See discussions, stats, and author profiles for this publication at: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/324478872 English versus Spanish Procedural Law Terminology and Phraseology: Troublesome Features for Translators

Article in Lebende Sprachen · April 2018

DOI: 10.1515/les-2018-0004

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English versus Spanish Procedural Law

Terminology and Phraseology: Troublesome

Features for Translators

https://doi.org/10.1515/les-2018-0004

Abstract: Legal translation is increasingly demanded in the professional market. When a translator tackles the translation of a source text from the same law system as to the target text the difficulties encountered may not prove very onerous. Nevertheless, when the translation brief comprises heterogeneous legal systems it places the translator into a difficult translation task. That is precisely the case of Common Law versus Civil Law and the legislation arising therefrom: Procedural Law. In this paper we will explain the features of procedural legal discourse and the tools for providing an adequate translation (English-Spanish/ Spanish-English) for the terminology and phraseology identified in our bilingual corpus.

Keywords: Procedural Law, Terminology, Phraseology, English, Spanish 1 Introduction

Legal-court English, also known as legalese (the language of the law) represents one of the most complex and interesting sub-types of ESP (English for Specific Purposes). Both English for Legal Purposes and Spanish for Legal Purposes entail complexities and intricacies for not only professional translators, but also for legal translation theorists and comparative law researchers. Due to these complex features, early researches were devoted to the study and analysis of legal language and culture. The interest in legal language and its translation has almost been overwhelming. Hilf (1973, p. 5) dated the first sample of legal translation in 1271 BC (with the Egyptian-Hittite peace treaty). In fact, there were two parallel versions of the same treaty; the cuneiform one and the hieroglyphic one; and it is worth bearing in mind that the authoritative text called Corpus Iuris Civilis (by Justinian I) inaugurated the modern history of legal

*Kontaktperson: Esther Vázquez y del Árbol, Translation and Interpreting, Departamento de Filología Inglesa, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, E-Mail: adg13t@r.postjobfree.com Lebende Sprachen 2018; 63(1): 63–83

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translation. That was also the case of the investigations carried out in ancient Greece and Rome. In fact, Titus Livius (or Livy) identified Lex XII Tabularum (the legislation of the foundation of Roman Law) as one of the main pillars for Public Law and Private Law. In those times, the citizens in ancient Rome developed a great enthusiasm towards communication and rhetoric studies (born in 510 BC by the Sophists). Therefore, higher education studies were taught in rhetoric schools, offering courses on good oratory (suasoriae and controversiae). The “rhetor” was in charge of their instruction, rules and resources. Such was the interest excited that the so-called “Ciceronian speeches” (by Marcus Tullius Cicero) flourished in the 1st century BC. Cicero was a widely recognised expert on rhetoric and the art of discourse, creating works such as Brutus (or De Claris Oratibus), De Oratore, and Orator.

At that time, the classical triad of speech genres consisted of the following discourses:

a) genus iudiciale: the speaker wanted to obtain a court decision or order on a fact that is adjudged from the law

b) genus deliberativum: the political speech delivered to a people s assembly c) genus demonstrativum: praise or shame of a person. It was during those days that law-court discourses were very popular, especially those defended by Cicero before the courts “pro speeches” (as a defence solicitor or barrister) and “in speeches” (as a prosecuting solicitor or barrister). Examples of those are the following:

–“In C. Verrem”: seven speeches against Gaius Verres, the former governor of Sicily, during his corruption and extortion trial.

–“Pro Roscio Amerino”, on behalf of Roscius, accused of murdering his father. These represent just a few of the examples of the significant influence of Roman Law speeches into many current legal systems’ speeches. Mellinkoff (1987; 1995), who is against lawyerly language gathered contributions on legal language from the 16th century. The considerable amount of references and literature devoted to legal writing and legal speeches commonly takes as a given that solicitors, barristers, magistrates and judges may write poorly, with some linguistic quirks that have little communicative function (Tiersma 1999). Despite their difficulties, legal documents are written for regulating the conduct of human beings (towards one another or towards the Administration) by means of acts, regulations, orders, court judgments, etc. It entails a considerable complexity, even though it is aimed at both a specialist readership and a non-specialist readership. That is the specific case of procedural law, the aim of our study.

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1.1 Procedural Law

United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) was created more than a half century ago. It was aimed at building peace around the world. In 1988, UNESCO published a set of codes suggesting standard nomencla- ture for the fields of knowledge. These codes also offered a specific digit for

“Ciencias Jurídicas y Derecho” (Legal Sciences and Law), ranking number 56. Then, this area is divided into another six, as follows:

– 5601. Derecho canónico

– 5602. Teoría y métodos generales

– 5603. Derecho internacional

– 5604. Organización jurídica

– 5605. Derecho y legislación nacionales

– 5699. Otras especialidades jurídicas

Within these sections additional sub-sections were provided, the most pertinent ones for our study were these stated below;

– 5602 Teoría y Métodos Generales:

– 01 Derecho Común Anglosajón

– 02 Derecho Comparado

– 06 Legislación

– 5604 Organización Jurídica:

– 01 Funcionarios de justicia y procesos judiciales

– 02 Magistratura

– 03 Tribunales

– 99 Otras (especificar)

– 5605 Derecho y Legislación Nacionales:

– 05 Derecho Penal

– 07 Derecho Público

– 08 Derecho Privado

– 99 Otras (especificar)

As we can see, Derecho Procesal (Procedural Law or Adjective Law) is not entailed in the list, although its pertinence is of utmost importance. Procedural Law covers the necessary legal area for magistrates and judges, solicitors/barristers and prosecutors, claimants and defendants, applicants and respondents, and so on. Any type of proceedings, commenced or to be commenced, needs a set of regula- tions and Acts governing the steps and management for putting a case before a court (for both criminal and civil cases). Procedural Law comprises all the rules for both Civil Law systems and Common Law systems. This kind of law area English versus Spanish Procedural Law 65

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determines the group of relations between the court parties, the parties and the magistrates/judges, the legal professionals, the experts, etc. In Spain (Civil Law System) the main procedural regulations would be the following ones:

– Constitución

– Código Penal

– Ley Orgánica del Poder Judicial

– Ley de Enjuiciamiento Criminal

– Ley de Enjuiciamiento Civil, to cite a few.

In the UK the main set of procedural regulations would be the following:

– The Code for Crown Prosecutors (The Crown Prosecution Service, England and Wales)

– The Code for Prosecutors (The Public Prosecution Service for Northern Ireland)

– The Prosecution Code (The Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service in Scot- land).

The US entails a double system: federal and State. Some examples of their proce- dural regulations’ documents are:

– The Constitution

– The Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure

– The Jencks Act.

As is well known, legal and court language show the surrounding reality with detailed information, especially the reality concerning law and order. The main aim of court trials is to solve conflicts and to adjudicate between parties, uphold- ing rights. Therefore, the terminology used is that of rights, duties, and positive and negative decisions. Procedural Law provides coverage for many relevant and interesting areas related to evidence gathering, pre-trial procedures, submission of charges, witness summons, parties’ statements, proceedings hearings (with or without a jury), judgments issue, court orders and other relevant procedures. As Alcaraz & Hughes (2013, pp. 67) explained, the terms in which positive court decisions are expressed are multiple: from “accept” to “vary”. There are many features arising from legal discourse, especially when com- paring Civil Law (Roman or Napoleonic Law, based on codes) to Common Law

(Case Law or Judge-made Law, based on precedent) and the documents issued by both systems of law. Accordingly, we selected a corpus of 200 legal documents

(Vázquez y del Árbol 2006; 2007 a; 2007 b; 2008; 2009; 2014 a; 2014 b; 2016), and focused on the features difficult for legal translators, legal practitioners and legal comparatists.

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After deepening the features of legal-court terminology and phraseology in English and Spanish, we will answer the research question posed hereby: What are the most challenging and cumbersome features of legal discourse for Eng- lish<>Spanish legal-court translators? Let us first begin by presenting the features of Procedural Law (English<>Spanish).

2 Legal Terminology

We will now list the main features of both procedural discourses: English legal discourse as compared to Spanish legal discourse, structured from word to sentence, with special attention being paid to the most difficult issues for legal translators and proof-readers.

2.1 The Noun

– Archaic nouns are useful within police and procedural law documents:

“calabozos” (“police cells”), “cualesquiera” (“any”).

– Names often occur without determiners: “defendant represented by counsel”,

“whenever it appears by satisfactory evidence to judges”.

– Derivation used for legal purposes, etymologically often originated from Latin language (-er/-or/-ee/-tion/-ion/-cide/-ant): “appointor/-er”, “assign- er/-or”, “donor/-ee”, “franchisor/-ee”, “lessor/-ee”, “mortgagor/-er”, “com- mission”, “filiation”, “genocide”, “regicide”; “affiant”, “informant”.

– Defined nouns used with capital initials (unless the terms are used in their ordinary meaning): “hereinafter called the Respondent”, “herein referred to as the Buyer”, “De ahora en adelante, El Demandante”, “El Demandado”.

– Irregular or infrequent plurals: “persons”, “moneys/monies”, “informa- tions”, “costas judiciales”, “caudales monetarios”.

– Complex noun phrases in English legal discourse: “Petition of John Smith regarding a child s adoption”, “notification in terms of Section 22(1) of the Adoption (Scotland) Act 1978”.

– Use of “failure” with a negative meaning in regulatory and prescriptive documents: “failure to do so”, “the failure of a witness”. The Spanish equiva- lence goes through the use of the prefix “in-/im-”: “incomparecencia”, “im- pago”.

– Other ways of stating negation or irregular behaviour by using the prefixes

“non-”, “mis-” & “dis-”: “non-indictable”, “non-retroactively”, “misappro- priation”, “misconduct”, “disclosure”.

English versus Spanish Procedural Law 67

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– Simple and coordinated structures with English singular and plural names:

“sale or sales”, “will or wills”, “right or rights”, “devisee or devisees”. The Spanish discourse is opting for lists of different names (with similar or related meanings): “cualesquiera otras personas jurídicas, sindicatos de obligacio- nistas, regantes, propietarios, consocios, condueños y demás cotitulares”.

– False friends (deceptive cognates):

–“Act” is “Ley” and not “Acta”; “Acta” is “Deed” (notarial instrument) or

“Minutes” (meeting agreements);

–“attendance” is not “asistencia” but “comparecencia”;

–“Chancellor” (in University documents) is not the “Canciller”, but the

“Rector” or “Vicerrector”;

–“continuance” is “aplazamiento/suspensión” not “continuación”;

–“Decree made” is usually “sentencia dictada” not “decreto hecho”;

–“estate” is not “estado” but “herencia/masa hereditaria/propiedades/ bienes”;

–“fees” is not “tasa” when dealing with salaries and wages; it means

“minuta/honorarios” in Spanish;

–“letter before action” is “notificación prejudicial” not “carta antes de una acción”;

–“objection” is not “objeción”,itisa“protesto”;

–“Official” (as a noun) means “funcionario” not “oficial”;

–“Re” is not “cosa”, but the “asunto” of a letter or “asunto procesal” of court proceedings;

–“ser natural de” means “to be born in”;

–“(to) set one s hand” is not “poner la mano” but “firmar/signar”;

–“relief” does not mean “alivio”, but the “pretensiones” of one party with the proceedings;

–“The bench/dais” is frequently used for “magistrados”; “the dock” is not the “muelle/dique”, it makes reference to the “banquillo de los acusa- dos”.

– Hyperonyms for generalizations: “hecho delictivo” is used instead of “deli- to”, “falta” or “infracción”. The same happens with “crime” or “offence”; these are routinely used for expressing the idea that the law has been broken.

– There are also cultural matters that are difficult to translate from one lan- guage into another. That happens with “maiden surname” or “née name”: they both state the surname or family name of a woman who has married, but that habit is not expected in Spain, although its translation into Spanish would be “apellido de soltera”.

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2.2 The Verb

– The passive voice is also frequent within legal settings in English and Span- ish: “el albacea fue puesto en posesión de los bienes del causante”, “the prosecutor was given authority to investigate”.

– Legal Spanish is tending to diverge from spoken language in the use of certain verbs for sending or delivering documents (especially those related to court summons or court notices): “practicar el diligenciamiento”, “diligenciar la citación”, “notificar la resolución”; and even “practicar la inscripción” (“to register a birth/marriage/death”).

– When dealing with minor offences and serious offences, the Spanish legal text is dotted with passive expressions such as “tipificado en”, “previsto en”.

– Archaic and Old English endings, especially for verbal expressions: “do(e) th”, “witnesseth” often precede recitals.

– Emphatic “to do” with first person singular: “I do solemnly swear upon my oath”, “I do hereby certify”.

– “Be” + subjunctive as an equivalent to “HEREBY” or “know all men by these presents”: “be it enacted”; “be it considered”, “be it known that

– Formal subjunctives in English; “futuro imperfecto de subjuntivo” in Span- ish: “should both spouses agree to divorce”; “si el fiscal dispusiere”, “en caso de que el sujeto dispusiere

– Spanish subjunctives for orders and commands, frequently in court contexts:

“notifíquese la sentencia a las partes implicadas”, “señálense con un aspa las afirmaciones verídicas”.

– Causatives creation by means of “to cause”: “he shall reduce the complaint to writing and cause it to be signed”; “the Lessor shall cause written notice to be delivered”.

– Overuse of auxiliary verbs with a “compulsory” shade of meaning (“shall” and “must”): “At an election the voters shall vote first on the question”, “the witnesses must sign the document”, “the testator shall declare in the pre- sence of two witnesses”. The use of the future tense in Spanish achieves the same goal: “el juez citará a los testigos y procederá a verificar si son hábiles para declarar y los interrogará sobre la situación”. The other option for the legal writer in Spanish is to use “haber de”: “los testigos habrán de perso- narse en el plazo estipulado por el emplazamiento”.

– The infinitives will be used in both languages for giving instructions to the reader of a printed document: “Señalar los atenuantes más significativos”,

“Tick where appropriate”, “List any other married names”. English versus Spanish Procedural Law 69

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2.3 The Preposition

–“Under” and “by” are common prepositions (meaning “according to”) for legislative discourses. They are useful for citation sections and Acts: “under arrest”, “under section 12 of the Act”. “Under/by virtue of” are frequently translated into “previstas en/al amparo de/en virtud de/contempladas en”

(+ relevant legislation).

–“Of” is the English preposition for stating the address of a relevant person for an instrument. Its translation into Spanish needs an archaic expression such as “vecino de” or a modern one (“con domicilio/residencia en”).

– Use of “notwithstanding/notwithstanding the same” at the beginning of legal sections and sub-sections: “Notwithstanding, in the second half of the year, the credit began to be below the estimated values”. Some translators use “no obstante lo anterior”, which is common in normative documenta- tion.

– Complex prepositions in Spanish language. It is customary to introduce a complex preposition group in Spanish and English [preposition + noun + preposition] or [preposition + article + noun + preposition], but they can be ambiguous for the readership: “a tenor de”/”en cumplimiento de”, “as of”,

“by the use of”, “in accordance with”, “in consideration of”, “in respect of”,

“prior to”, “subject to”, “subsequent to”.

2.4 The Adjective

– Complex noun + adjectives phrases in Spanish: “cuota íntegra ajustada positiva”, “pertinente adecuación legislativa nacional”.

– The use of “relevant” in English for various purposes: “pertinente”, “que está/é en vigor”, “relevante”, “que concierna”.

2.5 The Adverb

– –Ly ending adverbs in court instruments: “constructively summoned”, “ci- villy liable”, “summarily arraigned”; “knowingly made”; “is solely”; “an actuarially basis”.

– Compound “here” and “there” for referencing previous/future items, state- ments or persons, also known as “pro-forms” (Bázlik et al. 2010, 19) or

“pronominal adverbs”. “It is hereby certified”, “the spouses thereby”, “the clauses herein”, “the documents attached hereto”, “The mortgage herein 70 Esther Vázquez y del Árbol

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constituted is intended by the parties hereto to be security for the payment of all amounts that are now of hereafter outstanding”. 2.6 The Conjunction

– Contract law conjunctions either simple or complex: “provided/in case”, “un- less anduntil”or“whereas”(introducing thebusiness“whereasclauses”).

– Disjunctive “or” suggesting alternatives for statements: “It shall not be con- strued as limiting or in any way precluding the exercise by the Bank of any or all of its rights for the full payment”.

– “Unless” for restricting legal statements: “Unless the context clearly indicates otherwise”.

2.7 The Pronoun

– First person singular for the executor or granter of English documents, whereas the Spanish ones opt for the third person singular (first person for notaries authorizing the execution of the documents): “I, the undersigned”,

“We, the undersigned company”, “I, NAME, herein known as ‘the Testator’”,

“Yo, Notario del Ilustre Colegio Notarial de”.

– Use of pronouns like such, same or said, without article: “the foregoing is a full copy of the original and I have carefully compared the same with the original”; “said courts have power to issue the writ of habeas corpus”.

– Relative which with individuals or legal persons: “a registered agent, which agent may be an individual or a corporation”, “if a witness refuses to obey a subpoena, he shall be fined by the court, which fine and judgment shall be final”.

– Demonstratives to point the reader toward a specific section/person within the text: “Este”, “Estos”, “This”, “These

3 Legal Discourse: Phraseological, Syntactic and

Stylistic Aspects

– Written discourse above oral discourse, due its archaic and redundant fea- tures.

English versus Spanish Procedural Law 71

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– Conditionality by means of diverse conjunctions: “where a principal demand is commenced “That shall mean such value as the parties may agree on, provided that the parties cannot agree”, “in the event any portion is found to be invalid “if any ... is discovered to have forged a customer's or represen- tative's signature

– Initial “No” for shortening some utterances, statements or denials: “No person arrested”, “no fee shall be required”, “no case to answer” (used when one solicitor/barrister is asking the magistrate/judge to file the case).

– Diversity of registers and lexical fields: general terms are usually mixed with specialised terminology. Legal terms (“mortgage”, “executrix”, “coroner”,

“mejora”, “dolo”, “legítima”, “fideicomiso”) are used with general terms. These are frequently used with infrequent meanings.

– Richness of terminology, barbarisms & borrowings (or loanwords): in Span- ish abundant terms present Greek/Roman etymology, others come from Arabic or French (and there is a moderate rate of English legalisms), although in English we see a combination of Greek/Roman etymology with French and Arabic terms. Examples of Latinisms are: ad acta, ad litem, affidavit, apud acta, bona fide, de iure, decree nisi, ex parte, in situ, inter alia, modus operandi, per capita, quorum, re, sine die, subpoena. List of a sample of Anglo-Saxon terms: abet, deed, deem, dock, finding, gift, goodwill, hijack, kidnap, manslaughter, next of kin, picketing, rape, smuggle, threat, writ. It is a well-known fact that Arabic terms present the prefix “al-”: “alibi”, “ali- mony” in English; and “alguacil” or “alevosía” in Spanish. Additionally,

“chantaje”, “sabotaje” or “agiotaje” are terms with a French origin. As a rule, EU terms show an influence from the French language, whereas UN ones present a higher prevalence of English language terminology and phraseology.

– Aphorisms used by Acts and Orders: Ley 10/2009 de 23 de diciembre de medidas fiscales y administrativas:

Artículo 49, apartado 1:

El capital social estará constituido por las aportaciones obligatorias y volun- tarias de sus socios y, en su caso, asociados que podrán ser . Civil Rights Act 1964 (USA): “Title I. Voting Rights. The term ‘vote’ shall have the same meaning as in subsection (e) of this section”.

– Metaphors, often with euphemistic purposes: “nuda propiedad”, “cadena per- petua”, “nude ownership”, “the weight of the law”, “the burden of proof”,

“carnal knowledge”, “custodial interrogation”, “causante”, “causasdelóbito”.

– Abbreviations and acronyms, especially for lower and higher courts: aka

(also known as), a.n. (above-named), AN (Audiencia Nacional), Art. (artículo), 72 Esther Vázquez y del Árbol

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Attn. (for the attention of), CC (carbon copy), CH (Chief Justice), c/o (care of/in care of), CPJG (Consejo General del Poder Judicial), dec. (deceased), DJ (District Judge), d/o (daughter of), DOB (Date of Birth), e.e. (excepted error), HC (High Court), J1II (Juzgado de Primera Instancia e Instrucción), o.c. (only child), opn.

(opinion), PAYE (pay as you earn), p.d. (postdated), POW (prisoner of war), sec. (section), sgd (signed), s/o (son of), TS (Tribunal Supremo).

– Lexical composition & compounding, frequent in offences and crimes taxo- nomies: “blackmail”, “cross-examination”, “goodwill”, “kidnapping”,

“money-laundering”, “white-collar crime”.

– Court and forensic collocations: “Act of God”, “burden of proof”, “capital punishment”, “domestic violence”, “identity parades”, “indictable offense”,

“interest accrued”, “judgment issued”, “legal entity”, “mitigating circum- stances”, “notification served”, “grievous bodily harm”, “oral agreement”,

“preliminary injunction”, “service of process”, “to affix a seal/stamp”, “to be under oath”, “to be remanded in custody”, “to inflict punishment”, “unde- fended divorce”, “warrant of arrest”, “writ of summons”, “work to rule”,

“acto delictivo”, “hecho constitutivo de delito”, “delito por comisión”, “ele- mento probatorio”, “inspección ocular”, “material probatorio”, “multa coer- citiva”, “nulidad matrimonial”, “ruedas de reconocimiento”, “vivienda ase- gurada”, etc.

– Abuse of gerunds and participles: “habiendo prestado oportuno juramento”,

“being of sound and disposing mind and memory”, “declaring she knew not how to write”. In Spain we tend to comment on the frequent use of gerunds within the BOE (Boletín Oficial del Estado: Official Gazette of the Spanish State), “gerundio del BOE”:

“De conformidad con lo establecido en el Artículo 47 de la Ley 50/1981, de 30 de diciembre, por la que se regula el Estatuto Orgánico del Ministerio Fiscal, en relación con el Artículo 356.d y 358.2 de la Ley Orgánica del Poder Judicial, atendiendo a la petición de la inte- resada”.

– In Spanish court judgments settings we perceive a high rate of past partici- ples: “Una vez visto para sentencia”, “oídas ambas partes “leída la declaración, la firma We often use past or present participles for stressing the parties within a document: “el antedicho”, “el susodicho”, “el aludido”,

“el demandado”, “el recurrente”, “el declarante”, “el demandante”, “el abajo firmante”, “los antecedentes”, “the interrogated”, “the requested”, “the abovementioned”, “the aforesaid”.

– Functional conversion in English: “court-martialed”, “court-ordered deci- sion”, “good-conduct time”, “initialled by any individual”, “out-of-county- witness”, “witnesses subpoenaed”.

English versus Spanish Procedural Law 73

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– Hyperbaton (altered word order): “por orden del presidente se hace saber”,

“acknowledged must be that

– Comprehensive and wide-ranging lists of elements: “To carry through all income tax matters including the making of all claims for repayment of tax; to purchase and/or sell by public auction or private contract or to let or to take on let property, goods, equipment or services and to enter into an agreement with a Building Society, Bank or other party relative to a loan or the provision of mortgage facilities”.

“Comparecer como actor, demandado, tercero, coadyuvante, querellante, imputado, perju- dicado o en cualquier otro concepto, ante Juzgados de Paz, de Primera Instancia e Instruc- ción, Mercantiles, de lo Penal, de lo Contencioso-administrativo, de lo Social, de Menores y de Vigilancia Penitenciaria; Audiencias Provinciales, Tribunales Superiores de Justicia, Audiencia Nacional y Tribunal Supremo; Tribunal Constitucional y Tribunal de Cuentas; ante la Fiscalía; ante la Administración Central, Comunidades Autónomas, Administración provincial o municipal, o sus dependencias”.

– Multiple subordination & embedded clauses: “Comprar la finca reseñada en el precio y condiciones que tenga por conveniente; recibir de bancos, cajas de ahorro u otras entidades de crédito, oficiales o privadas, un préstamo desti- nado a la compra de dicha finca, por el importe que considere necesario, constituyendo sobre la finca hipoteca en garantía de la devolución de dicho crédito y de las cantidades que prudencialmente fije para intereses, costas y gastos; distribuir la responsabilidad hipotecaria entre las fincas hipoteca- das”.

“I hereby acknowledge that I accept my appointment as Agent/Attorney-in-fact and that when I act as Agent/Attorney-in-fact I shall exercise the powers for the benefit of the Principal; I shall keep the assets of the Principal separate from my assets; I shall exercise reasonable caution and prudence; and I shall keep a full and accurate record of all actions, receipts and disbursements on behalf of the Principal”.

– Straight-jacketed, archaic expressions and even obsolete statements: “I have the honour, Sir, to be your obedient servant”. “Sea de todos conocido que”,

“Know all men by these presents”.

– On many occasions we perceive a higher uniformity within Spanish language corpora as compared to English language ones. Allegedly, this could be due to the fact that the Spanish legislation consists of mono-codified laws; Código Civil, Código Penal, etc. Many of these regulations state the macrostructure of official legal documents.

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3.1 Binomials, Trinomials and Groups of Expressions One of the more significant features of English legal language is the use of parallel expressions. These are called by means of diverse denominations: “binomials, trinomials”, “pairs and groups of words”, “paired expressions”, “doublets and triplets”, “near synonym expressions”, etc.

This

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