Legal translation

translation standards used in legal practice. Not many lawyers and judges are familiar with the terminology used in translation theory, and they often ask court interpreters and translators to provide verbatim translation. They often view this term as a clear standard of quality that they desire in TT. However, usually it does not mean to provide verbatim translation in the meaning of the standard described in translation theory with which they are not familiar. Their use of this term is based on a layperson's misconception that an accurate translation is achieved simply when "the correct" words of the target language are substituted for the corresponding words of ST. In reality, they just want to have a faithful and fluent translation of ST having no doubt that a good translator will provide it. Translators of legal texts often consult law dictionaries, especially bilingual law dictionaries. Care should be taken, as some bilingual law dictionaries are of poor quality and their use may lead to mistranslation.

their drafts;
Translation of contracts and draft contracts;
Translation of court judgments, case law and judicature;
Translation of documents instituting proceedings, complaints, applications;
Translation of power of attorneys;
Translation of opinions and expert reports.

legal jurisdiction.
For legal and official purposes, evidentiary documents and other official documentation are usually required in the official language(s) of a jurisdiction.
In some countries, it is a requirement for translations of such documents that a translator swear an oath to attest that it is the legal equivalent of the source text. Often, only translators of a special class are authorized to swear such oaths. In some cases, the translation is only accepted as a legal equivalent if it is accompanied by the original or a sworn or certified copy of it.
Even if a translator specializes in legal translation or is a lawyer in his country, this does not necessarily make him a sworn translator.
The procedure for translating to legal equivalence differs from country to country.
Germany
German regional courts (Landgerichte) have the power to appoint "sworn translators". The specific title and the appointment procedure are different in each state. In most cases, the candidates are required to pass an examination.
United States of America
The U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics states: "There is currently no universal form of certification required of interpreters and translators in the United States, but there are a variety of different tests that workers can take to demonstrate proficiency."

text of the source language in such a way as to exactly convey in the translation the contents of the original document and that the translation would have the same legal effect as the original document. At this stage the translator becomes a creator of a new text, bearing the responsibility that the translation will not create unnecessary legal consequences. When translating legal texts and documents, it is mandatory to adhere to the rules for designing and drawing up documents.
The complexity of legal texts is formed by the level of difficulty, differences in the conceptual structure, semantic structure of sentences and style differences, therefore an important precondition for the translator of legal texts is preparation time, during which the translator must look into the contents of the document, compare terminology and recognize the main differences between the legal systems of the source and target languages.

texts are full of legal terms and expressions that require special attention;
text may be written in one legal system and the translation is intended for a different legal system;
some of the language constructs of the source language are not synonyms in the target language;
work with special legal literature is indispensable.
Например, большинству русскоязычных не известны такие явления, как primaries – предварительные выборы, определяющие кандидатов в президенты от двух политических партий в США:
Before voting every citizen must register in accordance with the laws of his state. This gives him the right of participating in primaries.
Перед голосованием каждый гражданин должен зарегистрироваться в соответствии с законами своего штата. Это дает ему право принять участие в предварительных выборах.
Venire – категория лиц, могущих исполнять функции присяжных:
The juries are selected from a larger panel of citizens, commonly known as the venire.
Судебные присяжные выбираются из более широкого круга граждан, обычно известного как категория лиц, могущих исполнять функции присяжных.
Vior dire – допрос присяжных для выявления их возможной предубежденности:
The prospective jurors are generally subject to further interrogation about their possible biases. This examination is known as viordire.
Предполагаемые присяжные обычно подвергаются дальнейшему допросу на предмет их возможной предубежденности. Эта процедура носит название vior dire.
Solicitor – поверенный, солиситор (ведет дела клиентов, подготавливает дела для адвокатов):
A solicitor, acting under a general retainer, has an implied authority to accept service of process for his client…
Солиситор, действующий на основании общего договора с адвокатом, имеет подразумеваемое полномочие брать на себя обслуживание клиента в ходе судебного разбирательства…

at the content of the legal background and at the language level. The translator has a double perspective.
The central prerequisite of translation as a dynamic task for the translator is to comprehend the given text within an adequate legal perspective. And specialized translation in the field of law requires the formulation of communicatively adequate technical texts in the other language. For this purpose, one needs a “well-grounded understanding” based on subject knowledge gained through research, since a merely intuitive, naïve interpretation of legal texts would be inadequate.
In the hermeneutical approach to texts, the translators have a double perspective and need a system of orientation. This system is presented in the following Table 1.

Legal world : culture with its own law system (European continental/Anglo-Saxon/Arabic/Chinese)
Form of legislation continental law/ case law/ supra-national law/ law in other regions
Text genre macro-structure of text type (paragraph of code, court sentence, certificate, contract, document, etc.)
Field of law criminal, civil, administrative, works,trade, family, international law, etc. of the country
Legal concepts levels of abstraction of concept and lexis on the text level
Legal style precision and anonymity in civil law, individual style in common law, standard formulae, speech acts
Rhetoric Formulating
Text function transparency for source text function,documentary translation, orientation markers, translation assignment
Terminology state of equivalence of concepts to be checked, translation principle of “common denominator” of concept, literal translation of terms
Language information official language, speech acts and verbal tense, sentence perspective, phraseology,
technical word compounding, inclusive style
Standardization & archaic forms, standard procedural formulae