CaT_UCdeT LE Classes 2012-0

8/2/2019 CaT_UCdeT LE Classes 2012-0

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For the UC de Temuco by

Ieva Zebryte

Introduction to Legal English.

Qs reading week 1:

1. What other languages influences LegalEnglish in the course of history?

2. What makes English and Legal Englishdifficult?

3. What makes English difficult for you?

Q reading week 2:

Which Legal English US or UK is moresuitable for legal texts of Chilean origin?

Ieva Zebryte C&T. Peer2Peer. Consulting&Training.2


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Overview

1. Potential areas of improvement:1.1 Articles1.2 Prepositions1.3 Capitalization1.4 Problem Words and Phrases1.5 Constantly Litigated Words & Phrases

2. Dates & Time3. Numbers & Currency4. Punctuation

5. Gender Neutral Language6. Singular & Plural

Ieva Zebryte C&T. Peer2Peer. Consulting&Training.

1.1 Articles (a, an, the)

A is used when mentioning something for the first time

e.g.A client walked into the office.

An is used in the same situation but only where thefollowing word begins with a vowel

e.g.An accountant walked into the office.

The is used when referring to something already mentionedbefore:

e.g. The client and accountant work at Megacorp Ltd.

or when referring to something that is the only one of its kind

e.g. The Supreme Court of Finland

or when referring to something in a general rather than specific way

e.g. The computer has changed our firm practice.



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1.1 Articles

Do not use articles when a sentence links two parallel adjectivalphrases.

e.g. The judge ruled that Megacorp Ltd. was a validly registered and [an]existing company.

Do not use articles when using certain abstract nouns in a generalsense.

e.g. In the event of [a] conflict between the definitions given in Appendix 1and the definitions...

Do not precede conflict with a unless referring to a specific conflictas in:

e.g. The opposing parties are involved in a conflict which has lasted 3 years.


1.2 Prepositions (to, in,from, etc.)

Prepositions normally come before a noun or pronoun andgive information about how, when or where something hashappened.

No clear rules but common usage provides some guidance:

The parties to this agreement

The price list set out in Schedule 1

The agreement may be terminated bynotice.He was charged with fraud.

The goods must be delivered to the purchaser

An agreement between the buyer and seller



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1.2 Prepositions: commonerrors

Use of preposition where a verb form isrequired

e.g. [be with flu] (estar con resfrio) should behave the flu

Use of an incorrect preposition

e.g. [in the beach] (en la playa) should beon/at the beach

Use of an incorrect verb forme.g. [close the television] (sulje televisio)

should be turn off the television


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1.2 Prepositions: datesWithin/InThe goods must be delivered within 7 days.The goods must be delivered in 7 days.within = delivery anytime up to 7th dayin = may imply delivery only on 7th day

From/As from Where a contract is effective from or as from a particular date, that contract will be

effective the day after.e.g. A contract effective from 17 September 2007 will only take effect on 18 September

2007.

Bye.g. A notice to file an appeal by1 June 2007 will give the appellant the right to file until

midnight on 1 June 2007.

The statement would be incorrect if the drafter wanted the appeal to be filed on 31May 2007.

On if a period of time is expressed to begin on a certain day, that particular day is

included.e.g. A lease which is to start on 1 August 2006 will begin on that day, i.e. 1 August 2006.


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1.2 Prepositions: dates

Between If time is expressed as between two dates, the dates

mentioned will not be included.e.g. If a contract is effective between 1 April 2004 and 1

November 2006 it does not include 1 April or 1 November.

Until the use ofuntilshould be avoided as it may be unclear.e.g. The agreement continues until1 August 2006?

Before Before shortlyis incorrect to express time. Simply, shortlyis

preferred.

e.g. The contract will be sent by post shortly.


1.2 Prepositions:correspondence

Appended to use when referring to adocument which is included as an Appendix orotherwise incorporated into the document.

Attached to use when referring to anattachment to an email or when referring to aseparate document attached to a letter.

Enclosed with use when referring to adocument which is included inside a parcel orenvelope but is not affixed.



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1.3 Capitalization

Excessive Capitalization

The word yourmay be capitalized as [Your] in the middle ofa sentence:

e.g. The contract had [Y]our name on it.

This is permissible in English You - usted but is incorrectin Spanish.

As a rough rule, capital letters should be used only when

beginning a sentence (This is our office) or when givingproper names (Ieva Zebryte from Vilnius, Lithuania).


1.3 Capitalization

Lack of Capitalization

The first letter of every important word (e.g. nouns,pronouns, verbs, adjectives and adverbs) in headings andtitles may be capitalized in English, whereas Spanish tendsnot to capitalize headings.

e.g. The Basics of Drafting a Shareholders Agreement

By tradition, legal English also capitalizes: legislation or names of laws or acts,

defined terms in a contract, and

titles of contracts and agreements.



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1.4 Problem Words and Phrases

Direct translations of legal terminology may beproblematic.

e.g. derecho de propiedad inmaterialis correctlytranslated as intellectual property lawand notimmaterial property rights.

Unfortunately, immaterialmeans unimportantunder the circumstances or irrelevant, so

particular care should be given when using thisterm.



In Spanish, bienvenidos may be used as a single word toindicate that you are welcome to attend or go to an event orplace.

In English, the single word Welcome lacks the same precisemeaning and is usually used with a pronoun(s). Otheralternatives may be:

Everyone is welcome

Welcome to all Welcome Megacorp investors

We look forward to seeing you



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Draft/Prepare

Draft - (1)(v.) to write or compose a legal document,esp. a contract, (2)(n.) a preliminary version, (3) (n.)Unconditional written order by one person directinganother person to pay money to a third person (acheck is the most common example).

e.g. Could you drafta new Confidentiality Agreement?

Prepare (v.) - to compose a legal or non-legaldocument.

e.g. Pleaseprepare a speech for presentation to theMegacorp Board.


1.4 Problem Words and PhrasesDamage/damages

Damage (n.) - loss or injury to person or property.

Damages (n.) money claimed by, or ordered to be paid to,a person as compensation for loss or injury.

e.g. The extensive damage to the office was the reason thejudge awarded significant damages to Megacorp Ltd.

Percent/per cent/%

Percent (Am. Eng.) is preferred to per cent (Br. Eng.) % is only used in informal communication and technical

texts.



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Share buyback

Compre de propias acciones is oftentranslated awkwardly as own shares

purchase.

The commonly used term is share buybackoralternately share repurchase.

e.g. Megacorp Ltd. implemented a sharebuybackplan.



Concept

a general or abstract thought, notion or idea

e.g. The conceptof document management is new tothe firm.

When something takes a more concrete or specificform conceptis generally not used in English.

Good alternatives to conceptare plan, strategy,

proposal or initiative.

e.g. The document management initiative wassuccessful.



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inter alia

The Latin term inter alia (entre otras [cosas]), which isfrequently used in legal English, means among other things.

e.g. The Megacorp Ltd. CEO was convicted for inter alia, fraudand insider trading.

If you wish to substitute inter alia for another phrase,among others is incorrect and you must use the phraseamong other things.

e.g. The Megacorp Ltd. CEO was convicted for among otherthings, fraud and insider trading.


Advice/advise

Advice (n.) guidance or recommendation about future action

e.g. Friends always ask her advice.

Advise (v.) chiefly means to recommend a course of action

e.g. The lawyer advisedher client to accept the offer.




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Principle/principal

Principle (n.) usually means a truth or general law used asthe basis for something

e.g. The generalprinciples of law state that

Principal (adj.) usually means main or most important

e.g. The lawyersprincipalargument was.



Construe / Construct

Construe (v.) assign a meaning to (usually in ajudgment)

e.g. How did the court construe the facts in R. v.Megacorp Ltd.?

Construct- (1) (v.) make or create (2) (n.)abstract or general idea

e.g. She constructedher argument based on thecase file.




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Claimant / Respondent

Claimant: one who asserts a right or demand

Respondent: party against whom (i) an appealis taken (ii) a motion or petition is filed.Generally, the defendant in any equityproceeding.



Plaintiff / Defendant

Plaintiff: the party who brings a civil suit in acourt of law

Defendant: the party against whom a civil suitis filed in a court of law

Generally, Plaintiff/Defendant is used in anycivil proceedings in a court of law andClaimant/Respondent is used in all otherinstances, e.g. in arbitrations and any otherADR processes.




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Interest

Interest (n.) - the amount owed to a lender in returnfor the use of borrowed money (el dividendo, elinteres).

singular and not plural in almost all cases.

e.g. All shareholders must jointly pay intereston theloan.



Security/Securities

Security (n.) - collateral given or pledged to guarantee the fulfillment ofan obligation.

e.g. Megacorp pledged their office as securityfor the loan.

Securities (n.) - An instrument that evidences the holders ownershiprights in a firm (e.g. a stock), the holders creditor relationship with afirm or government (e.g. a bond) or the holders other rights (e.g. an

option).

e.g. Stocks, bonds and options are all examples ofsecurities.




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Deeming

Common Law contracts often use the term deem to treat something in acontract as being something else.

e.g. Notice shall be deemedserved 72 hours after having been posted.

Care should be taken not to use deemedmerely to give a legal feel to thetext.

e.g. Section 32 of this agreement shall be deemedto apply to thisAgreement.

should be

Section 32 shall apply to this Agreement.



Conclusion of a Contract Rescission: A partys unilateral unmaking of a contract for a legally

sufficient reason, such as a material breach. Voidable: contract which is capable of being affirmed or rejected at

the option of one of the parties. Void: contract which has no legal effect whatsoever; null. Revocation: withdrawal of an offer by the offeror. Termination: the act of ending a contract, e.g. termination of

conditional contract the act of putting an end to all unperformedportions of a conditional contract

Lapse: the termination of a right or privilege (in a contract)because of a failure to exercise it within time or because acontingency has or has not occurred.

Discharge: (1) release of a party from an obligation in a contract,(2) satisfaction of the contract, (3) an obligation in a contract.




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References to legislation

Legislation is generally referred to by chaptersand sections.

e.g. Chapter 6, section 16(1) of the ConsumerProtection Act (38/1978, as amended) statesthat...

Less recognized Spanish legislation should alsoinclude the name of the legislation in Spanish:

e.g. Chapter 3, section 5(1) of the Framework Lawon Environment (19300/1994, as amended)(BASES GENERALES DEL MEDIO AMBIENTE)



2. Dates & TimeDates

1 April 2006 (UK English)

April 1, 2006 (US English)

Roschier standard to use UK English format for all dates.

Continental numerical date format (dd/mm/yyyy) may beconfusing.

Preferable to write dates in words as above.

Time

The international standard for time is 24-hour, with a colon (:) as aseparator (e.g. 13:23).



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3. Numbers & Currency Use a period (.) instead of a comma (,) to indicate a decimal place holder

(e.g. 16.9%) when writing in English. Amounts of currency should always be spelt out in legal documents.

e.g. one million euro and seven cents (1 000 000.07 EUR)

The currency symbol goes before the number but the currency name goesbehind.

e.g. 1.07 or 1.07 EUR

Note above, that the international standard for large currency amounts isto simply use a space to indicate (000s) and not a period (.) or comma (,).

Four thousand_ / four hundred_ (not four thousands / four hundreds)


4. PunctuationHyphen (- or dash)

Finnish tends to use the hyphen more than English. Do not use a hyphen when words appear to be in a regular

order, i.e. there is no ambiguity in sense or sound (e.g. realestate, patent right).

Except after the short prefixes co, -de, -pre, -pro and rewhich are generally printed solid, a hyphen is used to avoiddoubling a vowel or tripling a consonant (e.g. cooperation,preexisting, semi-independent, anti-inflation)

Use a hyphen between words, or abbreviations and wordscombined to form a unit modifier immediately preceding theword modified (e.g. no-par-value stock, lump-sum payment,collective-bargaining clause).



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4. PunctuationExclamation Mark (!)

Use exclamation marks very sparingly.

Exclamation marks are very rarely used inlegal correspondence and generally not usedin legal documents.


4. Punctuation Use a period instead of a comma to indicate a

decimal place holder (e.g. 16.9%). Use a space to indicate large currency

amounts (000s) and not a period (.) orcomma (,).

Commas should be used (1) to separate itemsin a list, (2) to separate coordinated clauses,(3) to mark beginning and end of a sub-clause, (4) after an introductory clause, (5) toavoid ambiguity, (6) introduction of directspeech and (7) between adjectives whicheach qualify a noun in the same way.



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4. Punctuation Use a period (.) at the end of the abbreviation

for section (e.g. s. 32).

Items in a bulleted list are separated by asemicolon (;).

Quotation marks () are used to define terms

e.g. Johan Johansson (the Claimant)

Note: Do not include the as part of the defined

term.


5. Gender Neutral Language Increasingly common to write in gender neutral language.

Demonstrates clear commitment to equality, as well asprecision in writing.

Consider the following to ensure gender neutral language:

replace he with he/she

Use gender neutral pronouns like they, I, me, we, them, their

In lengthy documents, consider use of an interpretation clausein the agreement

Use Chair instead of Chairman, businessexecutive/businessman, policeman/police officer,salesman/sales representative



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6. Singular & PluralSingular and Plural

The subject and verb of every clause must both be singular or both be plural. 2 rules:

1. Two subjects connected by andrequire a plural verb.

e.g. The lawyers andthe judge have gone to the office.

2. Two singular subjects connected by orremain singular:

e.g. Either Smith orJones is the most likely suspect.

Latin terms

Most Latin phrases are singular (e.g. bona fide, de facto, ex parte,prima facie, etc.)

Singular and plural of Latin nouns - medium /media, crisis/crises, criterion/criteria,datum/data, phenomenon/phenomena, alumnus/alumni (male), alumna/alumnae(female)

Fora (plural) and forums (plural) are both acceptable.


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CaT_UCdeT LE Classes 2012-0

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