HANDBOOK English for Judicial Cooperation in Civil Matters
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
Linguistics Linguistque HANDBOOK English for Judicial Cooperation in Civil Matters With financial support from the Justice Programme of the European Union Avec le soutien financier du Programme Justice de l’Union européenne 3 Copyright Note This Handbook has been compiled solely for educational purposes. All the texts and materials included in this Handbook, except where otherwise stated, are the exclusive Property of the European Judicial Training Network (EJTN). Absolutely no reproduction of the contents of this Handbook, in whole or in part, may be made without the express written permission of EJTN. Extracts of the Handbook may be reviewed, reproduced or translated for private study only. This excludes sale or any other use in conjunction with a commercial purpose. Any public legal use or reference to the Handbook should be accompanied by an acknowledgment of EJTN as the source and by a mention of the author of the text referred to. Disclaimer The contents and views expressed herein reflect only those of EJTN and the European Commission is not responsible for any use that may be made of these contents and views. Edition 2016 Linguistics Linguistque European Judicial Training Network Réseau européen de formation judiciaire With financial support from the Justice Programme of the European Union Avec le soutien financier du Programme Justice de l’Union européenne ISBN-NUMBER: 9789081999076 EAN: 9789081999076 3 Foreword of the EJTN’s Secretary General Mastering a foreign language and its legal terminology is important and should form part of the continu- ous training of legal practitioners. It is a precondition to effective contacts across Member States, which are in turn the cornerstone for judicial cooperation. It is essential that all stakeholders pay attention to training on legal terminology of foreign languages.* The European Judicial Training Network (EJTN) devotes special attention to designing and implementing linguistic training activities for members of the judiciaries of EU Member States. EU judges and prosecutors benefit from EJTN’s high quality training programmes, which are supported by the European Commission. EJTN courses aim at developing participants’ legal and linguistics skills by combining legal knowledge and English and French language exercises in a practical and dynamic way. This offering includes highly acclaimed linguistic trainings on the vocabulary of judicial cooperation in criminal/civil matters, human rights, family law, competition law and cybercrime. This Handbook is a 2nd edition of compilation of the most relevant training materials used in EJTN’s judicial cooperation in civil matters linguistic courses. It is addressed not only to participants, but also to all European judges and public prosecutors interested in developing their linguistic skills. Definitions, exercises and examinations of real cases make the Handbook an invaluable, hands-on resource for any judge, prosecutor or trainer involved in linguistics endeavours. On behalf of EJTN, I would like to express my sincere gratefulness to the authors of the texts and exercises in the Handbook for their dedicated work as well as to EJTN Project Coordinator, Mrs Carmen Domuta, for her excellent accomplishments in executing the EJTN linguistics activities. Enjoy using this Handbook! Wojciech Postulski EJTN Secretary General * European Commission – Communication of 13 September 2011 on Building trust in EU-Wide Justice, A new dimension to European judicial training (COM (2011) 551) 4 5 List of authors and coordinator CAMPOS PARDILLOS, MIGUEL ÁNGEL Lecturer in Legal English and Translation, Department of English, University of Alicante CONSTANTINESCU, ROXANA University English assistant, National School of Political and Administrative Studies, Bucharest, Legal English Trainer, National Institute of Magistracy, Bucharest GALIČ, ALEŠ Professor of civil procedure and European civil procedure, University of Ljubljana, Faculty of Law; legal advisor to the Constitutional Court of Slovenia (Introduction to units 2, 5, 7) PUIG BLANES, FRANCISCO DE PAULA Senior Judge in the Civil Court of Barcelona (Introduction to unit 3, English translation of Introduction to unit 6) RAMASCANU, BEATRICE Judge, Legal Trainer, National Institute of Magistracy, Bucharest (Introduction to unit 4) SAMANIEGO FERNÁNDEZ, EVA Lecturer in Legal English and Translation. Departamento de Filologías Extranjeras, UNED, Spain. Teacher of Legal English for the Spanish Council of the Judiciary, ERA and Eurojust. WALBAUM ROBINSON, ISABEL ALICE Lecturer in Legal Linguistics, Department of Law, University of Rome Three (Università degli Studi, Roma Tre). Legal English educator for the Italian National School of Magistrates, Florence and the Italian National Advocacy School, Rome Other (for more information see p. 4 of the French part): Catherine Gaudet (Introduction to unit 6) EDITOR: CAMPOS PARDILLOS, MIGUEL ÁNGEL COORDINATOR DOMUTA, CARMEN, Senior Project Manager, Head of Programmes Unit European Judicial Training Network 5 Table of contents: Unit 1. Introduction to Legal English and EU Legal English | 6 Unit 2. Civil judicial cooperation | 16 Unit 3. Jurisdiction, recognition and enforcement of judgments in civil and commercial matters | 27 Unit 4. Jurisdiction, recognition and enforcement in matrimonial and parental responsibility matters | 43 Unit 5. Service of judicial and extrajudicial documents | 56 Unit 6. Taking of evidence | 69 Unit 7. European Order for Payment Procedure | 80 Answer Key | 99 Glossary | 109 Bibliography | 115 6 7 UNIT 1 LEGAL ENGLISH AND EU LEGAL ENGLISH INTRODUCTION: WHAT IS LEGAL ENGLISH?1 In this chapter, we shall give a brief description of the distinctive features of Legal English, which can be divided into two categories: those having to do with legal vocabulary, and those having to do with syntax. A. Legal vocabulary Legal vocabulary may be classified into three types: a) technical terminology, i.e. words specifically belonging to legal contexts (“distraint”, “litigation”, “indemnity”, “condonation”, “alimony”, “collusion”); b) terms whose meaning in legal contexts differs from the one they possess in general language, also called “subtechnical” or “semitechnical terms” (e.g. “action” meaning “suit” or “proceedings”, “service” meaning “notification”, “hand” meaning “signature”, etc. c) general terms that are used in legal contexts, such as “theft”, “witness”, “judge”, etc. Some of the technical words and/or expressions come from other languages, either in their original form or adapted into English pronunciation, spelling or structure. These can be Latinisms, either in their original form (prima facie, bona fide), adapted into English (“abscond”, “insolvent”) or direct translations from Latin expressions (e.g. “law merchant”, from lex mercatoria), “last will” (ultima voluntas), “burden of proof” (onus probandi). Also, there are words of French origin, some of which have been imported directly, such as “fait accompli”, “force majeure”, etc., whereas others have been translated directly, such as “under pain of” (sous peine de), or “plead guilty” (plaider coupable), and yet others have been adapted (such as “salvage”, “towage”, “anchorage” or “demurrage”). In general, the vocabulary of Legal English is characterized by a great degree of formality. This is partly brought about by a high frequency of terms of Greek or Latin origin, but also by some specific features, namely: a) archaisms and formal expressions: “whilst”, “showeth”, “witnesseth”, etc.; b) complex prepositions: “by virtue of” (instead of “by”), “in the event of” (instead of “if”), “in pursuance of” (instead of “under” or “according to”), “having regard to” (instead of “considering”) etc.; 1 The Legal English section of the Introduction has been prepared by Eva Samaniego Fernández and Miguel Ángel Campos Par- dillos (pp. 7-9). The EU Legal English section of the Introduction has been prepared by Isabel Alice Walbaum Robinson (pp. 9-12). 7 c) binomial or multinomial expressions, i.e. combinations of two or more elements with a similar meaning, such as “act or omission”, “advice and consent”, “under or in accordance with”, “rest, residue and remainder” or “give, devise and bequeath”; d) compound prepositions and adverbs, such as “herein” (meaning “in this document” or “mentioned here”), “hereby” (“by this document”) or “thereafter” (“after that, in the future”); e) choice of words pertaining to a higher register, e.g “append” (instead of “attach”), “deem” (“consider”), “expedite” (“hasten”) or “initiate/commence” (“begin, start”); f) nominalization, i.e. the use of nouns instead of verbs, sometimes through the conversion of verbs into nouns (“to study – “make a study”) or through derivation (by adding suffix like “-ism”, “-tion”, “-ure”, amongst others; g) post-modification, which is a result of nominalization, whereby a number of elements follow the noun for greater accuracy or in order to avoid ambiguity, as in “on the payment to the Owner of the total amount of any installments then remaining unpaid of the rent hereinbefore reserved and agreed to be paid and the further sum of ten shillings (...)”. B. Legal syntax There are also some specific features characterizing English syntax and sentence structure, which include the following: a) lexical repetition as a reference mechanism; instead of “it” or “this” or any other pronoun, legal English prefers to use specific words like “the aforesaid” or “the aforementioned”, or simply to repeat words, e.g. “The SEC has reinforced the insider trading