La traducción de escrituras al inglés
He decidido recuperar unos consejos sobre la traducción de escrituras. Sin duda, la cuestión del asunto da para rato. Aquí solo daré unas pocas pinceladas sobre la traducción de escrituras notariales.
Bibliografía recomendada
En primer lugar, cualquiera que se proponga dedicarse a la traducción de escrituras tiene que hacerse con una buena bibliografía. No cabe duda de que hay pocos diccionarios jurídicos especializados. Por eso, el traductor de escrituras tiene que hacerse con unas cuantas escrituras de ejemplo.
En este caso, nos podemos hacer con unas escrituras en inglés y en español. Así, podremos hacer un pequeño trabajo de tipo contrastivo.
Para el español son muy recomendables los libros de modelos (de contratos y escrituras). Aunque esta información frecuentemente se puede encontrar online, existen en papel unos libros de modelos de todo tipo. En muchas librerías jurídicas hay una estanteria o dos dedicadas a modelos de formularios y contratos.
Por otra parte, son recomendables los libros de la Editorial Dijusa para oficiales de notaría. Y también los cursos de aula civil del colegio de registradores (Gómez Galligo, Javier).
Para el inglés, un libro esencial es Brooke’s Notary. Se trata de la guía que debe tener todo notario inglés. Por supuesto que es un libro muy caro. Aunque se actualiza a menudo, se pueden leer extractos de algunas ediciones antiguas en Google Books. Lógicamente, las versiones antiguas sirven. Porque este tipo de vocabulario y lenguaje perdura. Se trata de lenguaje arcaizante, que no tiene mucha variación a lo largo del tiempo.
Traducción de escrituras al inglés
Guía para la traducción de escrituras a través de algunos términos comunes (siguiendo la estructura típica)
Primero, vamos con la estructura estándar de una escritura…
«Standard structure of a Spanish deed»
Number XXXXXX [The number of the Notary’s “protocol”; it is called *record* in England & Wales; check the website of the Archbishop of Canterbury’s Faculty Office and the Rules section for more details].
Before me, Notary of the Honourable/Distinguished Guild/Association/Society of Notaries of XXX, resident in XX [Town/City].
COMPARECEN [appearing parties / “now appearing are”, “appearing”]
Party X [single/married, a lawyer/engineer/accountant, with address at XX, ID/Tax ID number XX]
INTERVIENEN [capacity in which they take part in the deed/ “taking part herein as follows”]
For and on behalf of XXX Company, registered with the Commercial Registry of XX [number, volume, page number, entry number, etc.].
OTORGA/N [what is granted by the appearing party(ies)].
RATIFICACIÓN DE ACUERDOS SOCIALES [Resolutions adopted by the Board of Directors/General Shareholders’ Meeting (GM – General Meeting)/Single or sole shareholder of the Company.
Más términos para la traducción de escrituras al inglés
«CERTIFICATE». Minutes undersigned by the Chairman and the Secretary (board or non-board member), attached to the deed.
«Elevación a público de acuerdos sociales» – Refers to the fact that these resolutions are being recorded in a public deed/notarised. This is usually because the relevant law on limited liability/public limited companies (corporations) sets forth that it is mandatory to do so.
«Hago las reservas y advertencias oportunas» – “Legal warnings” is usually about the obligation to register the deed with the Commercial Registry. The Notary must tell or remind the parties that they have to register the deed, pay tax levied on certain documents, etc.
«Company status / personality». The parties state that the status of their company/the company represented in the proceedings («este acto») has not changed. For instance that it has not been declared bankrupt, wound up, etc. «La capacidad de mi representada no se ha visto alterada.» If the appearing party has a power of attorney they will add that such power is still in forcé. And that it has not been revoked or withdrawn.
Seguimos, a continuación, con las secciones del final de la escritura
DATA PROTECTION – PROTECCIÓN DE DATOS
Section on the Spanish Data Protection Act, informing the party that personal data will be kept on file at the Notary’s Office, and that the party has all the usual rights (of access, etc.) with the exception of any “mandatory disclosures” (“remisiones de obligado cumplimiento”).
Responsable – data controller.
These are made, for instance, because this information must be disclosed to a registry, an authority or a court. It is also stated that the details will be used for the purposes of billing, invoicing and monitoring/tracking/archiving the deed. And, further, “para fines propios de la actividad notarial”, or «own purposes of notarial activities», which is a rather vague statement.
End of the deed – Final de la escritura
There is usually a section where it says something like the parties were informed of their right to read the deed themselves and waived this right. If the parties did not read it, the Notary read it aloud to them. However, when the parties did *not* waive this right, then they read the deed themselves. This is because it is mandatory under the provisions of the Spanish Regulation on Notaries, and there is an article of the Regulation (Article 193) where this is explained in greater detail.
ASÍ LO OTORGAN. This is thus granted by the parties… NOT the Notary because the Notary is not granting anything himself. He is merely attesting/authorising/certifying. The parties are the ones granting the deed.
DOY FE – I DO ATTEST / DO HEREBY ATTEST
Y, YO EL NOTARIO, DOY FE [DO ATTEST/DO HEREBY ATTEST]
The following particulars are attested by the Notary:
Firstly, the content/s of the deed;
Thereafter, there is a statement on legal ability / capacity of the parties to grant the deed;
This is followed by a confirmation of identity of the parties. The notary states that he has verified the identity documents produced by the parties. He could also state that he has used a secondary or alternative method to identify the parties.
The notary could also (rarely) state that s/he knows the party and therefore did not need to verify their identity with an ID document [for instance, because they forgot to bring their ID]. It is also possible that a registrar could subsequently disapprove of this, and refuse to register the deed or only “partially register” the deed on these grounds, adding a critical (“qualifying”) note to the registration document.
COMPROBACIONES / VERIFICATIONS
That the deed was granted as a result of the free will of the parties, who had been duly informed of all the consequences of their actions («libre voluntad» or «vountad debidamente informada«);
Further attested is that the parties are entitled to read the deed themselves or to have the notary read it to them.
And this is notarised on X pages of paper “de uso exclusivo notarial” [exclusively used for notarised documents]. This is because deeds are printed on a specific type of “papel timbrado” (paper bearing the seal of the state and a duty seal of a certain amount, currently €0.15, which is only available for sale to notaries)]. It is also stated in the deed that it is numbered in such and such an order (“ascending” or “descending”, depending on whether the numbers read progressively or in backward order). Additionally, we will also find details on the series and page numbers.
COPIA / COPY
If it is a COPY, it will also say that the signature of the appearing party is on the document “aparece la firma de XX”. And that the sign [see this page for images of signs], seal, initials / paraph, and signature of the “authorising notary” are there.
DOCUMENTO SIN CUANTÍA / DOCUMENT WITH NO SLIDING-SCALE FEE
Means that the fee («arancel«) is a fixed fee (as set out in the Spanish Regulation on Notaries) and it is not based on “la cuantía del documento” (the sum of the inheritance, sale, etc.).
This is not a sliding-scale fee. The statutory fees that may be charged are numbered: 1, 2, 3, 4, etc. The regulation on notaries has a description of each type of «arancel» and what it consists of.
«Se anota esta saca.» There are two documents: the “matriz” (original deed or instrument) and the “saca” (copy of the deed). When a copy is issued, a note/annotation is made about the fact a copy has been issued. It is made on the original document filed in the Notary’s record.
SIGUEN DOCUMENTOS UNIDOS. [Because the Minutes or other documents are attached]
[ATTACHED DOCUMENTS]
TESTIMONIO – NOTARIAL CERTIFICATE
Finally, there could also be a notarial certificate to attest the validity of any photocopies attached.
At the very end there are usually three stamps/seals:
The round stamp of the notary;
A “legalizaciones and legitimaciones” seal;
The stamp of the General Council of Spanish Notaries “Notarios de Europa – Fe Publica Notarial”.
Further still, the deed may have an apostille attached. It is signed by a member of the Society of Notaries to legalise the signature of the Notary.
Más información en este blog sobre la traducción de escrituras:
