From a U.S. or U.K. export I see that some people know how to put the apostrophe in it’s, but not elsewhere.
(The apparent bloodstains on the glass are probably the remains of text for Halloween that hasn’t been removed properly).
There are two good places on the Web to search for English translations of German statutes: the German Law Archive and Carob (not a blog) – at Carob, click on the words ‘German Laws’ at the top of the page.
You can’t rely on the quality of the translations. If a statute is not there, it’s worth trying a search engine – there are often new translations somewhere to be found.
Sometimes it’s worth having a translation in book form. My favourite translation of the Civil Code (Bürgerliches Gesetzbuch) is by Simon Goren – latest edition 1994, covering the German text in January 1992. The University of Hull has some excerpts from an earlier (1975) edition with two co-authors.
I also have the Commercial Code and the Code of Civil Procedure translated by Goren. At one time it occurred to me to wonder if he was still translating, and I then found an obituary (pdf file by Kathleen Carrick:
Goren was born in 1913 and died in 2000. He was a Hungarian Jew who emigrated to Turkey, followed by Palestine, Israel, and in 1959 the United States.
bq. Born in Hungary, Professor Goren escaped the despotism of Nazi Germany
by immigrating to Turkey and then to Palestine, where he earned a Diploma of
Law from the British Mandatory Governments Law School in Jerusalem. Simon
was a prosecutor and attorney in Israel until he immigrated to the United States in
1959. In the U.S. he became a librarian, obtaining his M.L.S. from Columbia
University in 1960. Simons first position in his new profession of law librarianship
was at the law firm of Cleary, Gottlieb, Steen, and Hamilton in New York
City. In 1964 Simon joined the staff at the Cornell University School of Law as
an assistant law librarian. After three years at Cornell, he was hired by the Western
Reserve University School of Law in 1967, where he served as Law Librarian and
Professor of Law until he retired in 1983. At his retirement, CWRU awarded him
the title of Professor Emeritus in recognition of his service and scholarship.
Click to enlarge.
Saddam dragged out of foxhole / Revolt against mulled wine ripoff
Saddam – No trace of remorse / Sex excesses – Lawyer led double life – arrest warrant
Passing a military equipment shop, I was surprised to see these offers on underwear for the German armed forces (both new and used). Click to enlarge and read.
Some pictures of something similar, showing the colour, are here.
Since I’ve had a visitor and been working too, I have not been posting and can offer mainly local colour. Here is a game of Skat between Zwetschgenmännle at the Nuremberg Christmas Market:
Here are the rules of the game in English.
David Giacalone (formerly of Ethicalesq?) has fortunately reopened, as giacalone’s Haiku Bar & Grill. On December 7th he had an entry on lawyers and haiku. He says haiku is the perfect form for the busy lawyer, and it doesn’t have to be 17 syllables if it’s not in Japanese. Here is one of his:
bq. scraping the windshield
first snowfall without you
and our garage
…….[dag, 12/02/03]
(I have a feeling the wording has changed from ‘that garage’ to ‘the garage’ to ‘our garage’, but perhaps it’s an optical illusion). Giacalone has also written a Primer on English-language Haiku. A haiku resources page gives many other links.