A Study on Translation of Legal Documents.doc

A Study on Translation of Legal Documents Acknowledgements I would like to avail myself of this opportunity to express my sincere thanks to all those who have offered me help and encouragement during the process of my writing and revising this essay First my debt of gratitude is to my tutor Professor Ye Xingguo Without his insightful guidance continuous support and constructive advice this thesis would have never been possible My acknowledgement also goes to all my teachers for their valuable instructions during my two and a half year long study in Shanghai Institute of Foreign Trade In addition I feel grateful to all the authors for the ideas in their papers as listed in the bibliography which excite my aspirations during the preparation of my essay Finally I like to dedicate this essay to my parents whose selfless love and care always motivate me to overcome numerous difficulties and pursue my own dreams Abstract With China s greater endeavor in reform and opening up an urgent need has been created for the building and improvement of its legal system Hence a large number of laws and regulations have been drawn up and put into operation for the purpose of facilitating the ever growing economic exchanges and cooperation with foreign countries In order to ensure a full knowledge and understanding of such laws and regulations by the outside world they have to be rendered into English in a correct and sound manner therefore more and more attention has been aroused toward Chinese English translation of legal documents In addition China s new membership in the WTO has also added a strong impetus to the need for this kind of translation As we know there exist two kinds of translation in legal documents namely Chinese English translation or vice versa However only Chinese English translation of legal documents will be discussed here This article is especially designed to make a comparatively comprehensive analysis on the features of English for legal profession on the basis of which a range of approaches and a set of principles in this drive are suggested accordingly in the hope of making due contribution to the cause of such translation Contents Acknowledgements Abstract I Foreword 1 II General Introduction of ELP 2 2 1 Concept of ELP 2 2 2 Etymology of ELP 2 2 2 1 Archaic words 3 2 2 2 Loan words 4 2 2 2 1 Latin words in ELP 4 2 2 2 2 French words in ELP 5 2 2 3 Legal terms 6 2 2 3 1 Legalized common words 7 2 2 3 2 Technical terms for legal profession 8 2 2 4 Jargons from other fields 10 III Features of ELP 11 3 1 Features in lexicon 11 3 1 1 Solemnity and formality in verbiage with little use of subjective adjectives and adverbs 11 3 1 2 Repetition of synonyms 11 3 1 3 Vagueness under the principle of exactness 12 3 1 4 Semantic unitarity and rigidity 16 3 1 5 Frequent use of compound prepositional phrases 17 3 2 Features in application of parts of speech 17 3 2 1 Feature in usage of pronouns 17 3 2 2 Feature in usage of nouns 18 3 2 3 Feature in usage of verbs 19 3 2 4 Feature in usage of adjectives and verbs 19 3 3 Features in grammar 20 3 3 1 Usage of imperative words and modal verbs on a large scale 20 3 3 2 Tense and voice 20 3 3 3 Usage of non predicate verbs 21 3 3 4 Omission of articles 21 3 3 5 Special usages of shall and may 22 3 3 6 Special usage of where 23 3 4 Features in sentence pattern and structure 23 3 4 1 Usage of assertive sentences 23 3 4 2 Usage of long and complicated sentences 24 3 4 2 1 Application of adverbial clauses 25 3 4 2 2 Application of relative clauses 26 3 4 2 3 Combined application of complex sentences 26 3 4 3 Usage of passive voice sentences 27 3 4 4 Usage of complete sentences 27 3 4 5 Usage of attributive clauses 28 IV Specific approaches in Chinese English Translation of Legal Documents 29 4 1 Choice of words 29 4 1 1 Proper use of archaic words 29 4 1 2 Proper use of loan words 30 4 1 3 Proper use of repetition of synonyms 30 4 2 Choice of sentence patterns 31 4 2 1 Proper use of nominalization structures 31 4 2 2 Proper use of passive voice sentences 32 4 2 3 Proper use of conditional sentences 32 4 3 Logical analysis and correct conveying of true meaning 34 4 3 1 Effective use of English function words 34 4 3 2 Proper use of singular and plural forms of nouns 35 4 4 Literacy in legal knowledge 36 V Principles in Chinese English Translation of Legal Documents 37 5 1 Principle of using formal words and expressions 37 5 2 Principle of preciseness 38 5 3 Principle of conciseness 39 5 4 Principle of term consistency 40 5 5 Principle of using legal terms 42 VI Conclusion 43 VII Prospect 44 Notes 45 Bibliography 47 A Study on Translation of Legal Documents I Foreword With the further deepening of reform and opening up to the outside world and the gradual transition from a planned economy to a market oriented one China has witnessed a great increase in economic exchanges and cooperation with foreign countries which has generated an urgent need to step up efforts in formulating corresponding laws rules and regulations During the process of building the legal system it is inevitable to refer to and draw on the mature legislations from developed countries At the same time in order to make other countries better understand the current situations of and future developing trends in China s legal construction as well as its policies and regulations further expand the introduction of foreign investment and promote its economic development and prosperity the translation of legal documents is becoming more and more important What s more China s accession to the WTO has added to the necessity for this kind of translation After all various kinds of the WTO documents are expressed in the form of legal texts On one hand we must have a thorough understanding of these texts so as to know where our rights and obligations lie On the other hand in accordance with the obligations concerned we have to offer our commitments so it has a significant bearing on the translation of these commitments from Chinese into English Any minor oversight will lead to unexpected shouldering of extra responsibilities that may cause severe losses Hence we can clearly see that the current legal translations involve in both translations from English to Chinese and vice versa However special attention should be given to Chinese English translation of legal documents as it is outside oriented in nature which can have a direct influence on the global image of Chinese laws Moreover it provides a new field for legal translations which may require more efforts and attention compared with the English Chinese translation Nowadays legal documents are applied on more and more occasions which may fall into laws rules and regulations treaties agreements contracts articles of association letters of guarantee court verdicts bidding documents etc As we know the contents of such documents mainly contain two aspects stipulations on obligations and acknowledgements on rights To ensure that concerned parties fully enjoy the rights and completely fulfill the obligations stipulated in related legal documents it is extremely crucial for translators to put them into English in an accurate and precise manner As a kind of English for Specific Purposes ESP English for legal profession hereinafter referred to as ELP boasts its own unique features in lexicon application of parts of speech grammar and sentence structure etc which of course play a decisive role in the translation of legal documents Without a good knowledge of these features it is impossible for the translators to do an excellent job Thus with a view to help translators to make good use of ELP in their translation this article is to focus on Chinese English translation of legal documents based on the features of ELP and put forward some solutions to and principles for it II General Introduction of ELP 2 1 Concept of ELP As a kind of special and formal English ELP is an English variety especially used in official documents which is applied in legislation jurisdiction and law enforcement by common law countries However with the social and economic development ELP has nowadays gone beyond its original scope and been applied in a wider range of circumstances 2 2 Etymology of ELP There has been always a misconception to deem ELP as an independent form of language system As a matter of fact it is only among a variety of English styles which has evolved and developed on the basis of common English over a long run During this process it has formed its own unique way of expressions and a set of fixed vocabularies which we can call customary expressions or jargons Generally ELP comes from the following four sources 2 2 1 Archaic words In a bid to demonstrate the solemnity and authority of legal documents archaic words are often employed in ELP to this end Although such words may bear no substantive meaning but if applied appropriately they can achieve a sense of prudence in formal documents To see that we can have a contrast between the following two groups of words ELPCommon English hereby adv herein adv hereof adv hereto adv hereafter adv hereinafter adv whereby adv whereupon adv to wit conj forthwith adv by this means in this of or concerning with to this in the future afterwards by which after which that is immediately In comparison it is not hard for us to find these archaic words in the left column are usually used in legal documents economic contracts etc which can hardly be seen in other styles and just meets the requirement for the formality of legal documents Although proper use of archaic words can realize stylistic sobriety and achieve more authoritativeness in some sense these archaic words add to the obscurity of ELP sacrifice its conciseness at the same time and tend to cause difficulties for laypeople to read and understand them 2 2 2 Loan words In ELP loan words primarily come from Latin and French which is a legacy left from the historic evolution of Britain s ELP Before Normans conquered England English and Latin were used in Britain All royal statutes laws and judicial procedures etc were promulgated in English while charters and landbooks were published either in English or Latin After the conquest of Normans over England with Latin still remaining in use French overtook English in its prevalence and became the mainstream language in the society due to the flourishing of royal courts and the subsiding of local courts which lasted out until the 15th century Thus French and Latin unavoidably left their marks on ELP used today 1 2 2 2 1 Latin words in ELP As we all know there exist a lot of Latin words in ELP which can be classified into two categories Localized Latin words This group of Latin words has already been fully integrated into English At first sight you can hardly recognize their Latin origins That s why we call them localized It would not be difficult for us to name some of them such as declaration register convict detention verdict jury omission litigant felony offence injury compensate negotiate appeal derelict affirm appellate deprive etc Such words were borrowed into ELP some of which were transferred into legal terms and others were turned into English for daily use Distinctive Latin words We call this kind of Latin words as distinctive just because they have retained the distinguishable Latin features in terms of spellings and pronunciations Without much effort you just can tell them from English The following are some examples jus retentiouis right of retention 留置权 obligatio soliaria joint obligation or joint debt 连带债务 beneficum appelandi right of appeal 上诉权 condomunus co owner or owner in common 共有人 jus vicinitatis joint guaranty 相邻权 confide jussio contract without compensation or naked contract 共同保证 per stirpes succession by subrogation 代位继承 nudum pactum contract without compensation or naked contract 无偿合同 2 2 2 2 French words in ELP As quite a number of French legal terms are borrowable such words were brought into ELP after the Norman Conquest over England So far as French words in ELP are concerned the same line can be drawn to divide them into two types Localized French words For such words we can also offer some examples such as insurance attorney plaintiff defendant equitable dossier dispose disclose disagree agreeable arret etc Distinctive French words As to this group of words we can refer to some examples as follows alien or aliene to transfer or make over to another to convey or transfer the property of a thing from one person to another 转让 feme convert a married woman which is generally used in reference to the former legal disability of a married woman as compared with the condition of a feme sole 已婚女子 feme sole a single woman including those who have been married but whose marriage has been dissolved by death or divorce and for most purposes those women who are judicially separated from their husbands 独身女子 未婚女子 negotiorum gestor one who without any mandate or authority assumes to take charge of an affair or concern for another person in the latter s absence but for his interest 无权代理 From the above mentioned examples we can note that all these Latin and French words convey accurate legal concepts while their equivalents in English are far less precise concise and effective On the other hand these words derive from either scholars language or technical terms which can provide an air of solemnity and authority to ELP In addition application of these words can manifest scholastic and abstruseness Maybe that s the reason why judges and lawyers are obsessed with using Latin and French words in their documents and speeches But the other way round such convoluted and antiquated expressions tend to be very difficult for the public 2 2 3 Legal terms Due to special requirements for precise wording and concept explicitness in ELP a particular set of legal terms has come into being during the long term practice of the legal profession which becomes an integral part of ELP There are mainly two channels for the legal terms to stem from which shall be deliberated as follows 2 2 3 1 Legalized common words In the lexicon of ELP a considerable part originates from common words of daily use which has been given particular meanings and turned into technical terms in ELP after being used by legal professionals into legal documents for a long period of time To present a clearer picture let s look at some examples limitation 诉讼时效 In ELP it means a certain time allowed by a statute for bringing litigation While in common English it just means the act of limiting or the state of being limited or a restriction minor 未成年人 In ELP it means an infant or person who is under the age of legal competence This is a term derived from the civil law which describes a person under a certain age as less than so many years In most countries a person is no longer a minor after reaching the age of 18 While in common English it only means lesser or smaller in amount extent size importance rank or stature etc average 海损 In ELP it means loss or damage accidentally happening to a vessel or to its cargo during a voyage While in common English it only means an intermediate level or degree or the usual or ordinary kind or quality review 复查案件 复审 In ELP it means the examination of a cause by an appellate court or appellate administrative body While in common English it only means to look over study or examine again omission 不作为 In ELP it means The intentional or unintentional failure to act which may or may not impose criminal liability depending on the existence vel non of a duty to act under the circumstances The neglect to perform what the law requires While in common English it only means the act or an instance of omitting or the state of having been omitted affirmance 上级法院维持下级法院的判决 In ELP it means the confirmation and ratification by an appellate court of a judgment order or decree of a lower court brought before it for review While in common English it only means the act of affirming or the state of being affirmed assertion From the foregoing words we can find that they bear very different meanings in ELP compared with those in their general uses As long as such words appear in legal documents their meanings are usually unitary and fixed 2 2 3 2 Technical terms for legal profession Just like any other disciplines ELP has its own technical terms as well With these terms ELP can be strengthened in its preciseness and clarity and in the meanwhile communications between legal professionals can be conducted freely and easily According to the scopes they are applied technical terms for legal profession may be divided into the following two groups Exclusive legal terms of art This group of words is especially designed for the legal domain Such words are limited in number but specific in their meanings and definite in their scopes of application which can neither be replaced by other words in legal documents nor be extended in meanings at will For legal professionals it is a must for them to have a good command of such words Here are a few examples certiorari A writ of common law origin issued by a superior to an inferior court requiring the latter to produce a certified record of a particular case tried therein It is most commonly used to refer to the Supreme Court of the United States which uses the cases it wishes to hear To be simple it refers to the order written by a superior court to an inferior court requiting the inferior court to produce a certified record of a certain case 上级法院向下级法院或准司法机构调取案卷的令状 调审令 tort A private or civil wrong or injury other than the breach of contract for which the court will provide a remedy in the form of an action for damages 侵权 habeas corpus One of a variety of writs that may be issued to bring a party before a court or judge having as its function the release of a party from unlawful restraint 人身保护令 force majeure A clause in construction of contracts to protect the parties in the event that a part of