Signal Phrase Extraction: A Gateway to Information Retrieval Improvement in Law Texts

NLP-based techniques can support in improving understanding of legal text documents. In this work we present a semi-automatic framework to extract signal phrases from legislative texts for an arbitrary European language. Through a case study using Dutch legislation, we demonstrate that it is feasible to extract these phrases reliably with a small number of supporting domain experts. Finally, we argue how in future works our framework could be utilized with existing methods to be applied to different languages.

European Labour Law and its Challenges in Multilingual Terminology and Translation: A Case Study

The translation of legal texts has become a very important activity in our modern, international societies. Globalization has created a great need for multilingual versions of all kinds of legal texts. However, both law itself and legal language and terminology have a special characteristic: they are system-bound. Every country or autonomous region sets up its own legal system, and this has far-reaching consequences not only for the drawing up and especially the translation of legal texts, but also for comparative law and international and European law. In this article, we describe certain typical features of the terminology of labour law and expand on one particular term to show the problems in translation work. The multilingual character of European law, the need for translation and the specific wording of labour law texts in the individual member states lead to many translation problems and to legal insecurity for citizens. By analysing relevant terms in the transport sector, we discuss current research that compares concepts and terms in European, Polish, Dutch and Belgian labour law.

God and His Animals. Some Thoughts on God’s Care about Animals in the Old Testament

This article explores the attitude God shows towards the animals as presented in Old Testament (OT) texts outside of the law texts. While these law texts present God’s imperative for his people, the other OT texts display his attitude towards nature more directly. We will interpret the findings as part of a “cosmic covenant” (Robert Murray) between God and his animals on the one hand and God and humans as his viceroys on earth on the other hand. The article is written from a canonical viewpoint. This means that it does not try to distinguish divergent aspects or developments of ideas but rather looks at their similarities. The aim is not just to do an exegesis on certain Old Testament tests but to explore the relationship between God and his creation as displayed in these verses. The canonical viewpoint in connection with the idea of a “cosmic covenant” presents a new angle on this topic. The article intends to show that God, being the creator of everything, cares for his whole creation. As his people, we should therefore also treat his creation with respect and care.

Language- And Legal Culture Peculiarities in Selected Swiss Constitutional Acts Including a Translational Perspective

The subject of the analysis is linguaculture expressing linguistic and cultural differences occurring in every language of law. They relate to vocabulary and editing principles of law acts. It seems that preserving such differences in the target translation makes it possible to reveal specific legislation trends of a given country, which express political motivation. Their preservation in the translated text requires good knowledge of law and in-depth comparative analysis. The focus of the analysis in this text is on the expression of gender in the law texts and specifically, on the translation of feminatives and legal names relevant for cultural dimension of a given law system.

Arabic Legal Phraseology in Positive Law and Jurisprudence: The Historical Influence of Translation

The present study examines Arabic legal phraseology formation from the standpoint of positive law and jurisprudence. It claims that phraseological constructions in Arabic legislative and statutory texts are largely influenced by the translation process of Roman law texts. However, scholarly literature still relies to some extent on formulae used in the Islamic jurisprudence. To illustrate this, three examples of legal principles anchored in Islamic jurisprundence, known as legal maxims, are subjected to a comparative analysis and discussed along with their corresponding expressions in positive law in modern-day Arabic. Ultimately, the purpose of this paper is twofold: firstly, to demonstrate that the phraseology present in many Arabic positive laws is fully adapted to corresponding formulations in the Roman law, steming from a historical translation process that accompanied the codification movement in the beginning of the 20th century; secondly, to emphasize the significance of textual genre awareness in legal translation. Concretely, the introductory section provides an overview of recent studies that have addressed legal phraseologisms. It is followed by a section on the historical role of translation in the construction of certain phraseologisms. The general legal principles of (a) burden of proof, (b) presumption of innocence, and (c) the pacta sunt servanda principle are then examined in order to shed light on the influence of both the Civilist tradition and Islamic jurisprudence on the use of legal Arabic today, as well as to demonstrate how the translation of phraseologisms is dependent on the parameters of genre. The analysis leads to the conclusion that proper use of phraseologisms, whether in drafting or translation, is closely linked to knowledge of phraseology formation and the historical influence of translation.

The pragmalinguistic analysis of legislative genre (based on texts of german laws)

As a rule, legal genres are subdivided into three large thematic groups: “Legislation” (laws, regulations, instructions, acts, orders), “Case law” (judicial decisions, appeals, protocols, court orders and court inquiries), “Official documentation” (official correspondence, reports, contracts). This research focuses on the pragmalinguistic and linguo-stylistic analysis of German legislative texts. The authors describe the characteristics of legislative genres and single out their general and special language functions. The relevance of the article is based on the fact that in Russia and abroad there are few linguistic papers on the analysis of legislative genre and law texts. In the meantime, the given research direction is highly prospective for interdisciplinary studies. The authors argue that the function of nomination, the function of message, the function of influence and the function of communication are vividly manifested in legislative genre via multilevel language means. A pragmatic analysis of the legal norms of the German legislative texts shows that the latter are characterized by imperative and dispositive legal norms, while recommendatory legal norms for the texts of German laws are less typical. The methodological base of research includes contextual and functional analysis, linguo-stylistic techniques as well as descriptive and linguo-pragmatic methods of analysis.

Translation Methods Applied to Approach the Incongruity of Terms in Polish and British Criminal Law

Summary The research analyses incongruent Polish and British criminal law terms. British terms are the names of legal institutions characteristic of three independent legal systems: of England and Wales, Scotland or Northern Ireland. The Polish terms that have been discussed come from the Polish Criminal Code Act of 6 June 1997 (Journal of Laws 1997 No. 88 item 553). Moreover, they are legal terms pursuant to their interpretation by Morawski (1980, p. 187). The English equivalents under analysis have appeared in four Polish Criminal Code translations into English. The research aims at a verification of whether or not the classification of translation methods applied in the Polish-English translation of incongruent succession and family law terms (called civil law terms) (Kizińska, 2015, p. 175–178) encompasses translation methods used in the process of translation of incongruent law terms characteristic of criminal law into English. In the paper the translation method is interpreted according to the definition by Hejwowski (2004, p. 76). In the theoretical part of the paper the following linguistic phenomena have been presented: a term (by Zmarzer & Lukszyn, 2001, p. 9) and incongruity of terms (by Šarčević, 1989, p. 278). In the initial stage of the analysis the definitions of a given Polish term and its suggested equivalents have been compared. Next, the appearance of a given equivalent in the sources of British law texts as well as the English language has been checked to determine the translation methods used while forming a given equivalent. Finally, the list of translation methods applied has been drafted, to conclude, among other things, that the translation methods presented in the above-mentioned typology of translation methods applied in the translation of incongruent civil law terms from Polish into English are to be determined as exclusively primary or secondary.

SELECTION FOR POLICE OFFICERS DUTY: THE QUESTION OF THE DEFINITIONS

The level of trust of police service depends on objectively transparent and unprejudiced requirements. That’s why we agree with necessity of using of the European approach in conducting «selection» for the duty in the National Police of Ukraine. It is because the main aim of creating a fundamentally new structure of the modern police of Ukraine starts directly with the selection for the service and be in accordance with European terms. The one of the most approaches of translation of legal terminology is the using of a system of law terms. There is mention in the jurisprudence that very necessary to achieve unambiguity of each term in the law texts and legislation. It is striving for the minimum required number of terms, but with the losing of those nuances that are necessary for public administration practice. The article focuses on the differences of the translation definitions of word «selection» that used in Ukrainian law texts and researches. Some researchers revealing the process of «selection» of personnel through the principles of systemic character as a procedure of differentiation staff according to their compliance with a certain type of activity and making the decision on the suitability or unsuitability of candidates. The author determinate etymological origin of the concepts «selection» in Ukrainian and differentiate the using of their translation. The research papers make a suggestion to putting forward changes in legal acts with the propose of remove the inaccuracy in the interpretation concepts. The system of «selection» of the staff of the civil service of Ukraine includes: defining the requirements for applicants for specific vacancy positions of the civil service; review and evaluation of internal and external sources of attraction of candidates, placement of ads on a set; competitive selection; acceptance for positions outside the competition (according to another procedure provided by the current legislation: the transfer system; appointment to the post; selection system; by contract); formation of personnel reserve; internship; assessment of frames. The notion of «selection» has a more meaningful and widespread value, indicating the need for its use in the legislation.

Law manuscripts from fifteenth-century Iceland

This article discusses a number of interdisciplinary aspects of Icelandic law manuscripts, produced in the fifteenth century, which contain important vernacular legal codes dealing with secular and ecclesiastical matters in medieval Iceland, such as Jónsbók and Kristinréttr Árna Þorlákssonar. In this article, it is argued that a continuity of law manuscript production exists in Iceland following the Black Death in 1402–04; this is seen in several ways: indications are found in textual and artistic parts of the manuscripts, as well as in para-texts that accompany the law texts in the margins. With particular focus on the manuscript AM 136 4to (Skinnastaðabók), this article discusses four distinctive cross-disciplinary features of fifteenth-century Icelandic law manuscripts: the adaptation and further development of textual contents initially found in law manuscripts dating back to previous centuries, select types of layouts chosen by the initial scribes, the book painting, and the use of the margins by later users and owners for comments and discussion on the textual content. The article concludes that with the changing Scandinavian politics in the late fourteenth century, Icelandic law manuscripts in the fifteenth century were first and foremost written for, and inspired by, domestic productions. While texts related to Norwegian royal supremacy and trade are rarely featured, the texts most used for domestic issues appear more frequently. On the other hand, statutes and concordats occur as regularly in these manuscripts as they do in earlier works, which indicates ongoing contact with the Norwegian Archdiocese of Niðaróss during the fifteenth century.