Legal Translation Explained

Enrique Alcaraz and Brian Hughes

• ForewordAcknowledgements1. Some Pointers to the Linguistics of Legal English1.1. Introduction: Legal English and the rise of English for professional purposes1.2. The aims of the book1.3. The leading features of legal English1.4. 'Legalese' and 'The Plain English Campaign'1.5. The classification of legal vocabulary1.6. Some leading features of the morphology and syntax of legal English2. Equivalence and Interpretation2.1. The question of equivalence in translation studies2.2. Judges and translators. Interpretation and construction. The elusiveness of meaning2.3. Vagueness in legal lexical units (I). Definition. Extension and intension2.4. Vagueness in legal lexical units (II). Denotation and connotation. Register2.5. Vagueness in legal lexical units (III). Polysemy. The important of context2.6. Vagueness in legal lexical units (IV). Homonymy2.7. Vagueness in legal lexical units (V). Synonyms, hyperonyms and hyponyms2.8. Vagueness in legal lexical units (VI). Antonyms2.9. Vagueness in legal lexical units (VII). False cognates or 'false friends'2.10. Figurative language: metaphors and buried metaphors2.11. Syntactic ambiguity3. Some Pointers to the English Legal System3.1. Introduction. The translator and the legal background3.2. The translator and the sources of English law(a) Common Law (b) Equity (c) Statute law3.3. The branches of English law. Jurisdiction and the court structure3.4. The English Criminal Courts3.5. The vocabulary of litigation3.6. Common terms in litigation3.7. The language of judges3.8. The terms used in favourable judicial decisions3.9. The terms used in unfavourable judicial decisions4. Civil and Criminal Proceedings. Administrative Tribunals4.1. Introduction4.2. Civil proceedings4.2.1 The new 'Civil procedure rules 1998'4.2.2 The overriding objective4.2.3 Unification of procedure4.2.4 Allocation to track4.3. Right of action: Some basic terms4.4. Criminal proceedings4.4.1 Arrest and charge4.4.2 Types of offences4.4.3 The trial5. Administrative, Industrial and Domestic Tribunals5. 1. Genres in the translation of legal English (I)5.1.1. Introduction. Legal genres in translation5.1.2. The macrostructure of legal genres. University degrees and diplomas5.1.3. Certificates5.1.4. Statutes5.1.5. Law reports5.1.6. Judgements5.1.7. Oral genres (I). The examination of witnesses at the public hearing5.1.8. Oral genres (II). Counsels' closing speeches to the jury, [jury summation]. Judge's summing-up and charge to the jury6. Genres in the translation of legal English (II)6.1. Contracts6.2. Deeds and indentures6.3. Insurance policies6.4. Last will and testament6.5. The power of attorney6.6. The professional article6.7. Legal English in popular fiction7. Practical Problems in Translation Explained (I)7.1. Translation as problem-solving7.2. Legal vocabulary (I). The translation of purely technical vocabulary7.2.1. Problems in the translation of one-word purely technical terms7.2.2. Problems in the translation of multi-word purely technical terms7.3. Legal vocabulary (II). The translation of semi-technical vocabulary7.4. The translation of everyday vocabulary in legal English7.5. The translation of functional vocabulary in legal English7.6. Lexical resources in translation (l). The collocations of legal English7.7. Lexical resources in translation (ll). The semantic fields of legal English7.8. Lexical traps for the translator: false cognates and unconscious calques8. Practical Problems in Translation Explained (II)8.1. The translator at the crossroads: techniques of legal translation8.2. Transposition8.3. Expansion8.4. Modulation8.5. Modifiers8.6. The syntax of legal English. Double conjunctions8.7. Thematization. Syntactic peculiarities of individual languages8.8. Textual coherence. Lexical repetition in English legal discourse. SynonymsReferences Index