German-American Day Blawg Review/Blawg Review Deutsch-amerikanisch

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German law blogs can take part on October 6, which is apparently German-American Day. This is a day when Americans put on their Lederhosen and pretend they are in Munich, I believe.

Any German blawgs that would like to be showcased and linked next Monday presumably have to have an entry written in English (?). They can submit this by Saturday October 4 but ideally even earlier.

Blawg Review explains itself on its site. I am probably not the person to explain it. It is a kind of blog carnival.

Here is an earlier Blawg Review, hosted on the New York Personal Injury Law Blog and based on the New York Marathon (with a link to the longest urinal in the world).

Here is the gen on Blawg Review for German American Day.

And here is the LawPundit blog where Blawg Review will appear, perhaps in a later time zone than CET.

The host of Blawg Review in this case is Andis Kaulins, an American lawyer who has taught American law, legal writing and legal research at Trier University and also translates. I imagine one has to hope that Andis will showcase one’s submission.

You will note that LawPundit blog offers Google automatic translation into German, thus:

Bavarian State Elections Point to Populist Turmoil in German Politics : Free Voters Coalition Comes out of Nowhere to Win 10% of the Bavarian Vote
Bayerische Staatsoper Wahlen Point-to-Populistische Turbulenzen in der deutschen Politik: Freie Wähler Koalition kommt aus dem Nichts zu Win 10% der bayerischen Abstimmung

The populist emergence of Sarah Palin of Alaska as the Vice-Presidential nominee of the Republican Party in America is not an isolated phenomenon of the USA.
Die populistische Auftreten von Sarah Palin von Alaska als Vize-Präsidentschafts-Kandidat der Republikanischen Partei in Amerika ist kein isoliertes Phänomen der USA.

I think I might take Gabriele Pauli over Sarah Palin.

The funny thing is, lots of German blogs appear in English, or a form thereof, but those are directed at readers outside Germany, whereas German law blogs tend to be in German – it makes sense to me!

But Blawg Review would be glad to have more German law blogs linked.

(Entry corrected after publication on account of a number of errors)

Election posters/Wahlplakate 3

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No. 1 (unblemished view in earlier entry):

2 (a much nicer shot) on September 6:

3 on September 19 (I suppose that white space was asking for it):

4 On Saturday September 20, when the campaigners were out again:

The CSU faces are usually attacked first:

And finally, here’s one that is too high to be easily defaced. It shows signs of photoshopping – Bavaria, the place where the sun shines from at least two directions at once:

MoMiG

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Gesetz zur Modernisierung des GmbH-Rechts und zur Bekämpfung von Missbräuchen MoMiG

Suggestions encountered:

Law for the Modernisation of the German Limited Liability Company Law and the Prevention of Misuse
Law for the Modernization of the Private Limited Companies Act and to Combat its Abuse
Act to Modernise the Law Governing Private Limited Companies and to Combat Abuses

I prefer the third one, which is from the Bundesjustizministerium. They might write ‘modernize’, but a lot of people seem to think ‘ise’ is de rigueur in the EU. Did the first two really confuse Recht with Gesetz, or was it an earlier title?

The German Law Journal has a special issue on the topic (no. 9 for 2008, if you read this later).

One of the probably most groundbreaking – and at the same time also most contentious – issues of the German reform of private limited companies by the Gesetz zur Modernisierung des GmbH-Rechts und zur Bekämpfung von Missbräuchen (MoMiG – Law for the Modernization of the Private Limited Companies Act and to Combat its Abuse)[1] is the introduction of the Unternehmergesellschaft (UG – Entrepreneurial Company). This new sub-type of the Gesellschaft mit beschränkter Haftung (GmbH – Private Limited Company) is specifically designed for entrepreneurs and has already unofficially been dubbed the “Mini-GmbH” and “GmbH light”. It can be seen as the centerpiece of the legislator’s overall aim to facilitate and accelerate the formation of companies and the underlying motive of increasing the international competitiveness of the German GmbH.

Article on translating contracts into German/Probleme beim Übersetzen englischer Vertragstexte

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I’ve mentioned Suzanne Balansat-Aebi before, but I only recently encountered her article/paper on translating English-language contacts into German.

The link on this page opens a PDF file.

This is an excellent introduction to the subject. The fact that the target language is Swiss German should not cause insuperable problems.

In contrast to German contracts, English contracts are long and wordy. I know one German translator who always translates contracts into English, because German contracts are so much easier to understand. that’s mainly because continental lawyers rely on codified law to fill in the details. In common-law countries, in contrast, everything including the kitchen sink has to be thrown into the contract: by the parol (= mündlich) evidence rule, nothing outside the contract can be regarded as binding.

Possibly the biggest problem is what to do with legal doublets and triplets in German. (Legal doublets are a topic for a future separate entry!).

Many doublets are genuine synonyms, so only one word is needed in German. Examples given here: warrants and undertakes; indemnify and hold harmless; cancel, annul and set aside; a right, title and interest.

Unfortunately, the terms are not always synonyms. And in the worst case, the translator wonders whether they have slightly different meanings, and if so, what those meanings are. Even the drafter may not know. Some of these terms have been discussed by the courts, but how much time can we spend on research?