The legal Internet project at Saarbrücken University, my usual portal for German law, has a weekly recommended link (and it’s worth looking through the archives). The current one is a French portal, LexInter.net. I’m not an expert on French legal Internet sites, but this looks useful. It has statutes and codes, annotated and with Internet links. The repertoire de jurisprudence (that’s case law, isn’t it?) has a key word search. There’s also a guide thématique to French law, and bibliographies.

I had to enlarge the font size in IE6.

An article in the (Maltese) Independent Online throws more light on the translation problems in the version of the EU draft constitution, although it still does not reveal the precise meaning of the incorrect words.

Apparently the translators were told to translate ‘word for word’, in order to avoid the ‘comprehension problems’ that might arise if they used idiomatic Maltese:

bq. This explains why an expression such as “the inhabitants of Europe arriving in successive waves” was translated as “l-habitanti (sic)…waslu f’mewg ta’ success,” …

Apparently, Latvia established a translation institution, which also acted as a monitor of quality.

Allegedly, a number of those who translated into Maltese had never written Maltese before, although they could speak it. Malta did not have enough funding for this.

According to the Ethnologue, there were 300,000 speakers of Maltese in Malta in 1975, and:

bq. It is descended from Maghrebi Arabic but has borrowed heavily from Italian; it is a separately developed form with different syntax and phonology. No diglossia with Standard Arabic. Not endangered. National language. Grammar. Roman script. Bible 1932-1984.

An article in the (Maltese) Independent Online throws more light on the translation problems in the version of the EU draft constitution, although it still does not reveal the precise meaning of the incorrect words.

Apparently the translators were told to translate ‘word for word’, in order to avoid the ‘comprehension problems’ that might arise if they used idiomatic Maltese:

bq. This explains why an expression such as “the inhabitants of Europe arriving in successive waves” was translated as “l-habitanti (sic)…waslu f’mewg ta’ success,” …

Apparently, Latvia established a translation institution, which also acted as a monitor of quality.

Allegedly, a number of those who translated into Maltese had never written Maltese before, although they could speak it. Malta did not have enough funding for this.

According to the Ethnologue, there were 300,000 speakers of Maltese in Malta in 1975, and:

bq. It is descended from Maghrebi Arabic but has borrowed heavily from Italian; it is a separately developed form with different syntax and phonology. No diglossia with Standard Arabic. Not endangered. National language. Grammar. Roman script. Bible 1932-1984.

(Later note: this is an old entry. See later entries – via search box. My latest suggested translation is Legal Notice. A later entry, on October 12th 2003, gives the details of EU law as applicable in the UK).

German law requires webmasters to give their details online, so the person responsible for the site can be traced. Other details have to be added if applicable: a VAT number, number in the Commercial Register and suchlike.
This is called in German the Impressum.

It’s often combined with a disclaimer and a note on privacy.

Many people in Germany with bilingual sites like to translate the word Impressum into English, but that isn’t easy. The term normally refers to books (imprint) or newspapers (masthead), but neither of those terms is right online. On top of that, you don’t often see the words imprint or masthead written out in English, even in books and papers. However, the English versions of German sites bristle with mastheads, imprints and even colophons – a colophon usually describes the typeface used in a book.

Here are some legal details from the law firm Rechtsanwälte Sakowski, in Heidenheim (which I have spent a lot of time driving through). Continue reading →

(Later note: this is an old entry. See later entries – via search box. My latest suggested translation is Legal Notice. A later entry, on October 12th 2003, gives the details of EU law as applicable in the UK).

German law requires webmasters to give their details online, so the person responsible for the site can be traced. Other details have to be added if applicable: a VAT number, number in the Commercial Register and suchlike.
This is called in German the Impressum.

It’s often combined with a disclaimer and a note on privacy.

Many people in Germany with bilingual sites like to translate the word Impressum into English, but that isn’t easy. The term normally refers to books (imprint) or newspapers (masthead), but neither of those terms is right online. On top of that, you don’t often see the words imprint or masthead written out in English, even in books and papers. However, the English versions of German sites bristle with mastheads, imprints and even colophons – a colophon usually describes the typeface used in a book.

Here are some legal details from the law firm Rechtsanwälte Sakowski, in Heidenheim (which I have spent a lot of time driving through). Continue reading →

The ABA Journal reports that an Ohio court found money paid to litigants void as champerty and maintenance.

Champerty, says Dietl: Br Unterstützung einer Prozeßpartei (gegen Zusicherung eines Teils des Prozeßgewinns)
Maintenance: . unzulässige Unterstützung einer Prozeßpartei (od. beider) durch einen Außenstehenden (Am obs.)

British? American? Both are obsolete terms in both Britain and America, as far as I know.

Interim Settlement Funding Corp. is a law-loan company. It lent the defendant $6,000 in return for her later paying it $16,800 if the case was over within 12 months, and increasing amounts if it took longer.

She refused to pay – she paid back the $6,000 plus 8% interest. She then sued the companies, asking the court to find the contract void. Continue reading →