de Groot, Gerard- René --- "Legal translation*" [2012] ELECD 1005; in Smits, M. Jan (ed), "Elgar Encyclopedia of Comparative Law, Second Edition" (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2012) 538

Book Title: Elgar Encyclopedia of Comparative Law, Second Edition

Editor(s): Smits, M. Jan

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

ISBN (hard cover): 9781849804158

Section: Chapter 43

Section Title: Legal translation*

Author(s): de Groot, Gerard- René

Number of pages: 12

Abstract/Description:

The issue of the translation of legal information is one of the core questions of comparative law. On the one hand, comparative lawyers frequently have to provide information on rules in force in a certain legal system in a language which is not (one of) the legal language(s) of the legal system involved. In such a case comparative lawyers are directly confronted with the difficulty of the translation of legal terminology. On the other hand, there is a second relationship between comparative law and the translation of legal terminology: if translators have to translate the content of legal documents (contracts, statutory provisions, books and articles on legal topics etc.), they are constantly confronted by comparative law, because comparison of the content of the legal terminology of the source legal system and of concepts behind the legal terminology of a legal system which uses the target language as its legal language should be their core activity during the translation process.