Langage Juridique et Langage Usuel: Vrais ou Faux Amis?

La présente contribution tente de mettre en lumière l’illusion selon laquelle les termes que le droit emprunte au langage ordinaire et auxquels il ne donne pas explicitement une portée spécifique conserveraient le sens qu’ils possèdent dans le cadre de celui-ci. Si langage juridique et langage usuel sont incontestablement de proches «amis», ils semblent nous mettre également en présence, dans une certaine mesure, de «faux amis» c’est-à-dire de mots appartenant à deux langages différents et qui ont entre eux une grande similitude de forme mais dont les significations sont au moins partiellement différentes. A cette fin, se trouve développée une analyse critique de la référence au sens usuel des termes, telle qu’elle se dégage traditionnellement en Belgique de la jurisprudence, principalement en relation avec la question de la nécessité d’une interprétation, celle du respect du principe de légalité, ainsi que celle de l’autonomie conceptuelle, au moins relative, du droit pénal par rapport aux autres branches du droit

The complexities of legal translation in the drafting of bilateral treaties between Italy and English-speaking countries

As observed in previous research, the translation of law has played a very important part in the contact between different peoples and cultures in history, and is playing an even more important role in our increasingly globalized world. The problems arising in the translation of bilateral treaties do not appear to have been explored as extensively when compared with the analysis of the translation of equally authentic texts undertaken in national, supranational and international contexts. Therefore, this paper investigates terminological difficulties encountered in the translation of specific provisions in a selection of bilateral treaties entered into between Italy (civil law) and English-speaking countries (common law) to ascertain how translators have attempted to bridge the divide between the different legal cultures concerned. It is hoped that this investigation, by drawing comparisons with translation approaches adopted in multilateral instruments, will highlight problems encountered in the translation of bilateral treaties – a hitherto largely unexplored area of legal translation

Firm Demography in the Accommodation Industry. Evidence from Italian Insular Regions

The purpose of this study is to analyse the spatial pattern and the post-entry performance of tourism businesses in the Italian insular regions of Sardinia and Sicily. Using geo-referenced micro-data for the period 2011-2014, we explore the spatial distribution of ac-commodation firms in the two insular regions, and then compare the coastal and inland areas of the two regions. We observe a higher dispersion of firms in Sardinia than in Sicily; the latter, however having a higher concentration of firms in coastal and urban areas. We do not find significant differences in survival probability across the two insular regions but we do detect significant differences be-tween coastal and inland areas in Sicily

Law-in-Translation: An Assemblage in Motion

Law-in-translation, as it manifests itself in either oral or written form, can be usefully described as an assemblage in motion. Oscillating between the generic and the singular, legal translation has gradually affirmed a disciplinary identity of sorts vis-à-vis other well-established genres, such as literary translation or the translation of Scripture. Further, legal translation has been moving from the local to the ‘glocal’ scene. This neologism wishes to capture the idea that while law is more and more subject to translation on the European or international level, it remains unable to escape local forms of understanding. Finally, legal translation has been amplifying its semantic range from the literal to the metaphorical. Long confined to the transmission of oral or written statements across languages, law-in-translation features new instantiations as can be illustrated, for instance, through the ever-expanding circulation of legal concepts from one country to another and the re-formulation of law into economic language within international business relations

Translating EU law: legal issues and multiple dynamics

Multilingualism has been one of the founding principles and a daily practical concern for the EU since its origins. EU law currently applies to 27 countries and is available in 23 languages which all carry equal status. In practice, this is made possible by the use of translation and by the work of the DGT (Directorate-General for Translation), which provides the largest translation service in the world. However, from a legal point of view, all texts are deemed to be authentic and translation is a ‘means’ without ‘status’, whose existence is nowhere mentioned. The issue has received attention in the last two decades mostly from scholars, linguists and translators such as Correia, Kjær, Koskinen, Šarčević, Tosi and Wagner. Focusing exclusively on legal texts and on the pragmatics of norms, I intend to demonstrate that the equal authenticity given to all EU language versions and the multilingual practice of the Union are less contradictory than they seem. Attention is also shifted to some other matters and complexities, which are unique to the EU, e.g. the supranational nature of the EU law, a cultural and a legal identity in fieri and its variety of politics and goals