Dr. Miguel A.

Campos
Legal English
Unit 0 – Legal English

UNIT 0: LEGAL ENGLISH

I. Legal English: latinisms, tautologies (couplets), syntax, 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 Latin 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 ultra vires.
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 contract.
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 consideration 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,

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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.

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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
contracts. 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,

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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 Canada and Australia,
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 European Union.

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.

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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:

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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.

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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.

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Legal English
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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.

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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

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• 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 deeds, 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, word order, 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

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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.

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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).

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

PRIMERA: El objeto de arrendamiento (8) es 4. Use of Premises. The Premises (8)

la vivienda amueblada sita en .... de ....,
destinada a vivienda familiar (9), siendo este
el único destino que se le dará a la referida
vivienda (10). No pudiendo, en ningún caso,
cambiar su uso.
DUODECIMA: Los arrendatarios se obligan ...,
y observar las Ordenanzas Estatales,
Autonómicas y Municipales que rijan en cada
momento (11).
shall be used and occupied by Lessee and
Lessee's immediate family, consisting of
five (5) persons, exclusively, as a private
single family dwelling (9), and no part of
the Premises shall be used at any time
during the term of this Agreement by
Lessee for the purpose of carrying on any
business, profession, or trade of any kind,
or for any purpose other than as a private
single family dwelling (10).[…] Lessee shall
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.

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Legal English
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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 deed 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:

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

Antes de llegar a la Jurisdicción Social However, before disputes reach these

habrán sido posibles dos oportunidades para
la conciliación. La primera, ante las
Unidades Territoriales de Mediación,
Arbitraje y Conciliación dependientes de las
Administraciones Públicas, compuestas por
funcionarios. Si ésta fracasa, la segunda
oportunidad se da el mismo día del juicio
público ante el juez de lo social. En este
caso, es el propio juez el que intenta la
conciliación, lo que hace que ésta sea una
curiosa mezcla de conciliación y mediación.
labour tribunals, there are two
opportunities for conciliation. The first
opportunity is offered by the Regional
Mediation, Conciliation and Arbitration
Units that are staffed by civil servants.
If this fails, the second opportunity is
given on the same day as the public
hearing before the judge specialising in
labour law. The judge attempts
mediation, which means that an
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
la dirección de la empresa y los
representantes de los trabajadores. En
este sentido, puede afirmarse que esta
vía también incorpora elementos de
mediación para la resolución de
conflictos. También interviene con sus
informes la Inspección de Trabajo. Pero si
no hay acuerdo en el periodo de
consultas, la resolución final la toma la
Administración Laboral.
after a period of consultation between the
company management and the workers'
representatives, and this channel therefore
also incorporates elements of mediation
for resolving disputes. The Labour
Inspectorate also takes part by drawing up
reports. However, if there is no agreement
in the consultation period then the final
ruling is made by the Labour
Administration.

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

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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