found that such a provision would not always be binding. El tribunal ______que tal disposición no siempre tendría carácter vinculante.

C. Choose the correct answer.

1. No injury appears to have resulted to the plaintiffs. a) Result aquí significa “retornar”, en el sentido de “volver a la posesión de”. b) Result aquí significa “producirse”, en el sentido de “haber sufrido algo”. c) Result aquí significa “producir resultados”, en el sentido de “funcionar”.

2. The contractor is bound to provide evidence of the insurance required. a) Provide aquí significa “disponer, establecer”. b) Provide aquí significa “suministrar”, en el sentido de “prestar servicios”. c) Provide aquí significa “aportar”.

3. XXX was brought before a magistrate. a) Bring aquí significa “interponer, presentar una demanda”. b) Bring aquí significa “traer”, en el sentido de “poner a disposición de”. c) Bring aquí significa “demandar”.

4. The seeds have been given qualified approval by the Environmental Protection Agency. a) aquí qualified significa “preparado, documentado”. b) aquí qualified significa “condicional”. c) aquí qualified significa “absoluto”.

5. Articles 2 and 3 must be also taken into consideration. a) aquí Articles significa “artículos”, mientras que consideration significa “contraprestación”. b) aquí Articles significa “pasantías”, mientras que consideration significa “contraprestación”. c) aquí Articles significa “artículos”, mientras que consideration significa “consideración”.

D. In all of the following sentences, the translator has yielded to the temptation of using the paronym. The choice, though not completely wrong, does not “collocate” properly in the context. Replace it by a more suitable expression in legal Spanish. análogo se compromete contraviene / incumple diferir incurrido en fundado que figura hace también referencia a) The customer agrees to use the software in strict compliance with all applicable laws. El cliente está de acuerdo en utilizar los programas cumpliendo estrictamente con todas las leyes de aplicación. b) Such action violates Clause 2 of the Agreement. Dicha acción viola la cláusula segunda del Contrato.

7 Dr. Miguel A. Campos Legal English Unit 0 – Legal English c) If one of the parties has reasonable grounds to suspect that... Si alguna de las partes tiene motivos razonables para sospechar que... d) The person identified in the records... La persona identificada en los registros... e) In this Agreement, the singular includes the plural. En el presente Contrato, el singular incluye el plural. f) The service may be interrupted for upgrades or similar reasons. El servicio podrá interrumpirse para realizar mejoras o por motivos similares. g) A party may suspend the performance of its obligations ... Una de las partes puede suspender el cumplimiento de sus obligaciones h) One of the parties has committed a breach of contract. Una de las partes ha cometido un incumplimiento de contrato.

On anglicisms in Spanish: http://maja.dit.upm.es/~aalvarez/pitfalls/ http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Academy/6299/ http://www.elcastellano.org/spanglis.html

Lorenzo, Emilio (1996). Anglicismos hispánicos. Madrid: Gredos. Rodríguez González, Félix y Antonio Lillo Buades (1997): Nuevo Diccionario de Anglicismos. Madrid, Gredos.

On false friends: Prado, Marcial (2001): Diccionario de falsos amigos inglés-español. Madrid: Gredos.

http://www.geocities.com/susanacr_99/cognados.htm

On “paronymic temptation”: Torrents dels Prats, Alfonso (1989). Diccionario de dificultades del inglés. Barcelona : Juventud.

8 Dr. Miguel A. Campos Legal English Unit 0 – Legal English IV. Legal genres

IV.1. The concept of “legal genre” and “Macrostructure”

LEGAL GENRES (FROM www.lingue.uniba.it/dag/pagine/personale/falco/LEGAL%20GENRES.doc)

Swales: Genre is a recognizable communicative event characterized by a set of communicative purpose(s) identified and mutually understood by the members of the professional or academic community in which it regularly occurs. Most often it is highly structured and conventionalized with constraints on allowable contributions in terms of their intent, positioning, form and functional value. These constraints, however, are often exploited by the expert members of the discourse community to achieve private intentions within the framework of socially recognized purpose(s). (quoted in Bhatia 1993: 13)

Bhatia: The term legal language encompasses several usefully distinguishable genres depending upon the communicative purposes they tend to fulfil, the settings or contexts in which they are used, the communicative events or activities they are associated with, the social or professional relationship between the participants taking part in such activities or events, the background knowledge that such participants bring to the situation in which that particular event is embedded and a number of other factors. (Bhatia 1993: 101) Bhatia identifies several genres used in a variety of legal settings. Some of these are cases and judgements in written form used in juridical settings; lawyer-client consultation, counsel-witness examination in spoken form and legislation, contracts, agreements etc. in written form used in various professional settings. (ibid.)

Alcaraz & Hughes: By ‘genre’, or ‘text type’, we mean each of the specific classes of texts characteristic of a given scientific community or professional group and distinguished from each other by certain features of vocabulary, form and style, which are wholly function-specific and conventional in nature. … The term ‘text’ is being used here in the wide sense to include written genres (e.g. contracts) and oral genres (e.g. a judge’s charge to the jury). It is also possible to distinguish sub- genres such as a divorce judgements, debt judgements, judgements in default, judgements on appeal, and so on. (Alcaraz & Hughes 2002: 101)

How can we relate a text to a given genre? The following pages are adapted from Alcaraz & Hughes 2002

Try to identify its stylistic and formal features:

1. A shared communicative function expressed by means of the same performative verb. Ex: injunctions are in the form of orders that must be strictly complied with. They involve performing an act or refraining from a specific action. Orders are built into the text in the form of a warning at to the consequences of non-compliance.

2. A similar macrostructure, i.e. format or organizational outline. Judgements, for example, are arranged into a minimum of three basic sections: • facts as found • relevant law

9 Dr. Miguel A. Campos Legal English Unit 0 – Legal English • decision or ruling

http://www.courtsni.gov.uk/NR/rdonlyres/801BBEC2-F291-43AD-8CB3- AEFAAB729066/0/j_j_GIRF3533.htm

3. A similar discursive mode of developing the macrostructure (narrative, descriptive, imperative, optative) and similar discourse techniques aimed at satisfying the discourse expectations of the recipient or addressee. 4. A common lexical and syntactic arrangement of the material and a common set of functional units and formal features. Statutes and other legislative texts, for instance, are characterized by an abundant use of indefinite pronouns, passives and impersonal forms of the verb, ‘shall’ forms of the future to indicate legal obligation, extensive lists of categories or classes of persons and objects to whom or to which the law applies, and so on.

See example at: http://www.opsi.gov.uk/acts.htm

5. Common socio-pragmatic conventions, for instance: • the hierarchical structure of the judiciary as reflected in the abbreviated titles of different judges, and the appropriate style of address: my Lord, your Lordship, your Honour, your Worship • the highly conventional use of certain verbs or verb phrases in given contexts (submit, put it to you, crave, petition, pray, grant, give leave, restore [an injunction], discharge [an injunction], strike out, etc.)

Depending on the specificity of the legal area and of the activity in which the practitioners are involved, we can even identify legal sub-genres. By legal area we mean civil law, criminal law, administrative law, employment law, EU law, property law, and so on. Legal practitioners include judges, jurists, barristers, solicitors, legal draftsmen, clerks. Legal practitioners use texts to express their aims, opinions, decisions, requests and conclusions. The result will be a range of subgenres such as Acts of Parliament, judgements, writs, injunctions, wills, contracts, law reports, submissions, pleadings, affidavits, arrest warrants, title , subpoenas, legal textbooks and learned articles.

With this in mind, genre identification may help us to deal with texts in terms of needs and functions: what are the needs and functions of the ST? what are the needs and functions of the TT? Thus: is it possible to achieve a functional equivalence?

If we recognize the functions of the ST and identify the TT which ‘functionally’ matches the ST, we may go beyond mere matters of: lexical equivalence: e.g. polysemy, synonymity, etc. syntactic equivalence: e.g. nominalization, passivity, modality, , etc. stylistic equivalence: e.g. solemnity, formality, figures of speech, other rhetorical devices, etc. Hence, the rule is: First, recognize the genre of the text – then, translate the text

See an example of an injunction at http://www.medialawyer.press.net/courtapplications/standardorder.jsp

10 Dr. Miguel A. Campos Legal English Unit 0 – Legal English

Los generos jurídicos “hard” y “soft”1

[…] un terreno que se nos antoja muy productivo, por ser casi inexistente la investigación, es el que en alguna ocasión hemos llamado géneros jurídicos ‘soft’. Estos serían los géneros que tradicionalmente no se han considerado parte del “núcleo duro” de textos jurídicos, o géneros ‘hard’ en las tipologías más importantes, como las sentencias, las leyes, etc., pero que, si atendemos a diversos factores tales como la presencia de vocabulario y fraseología jurídicos, por un lado, o el contenido jurídico, por otro, sí podrían considerarse como géneros jurídicos. Son diversos los ejemplos de este tipo de géneros, dependiendo de cuál sea nuestra aproximación a lo que constituye ‘lenguaje jurídico’:

• si el lenguaje jurídico se delimita según el entorno o la ‘situación de habla’ (speech situation), y por ello lenguaje jurídico es “aquél que se desarrolla en entornos jurídicos”, no cabe duda de que las instrucciones del juez a los testigos antes de declarar serían lenguaje jurídico. Sin embargo, también lo serían los interrogatorios a los testigos (aunque el tema sea técnico, o vulgar), las conversaciones informales entre abogados antes del juicio o en los pasillos (entre ellos, el lenguaje utilizado en el plea bargaining), e incluso las clases de las facultades de derecho o de las escuelas de práctica jurídica (por no decir de las posibilidades que se abren si consideramos una comisaría un “entorno jurídico”);

• si el lenguaje jurídico se define por el campo o por el tema discursivo, esto es, por el contenido, habríamos de incluir en “textos jurídicos” los manuales de derecho (que aparecen en todas las clasificaciones ‘hard’, como la de Borja Albí [2000: 79-134]), pero también libros divulgativos sobre derecho, los artículos periodísticos (noticias o de opinión) sobre tribunales o cualquier otro tema jurídico (el “lenguaje paralelo” del que habla Alcaraz [1994: 74], o los géneros divulgativo según el mismo autor [2002a: 139]), las películas o series de abogados, las páginas web sobre temas jurídicos dirigidas a no especialistas, y sobre todo (por su difusión), las ‘novelas de abogados’ o courtroom thrillers;

• si el lenguaje jurídico se define por sus usuarios, es decir, los “profesionales del derecho”, habría que incluir los interrogatorios y los escritos de calificación, por ejemplo (que serían los llamados géneros ‘hard’), pero también las conversaciones privadas de los abogados con sus clientes (con los distintos niveles de registro correspondiente según el cliente), las citadas conversaciones entre abogados, e incluso habría que definir qué entendemos por profesional del derecho (¿lo es también el profesor universitario? ¿el notario? ¿el procurador? ¿el oficial de notaría?).

Como ejemplo de la utilidad de estos géneros, citaremos dos fragmentos de una novela de temática jurídica, en que se reflejan conversaciones entre letrado y cliente. Tanto si las analizamos como género narrativo jurídico o como posible conversación real que puede darse en los pasillos de un juzgado, ciertamente ofrecen elementos interesantes para el análisis sobre el lenguaje jurídico y su inteligibilidad a efectos comunicativos:

Joey, before you have a conniption, listen to me. We go back in on appeal, the state, country and city are going to be so far up your ass they’ll see daylight. You are looking at a felony rap for the gun, a depressed judgment from the appeals court, and shit city for the duration.

‘Oh, yeah, I know the judge,’ he said. ‘And don’t worry about him. The judge is like a traffic cop – he keeps order and he rules on what is legally permissible and what isn’t. The jury is who you have to worry about. Their job is to decide what evidence to believe, which witnesses are credible, and the biggie – whether they think they are guilty or not. (Diehl, W. 1993: Primal Fear. London: Mandarin.)

Como se observará, de entrada estos fragmentos cumplen los criterios clásicos de “lenguaje especializado”, en su vertiente de conversación entre experto y lego sobre tema

1 Campos, M.A. (2007): “El lenguaje de las ciencias jurídicas: Nuevos retos y nuevas visiones”, pp. 155-165 en Alcaraz Varo, E.; Mateo Martínez, J.; Yus Ramos,F. (eds.), Las lenguas profesionales y académicas. Barcelona: Ariel.

11 Dr. Miguel A. Campos Legal English Unit 0 – Legal English especializado. Sin embargo, hay muchos más elementos dignos de análisis: en ambos casos se trata de tender puentes para que el no experto entienda el funcionamiento del proceso penal, y por ello existen elementos del léxico jurídico (felony, judgment, appeals court, witnesses, judge), pero también algunos que aluden a referentes jurídicos, en un lenguaje más vulgar en el primer caso (el interlocutor es un delincuente habitual), y más familiar en el segundo, como rap –una pena de cárcel-, keep order o biggie. Es importante, quizás como referencia didáctica, prestar atención a la adecuación del registro al destinatario, para mejorar desde el punto de vista comunicativo la relación entre el abogado y aquél que le paga; ciertamente, hemos de pensar que, si es necesaria este tipo de adaptación, a lo mejor cabría preguntarse si no hay algo que falla en la forma en que el lenguaje jurídico organiza la información, y posiblemente podrían extraerse de estos géneros conclusiones que luego podríamos aplicar, mutatis mutandis, a otros como, pongamos por caso, las instrucciones que se facilitan al ciudadano para cumplimentar su declaración de la renta. Para el investigador, todos estos géneros ‘soft’ ofrecen, aparte de tratarse de un campo inexplorado, el interés de ser la confluencia de diversos condicionantes genéricos. El ejemplo de la novela jurídica en este sentido es paradigmático, puesto que puede estudiarse desde el punto de vista literario (como “novela de consumo” o no canónica) o como género jurídico, pero sólo puede abarcarse en toda su amplitud como combinación de ambos. Ciertamente, este tipo de texto tendrá que adecuarse a las expectativas del género literario, puesto que indudablemente es esa su finalidad principal, pero también viene condicionado por un realismo extremo en el léxico y fraseología, por no decir de los contenidos; este subgénero, consolidado como producto diferenciado, es obra de autores profundamente documentados (algunos de ellos, como Richard North Patterson, Phillip Margolin, Sheldon Siegel, o John Grisham, son o han sido juristas, y los que no lo son se apoyan en una exactitud incontestable nacida en asesores especializados) y se dirige a un público que, a fuerza de costumbre, ya es muy exigente en lo referente al detalle y a la verosimilitud. (adaptado de Campos, M.A., “El lenguaje de las ciencias jurídicas: Nuevos retos y nuevas visiones”, págs, 155-165 en Alcaraz Varo, E.; Mateo Martínez, J.; Yus Ramos,F. (eds.), Las lenguas profesionales y académicas. Barcelona: Ariel).

12 Dr. Miguel A. Campos Legal English Unit 0 – Legal English

IV.2. Parallel texts: definition and usage. Sources of parallel texts.

What is a parallel text? Parallel vs. bilingual texts.

A. Compare the following clauses of lease agreements in Spain and in the United States (from www.ilrg.com):

Y sobre las bases expuestas se alcanza el NOW, THEREFORE, presente negocio jurídico a tenor de las […], the parties hereto hereby AGREE as siguientes follows (1): CLAUSULAS (1)

SÉPTIMA: en este acto (2), los 3. Damage Deposit Upon the due ARRENDATARIOS, hacen entrega a la execution of this Agreement (2), Lessee ARRENDADORA (3) de TRESCIENTOS shall deposit with Lessor (3) the sum of NOVENTA EUROS CON SESENTA Y SEIS eight hundred dollars ($800) receipt of CÉNTIMOS (390,66 _.) en concepto de fianza which is hereby acknowledged by Lessor, por posibles deterioros que pudiesen as security for any damage caused to the ocasionarse en la vivienda durante el periodo Premises during the term hereof (4). Such de alquiler (4), o por incumplimiento, por deposit shall be returned to Lessee (5), parte de los ARRENDATARIOS, del plazo del without interest, and less any set off for presente Contrato. Dicha cantidad, será damages to the Premises (6) upon the devuelta a los ARRENDATARIOS (5), menos termination of this Agreement (7). los gastos que pudiesen ocasionarse por reparaciones (6), después de revisar la vivienda al caducar este contrato (7) y simultáneamente a la entrega de llaves a la propietaria.

PRIMERA: El objeto de arrendamiento (8) es 4. Use of Premises. The Premises (8) la vivienda amueblada sita en .... de ...., shall be used and occupied by Lessee and destinada a vivienda familiar (9), siendo este Lessee's immediate family, consisting of el único destino que se le dará a la referida five (5) persons, exclusively, as a private vivienda (10). No pudiendo, en ningún caso, single family dwelling (9), and no part of cambiar su uso. the Premises shall be used at any time during the term of this Agreement by Lessee for the purpose of carrying on any DUODECIMA: Los arrendatarios se obligan ..., business, profession, or trade of any kind, y observar las Ordenanzas Estatales, or for any purpose other than as a private Autonómicas y Municipales que rijan en cada single family dwelling (10).[…] Lessee shall momento (11). comply with any and all laws, ordinances, rules and orders of any and all governmental or quasi-governmental authorities (11) affecting the cleanliness, use, occupancy and preservation of the Premises.

Now, find in the right-hand column the (US) English equivalents for the underlined Spanish expressions. Note that these translations would only apply to US lease agreements, i.e. the same expressions and formulae might have completely different equivalents in other legal genres or in other English-speaking countries.

13 Dr. Miguel A. Campos Legal English Unit 0 – Legal English 2. Now, do the same with clauses from testaments in Spanish and English:

I, XXX, a resident of XXX, England, which I En la población de XXX a XXX de XXX de XXX declare to be my place of domicile, being of Yo, D. XXX, mayor de edad, casado, con sound and disposing mind and memory and not domicilio en la calle XXX nº X, piso X puerta being actuated by any menace, fraud, or undue X, de la población de XXX, DNI nº X, en pleno influence, do hereby make, publish and declare uso de mis facultades mentales y teniendo this to be my Last Will and Testament, and I firme y deliberada voluntad de otorgar este hereby revoke all former Wills or Codicils thereto, testamento ológrafo, ordeno mi última heretofore made by me. voluntad en las siguientes disposiciones: Instituyo y nombro por herederos universales First: I declare that I am married and that my de todos mis bienes, derechos y acciones a husband’s name is XXX. We have two children mis hijos XXX y XXX, y en defecto de alguno whose names are XXX and XXX. de ellos en su representación a sus hijos y descendientes, dejando en todo caso a salvo Second: I hereby appoint my husband XXX to la cuota legal usufructuaria de mi esposa serve as executor of this Will. If he shall fail or Dña. XXX cease to serve for any reason, I appoint SHINE Designo a don XXX y don XXX como albaceas HOME TRUST to serve as executor. solidarios, que además de las facultades legales, tendrán las de apoderarse de mis Third: I direct my executor to pay as soon after bienes, reclamar, percibir y cobrar toda clase my death (as soon after my death as practical) de cantidades, créditos, frutos, rentas y my expenses of last illness, funeral expenses and cuanto le correspondiera, imponer y retirar just debts except as may hereinafter specifically de Bancos, establecimientos de crédito, cajas be provided to the contrary. This provision, mercantiles o de particulares; vendan más however, shall not require the acceleration of any bienes; administren durante la proindivisión debts secured by a mortgage or of trust. todos lo bienes referentes a la testamentaría, ya judicial, ya extrajudicialmente, y deleguen Fourth: I give, devise and bequeath all of my su cargo en la persona o personas de su property and estate which I have the right to mayor agrado y revocar las delegaciones a su dispose of by Will, real and personal, tangible and voluntad, a fin de ultimar con acierto el intangible, and wheresoever situated including encargo de confianza que les confiero. my property over which I have a power of Por el presente revoco y anulo los appointment, to my husband XXX if he shall testamentos que tengo otorgados, cuya fecha survive me. y Notario no recuerdo, y todos los que pudieran aparecer con fecha anterior al IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I hereunto have set my presente, único que quiero que se cumpla y hand to this my Will on the twenty-eighth day of ejecute en todas sus partes, como mi última June one thousand nine hundred and ninety-two y deliberada voluntad. in the city of XXX. Así lo otorgo, en el lugar y fecha arriba indicados, escrito íntegramente de mi puño y letra en X folios que firmo al final de cada una de las hojas, salvando bajo mi firma las enmiendas X que valen. (http://www.viapyme.net/viapyme/asesoria/ documentos/su-testamento.doc )

1. En pleno uso de mis facultades mentales: 2. Teniendo firme y deliberada voluntad de otorgar este testamento: 3. Por el presente revoco y anulo los testamentos que tengo otorgados (...) y todos los que pudieran aparecer con fecha anterior al presente: 4. El albacea tendrá la facultad de...: 5. Instituyo y nombro por herederos universales de todos mis bienes, derechos y acciones a…: 6. Así lo otorgo, (…), escrito íntegramente de mi puño y letra:

14 Dr. Miguel A. Campos Legal English Unit 0 – Legal English 3. Now, do the same with a few bilingual fragments from the European Industrial Relations Observatory (http://www.eiro.eurofound.eu.int/), dealing with industrial mediation and arbitration in Spain. Note that, unlike the previous cases, this comparison is based on a genuine text (which may be either the Spanish or the English one) and a translation, and translations, however good they might be, are nowhere as reliable as an original. Therefore, you should only use this strategy when there is no equivalent in the target language, or when such equivalent is not readily available, and ONLY if the translation comes from a reliable (preferably an institutional) source.

El sistema español de mediación y arbitraje. The Spanish system of mediation and arbitration

Existe una “Jurisdicción del Orden Social” A system of labour tribunals formada por tribunales de jueces (Jurisdiccion del Orden Social) profesionales que se ocupa de la resolución comprises courts of professional judges de los conflictos individuales y colectivos de that resolve individual and collective trabajo. Estos tribunales tienen un ámbito labour disputes. These courts have an de competencias propio distinto del civil, y area of competence and procedure that un procedimiento también propio y distinto are different from those of civil law. del civil.

Antes de llegar a la Jurisdicción Social However, before disputes reach these habrán sido posibles dos oportunidades para labour tribunals, there are two la conciliación. La primera, ante las opportunities for conciliation. The first Unidades Territoriales de Mediación, opportunity is offered by the Regional Arbitraje y Conciliación dependientes de las Mediation, Conciliation and Arbitration Administraciones Públicas, compuestas por Units that are staffed by civil servants. funcionarios. Si ésta fracasa, la segunda If this fails, the second opportunity is oportunidad se da el mismo día del juicio given on the same day as the public público ante el juez de lo social. En este hearing before the judge specialising in caso, es el propio juez el que intenta la labour law. The judge attempts conciliación, lo que hace que ésta sea una mediation, which means that an curiosa mezcla de conciliación y mediación. interesting mixture of conciliation and mediation is involved.

1. ámbito de competencias: 2. compuestas por funcionarios: 3. juez de lo social:

La decisión administrativa se adopta The administrative decision is adopted después de un periodo de consultas entre after a period of consultation between the la dirección de la empresa y los company management and the workers' representantes de los trabajadores. En representatives, and this channel therefore este sentido, puede afirmarse que esta also incorporates elements of mediation vía también incorpora elementos de for resolving disputes. The Labour mediación para la resolución de Inspectorate also takes part by drawing up conflictos. También interviene con sus reports. However, if there is no agreement informes la Inspección de Trabajo. Pero si in the consultation period then the final no hay acuerdo en el periodo de ruling is made by the Labour consultas, la resolución final la toma la Administration. Administración Laboral.

1. periodo de consultas: 2. Inspección de Trabajo: 3. resolución final:

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La competencia de los órganos The competence of all these joint paritarios se refiere a conflictos institutions covers collective labour colectivos de trabajo, y también a disputes and certain individual algunos conflictos individuales de disputes where more than one worker carácter plural. Tanto los acuerdos is involved. Both the agreements alcanzados a través de la conciliación reached through conciliation and y mediación, como los laudos mediation and the findings of the arbitrales producen excepción de arbitrators produce defence of res cosa juzgada. Ello quiere decir que, judicata. This means that a person quien concluye sus actuaciones ante concluding his or her action with a un órgano paritario no puede luego joint institution cannot then present it acudir a la jurisdicción social, y to a labour tribunal, and vice versa. viceversa. La opción de acudir a una The interested parties may choose u otra vía es de los interesados. either one channel or the other. Naturalmente, hay materias cuya However, there are matters for which competencia está reservada a la competence is reserved for the labour Jurisdicción Social, como, por tribunals, such as social security ejemplo, litigios sobre Seguridad litigation. Social.

1. Órgano paritario: 2. Excepción de cosa juzgada: 3. Laudos arbitrales:______(also arbitrators’ awards)

On genres: Bhatia, V. K. (1993): Analysing Genre: Language Use in Professional Settings. Applied Linguistics and Language Study. London: Longman. Swales, J.M. (1990) Genre Analysis: English in academic and research settings. Cambridge Applied Linguistics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

VI. Bibliography

Alcaraz, E. (2003): El inglés jurídico. Textos y documentos. Barcelona: Ariel. Alcaraz, E. y Hughes, B. (2002): El español jurídico. Barcelona: Ariel. Alcaraz, E. y Hughes, B. (2002b): Legal Translation Explained. Manchester: St Jerome. Alcaraz, E., Campos, M.A. and Míguélez, C. (2006): El inglés jurídico norteamericano. Barcelona: Ariel. 3rd edition. Borja Albi, A. (2000): El texto jurídico y su traducción al español, Barcelona: Ariel.

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