Blaustein, Albert P.

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Notre Dame Law ReviewVolume 37 | Issue 4 Article 45-1-1962Book Survey: On Foreign Legal DictionariesAlbert P. BlausteinFollow this and additional works at: http://scholarship.law.nd.edu/ndlrPart of the Law CommonsThis Book Review is brought to you for free and open access by NDLScholarship. It has been accepted for inclusion in Notre Dame Law Review by anauthorized administrator of NDLScholarship. For more information, please contact lawdr@nd.edu.Recommended CitationAlbert P. Blaustein, Book Survey: On Foreign Legal Dictionaries, 37 Notre Dame L. Rev. 520 (1962).Available at: http://scholarship.law.nd.edu/ndlr/vol37/iss4/4BOOK SURVEYON FOREIGN LEGAL DICTIONARIESAlbert P. Blaustein*With the ever-growing importance of foreign law has come the ever-increasingneed for good foreign legal dictionaries. But which ones are good? Which are themost useful? And which are presently available?An informal survey among American law librarians who work closely withforeign law - supplemented by the author's own evaluations - has produced a listof such dictionaries. But first, a few notes and caveats.1) There are, in a sense, two types of foreign dictionaries. One is thebilingual or multilingual dictionary, translating legal terms from one language intoanother, or others. But this type of law dictionary often proves inadequate. It iselementary that "many legal terms are either, in effect, untranslatable, or mayreceive a distorted meaning at the hands of an unskilful translator."' And this factmay necessitate the use of the second type of foreign legal dictionary - one explain-ing legal terms in their own language; an encyclopedic-type dictionary. 2 Both typesare listed here.2) In analyzing those volumes (or series of volumes) which explain legal termsin their own language, it is impossible to draw a clear line distinguishing between acomprehensive dictionary and a concise encyclopedia. No work exceeding threevolumes has been listed among the dictionaries here.3) It is often difficult to name the best foreign legal dictionaries in a givenlanguage without first ascertaining the subject matter of projected research. Onedictionary might be best for its translation of banking terms, another for its transla-tion of military legal terminology, another for its glossary of commercial terms, etc.Nevertheless, it is still possible to name the dictionaries which are generally mostuseful.4) Research in depth frequently requires reference to several foreign law diction-aries - and reference to non-legal dictionaries as well. Only two of the importantbilingual "general" dictionaries are listed here.5) The best bilingual foreign legal dictionary for a given language may not beone including any English translations - and thus could not be classified as mostuseful here. French-English legal dictionaries, for example, are certainly inferior totheir French-German counterparts. And the linguist will probably prefer to use thelatter, even though he may eventually write up the results of his research in English.36) Some of the best foreign legal dictionaries are now out of print, and, beingthus unavailable, are not included in the survey listings here.47) While foreign legal dictionaries in Hungarian, 5 Indonesian, Turkish and otherless used languages are certainly indispensable in legal research in those tongues, suchdictionaries are likewise not included here. They cannot be classified as most usefulin the acquisition of a basic library of law dictionaries.* A.B., LL.B.; Professor of Law and Law Librarian, Rutgers Law School, (South JerseyDivision); Member of New York and New Jersey Bars.1 GUTTERIDGE, COMPARATIVE LAW 111 (2d ed. 1949). For a recent article on this problem,see Baeck, tbersetzungsfragen im Rechtsverkehr mit den USA, 81 JuRgsTscHE BLXTTER 230(May 1959).2 On the other hand, it is reported that Martin Buber's "new translation into German ofthe Bible . . .[is] so perfect that Hebrew scholars actually refer to [it] . . .to clarify difficultpassages." Levin, "Sage Who Inspired Hammarskjold," N. Y. Times Magazine, Dec. 3, 1961,p. 43.3 Highly recommended is PiccAviW, THILO & STEINER, DIcTIONNAIRE JURIDIQUE RECHTS-WORTERBUCH, FRANAIS- ALLEMAND. Pt. I. Zurich: Schulthess, 1950. 596 pp. $14.00.4 For example, this very useful multilingual legal dictionary: EGBERT, LAW DICTIONARY,ENGLISH, ESPAROL, FRANgAls, DEUTSCH. New York: Fallon, 1949. 637 pp.BOOK SURVEYHere is the list of recommended legal dictionaries:BILINGUAL AND MULTILINGUAL DIcTIoNAImsFrenchProbably the most comprehensive of those in print is:Quemner, Thomas A. Dictionnaire Juridique.Part I, Frangais-Anglais. Pp. 267.Part II, Anglais-Frangais. Pp. 323. Paris: Navarre, 1953. $18.00.Also popular and useful is:J&aute, Jules. Vocabulaire Frangais-Anglais et Anglais-Frangais de Termes et Locu-tions Juridiques. Paris: Librairie G6nrale de Droit et de Jurisprudence, 1953. Pp.415. $7.50.Yet, because of the general inadequacy of French-English legal dictionaries,supplementary reference is usually made to general bilingual dictionaries coveringthose languages. One which legal researchers have found particularly valuable is:Mansion, J. E. Harrap's Standard French and English Dictionary. (Known in theUnited States as Heath's Standard French and English Dictionary.) 2 vols. Vol. I,French-English. Pp, 912. $20.00. Vol. II, English-French. Pp. 1488. $24.00.Englewood, N. J.: Heath, 1953, including 1955 supplement. Two-volume price:$40.00.Undoubtedly the most useful dictionary for French legal terms is one which isstill in preparation. It is the third part of a three-volume, trilingual legal dictionary.The first two volumes have already been published.Herbst, Robert. Dictionary of Commercial, Financial and Legal Terms. 3 vols. Vol. I,English-German-French. Lucerne: Thali, 1955. Pp. 1150. $22.50.Tome III will be subtitled "Fran~ais-Anglais-Allemand." Band II is listedbelow under German-English legal dictionaries.GermanMost highly recommended is:Herbst, Robert. W6rterbuch der Handels-, Finanz- und Rechtssprache. Band II (thesecond of the three volumes of this trilingual work), Deutsch-Englisch-Franz6sisch.Lucerne: Thali, 1959. Pp. 985. $22.50.Also comprehensive is:Basedow, Klaus H. W~rterbuch der Rechtssprache; Dictionary of Legal Terms. 2 Vols.Vol. I, German-English. Pp. 720. Vol. II, English-German. Pp. 616. Hamburg:W. Heldt, 1947-1948. $4.50 each.A very popular and handy one-volume work, published jointly by firms inGermany and the United States, is:Kniepkamp, Hanns P. Rechtsw6rterbuch; Legal Dictionary. Part I, English-German.Part II, German-English. Berlin: Colloquium, and New York: Oceana, 1954. Pp.216. $6.25.SpanishGenerally considered most useful is:Robb, Louis A. Dictionary of Legal Terms, Spanish-English and English-Spanish.New York: Wiley, 1955. Pp. 228. $8.00.More comprehensive, but extremely difficult to use because of its poortypography is:Sell, Lewis L. Espafiol-Inglis Diccionario Para Especialistas en Seguros, Finanzas,Derecho, Trabajo, Politica, Comercio; English-Spanish Comprehensive Specialist'sDictionary for Insurance, Finance, Law, Labor, Politics, Business. 2 vols. Vol. I,English-Spanish. Pp. 536. (Out of stock indefinitely.) Vol. II, Spanish-English. Pp.650. New York: David McKay, 1957. $12.50.ItalianGenerally unsatisfactory, but the only Italian-English legal dictionary avail-able is:5 For example, SZLADITS & SZEmZ6, ENGLISH - HUNGARIAN & HUNGARIAN - ENGLISHLEGAL, COMMERCIAL & FINANCIAL DICTIONARY. Budapest: Egyetemi Nyomda, 1946. 398 pp.NOTRE DAME LAWYERParisi, Guido Annibale. Dizionario Giuridico. Vol. I, Italiano-Inglese. Milan: Giuffr6,1951. Pp. 212. About $1.10, plus handling.6RussianThe only bilingual legal dictionary which has been published for Russian andEnglish is:Telberg, Ina. Soviet-English Dictionary of Legal Terms and Concepts. New York:Telberg, 1961. Pp. 111. (Mimeograph). $9.80.In many respects far more useful to lawyers (and certainly an indispensable sup-plement) is this general dictionary:Smirnitski, A. L. Russian-English Dictionary and English-Russian Dictionary. 2 vols.Vol. I, Russian-English. Pp. 951. Vol. II, English-Russian. Pp. 699. Moscow:State Publishing House of Foreign and National Dictionaries, 1958. $7.50 pervolume.JapaneseFar and away the best and most useful is:Ito, Jujiro. Japanese-English Dictionary of Legal Terms. Tokyo: Daigako Shobo,1951, with 1953 supplement. Pp. 896. $5.00, plus $5.00 for supplement.LatinThe most popular, containing a brief "course in Latin" as well as "Latin Maximsand Phrases" and a "General Vocabulary," is:Latin for Lawyers. London: Sweet & Maxwell, 3d ed., 1960. Pp. 287. $3.55.An indispensable supplement for any work in Roman law is the excellent:Berger, Adolf. Encyclopedic Dictionary of Roman Law. Philadelphia: AmericanPhilosophical Society, 1953. (Transactions of the American Philosophical Society,n. s. vol. 43, pt. 2, September, 1953). Pp. 303-808. $5.00, paper; $7.00, cloth.OTHER BILINGUAL AND MULTILINGUAL DICTIONARIEsUnfortunately, there is no Portuguese-English legal dictionary and none forthe Scandinavian languages.7For further information on bilingual legal dictionaries - data on dictionaries inother languages and data on dictionaries which are now out of print - the followingreferences are extremely valuable:Modern Multi- and Bilingual Legal Dictionaries. Los Angeles: Los Angeles CountyLaw Library, rev. ed., December, 1960. Pp. 7. (Paper.) No charge. (Incorporatingthe useful list in 6 Ost-Europa Recht 241-242 (1960).Szladits, Charles. A Bibliography on Foreign and Comparative Law Books and Articlesin English. 2 vols. Vol. I, 1955, items 957-1051, pp. 30-33. Vol. II, 1962, items872-894, pp. ****. New York: Parker School of Foreign and Comparative Law,Columbia University. Distributed by Oceana Publications. $15.00 each.Holmstrom, J. E. Bibliography of Interlingual Scientific and Technical Dictionaries.UNESCO, 4th ed., 1961. Pp. 236. $3.50.Foreign Language-English Dictionaries. Library of Congress, 1955. 2 vols. Vol. I,Special Subject Dictionaries with Emphasis on Science and Technology. Pp. 246.Out of print; available on positive microfilm from photo duplication service, Libraryof Congress, $2.50. Vol. II, General Language Dictionaries. Pp. 239. $1.75.ENCYCLOPEDIC-TYPE DICTIONARIESThere are, of course, many foreign law books describing and discussing legalterms in their own language. And these are vital supplements to bilingual and multi-lingual legal dictionaries. Not all of these works, however, can be described asdictionaries. After a certain point is reached in comprehensiveness and detail, somemust be categorized instead as encyclopedias. For the purposes of this study, worksof four volumes or less have been classified as dictionaries.6 Useful for the more accomplished linguist, however, is HAKULINEN, SUOMALAIS -RuOTSALAIS- SAKSALAINEN LAKIKIELEN SANAKIRJA (Finnish-Swedish-German Law Diction-ary). Helsinki: Siiderstr~m, 1943. 729 pp.7 Volume II, known as PiccoLA ENcIcLOPEDIA GIURIDICA, is presently out of print. Aletter from the publisher indicates that it will be reprinted in the near future.BOOK SURVEYFrench LawThe most useful all-French dictionary is:Rau, Roger and Rondepierre, Jean. Le Petit Dictionnaire de Droit. Paris: Dalloz,1951. Pp. 1360. (Now loose-leaf.) $18.50, including 1960 supplement. Annualsupplement, $6.00, plus $3.00 for binder.German LawExcellent in every respect (except that its bulk makes for difficult handling) is:Reifferscheid, Adolf. Ergfnzbares Lexikon des Rechts. 2d ed. Loose-leaf, 3 vols. (plussupplemental "Gesetzestexte"). Berlin: Luchterhand, 1954-****. Pp. about3,800. DM 98. About $23.00, plus handling. Supplementation, about two centsper page.Also very useful and certainly much handier as a "desk book" dictionary is:Curtius, Klaus and Hertha. Keysers Rechtslexikon ffr Alle. 4th ed. Heidelberg:Keyser, 1959. Pp. 480. DM 13.80. About $3.50 plus handling.Spanish-Latin American LawThere are, as would be expected, several law dictionaries written entirely inSpanish. And none of these, of course, could possibly cover the entire field of Spanishlaw and the law of all of the Latin American nations. One dictionary is primarilyoriented to the law of Spain, another to the law of Mexico, .etc. Most highly recom-mended is the three-volume work based on the law of Argentina:Cabanellas, Guillermo, Diccionario de Derecho Usual. 2d ed. 3 vols. Vol. I, pp. 762.Vol. II, pp. 908. Vol. III, pp. 933, 153. Buenos Aires: Arayfi, 1953. $60.00.Soviet LawFar and away the most useful Russian dictionary on Soviet law is:IUridicheskii Slovar'. [Juridical Dictionary.] Principal editor, P. I. Kudriavtsev. 2vols. Vol. I, A-N. Pp. 687. Vol. II, O-IA. Pp. 663. Moscow: State PublishingOffice for Juridical Writings, 1956. About $4.00 each, unbound.

Book Survey: On Foreign Legal Dictionaries

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Book Survey: On Foreign Legal Dictionaries

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