Spain’s main registros: translations and background info
This post looks at the main public registers (registros) in Spain. It outlines what they are for and lists common translations and similar entities...
How do you translate “registro” (as in Registro Civil)?
What is a registro? A registro, as in the Registro Civil, is an official place or list for recording information or events. The one...
How to translate “reserva de ley” into English (using a descriptive strategy)
Reserva de ley is the principle under which the Spanish Constitution specifies that certain areas of the law may only be regulated by primary...
What’s in a name? Spain’s great faith in public servants
Like most civil services, Spain’s bureaucracy wants to bring order to the world and everything in it. But while in other places they seek...
La casta política and where it came from
Here’s an interesting term that’s become popular in Spain: la casta as in la casta política. Literally, it’s the “political caste”, or the old...
Aforamiento: making us unequal before the law and wreaking havoc in bilingual dictionaries
When the King of Spain Juan Carlos de Borbón decided to call it a day and abdicate, he put everyone into a frenzy, the...
Not that effective changes to Spain’s eviction law
As an occasional topic on this blog has been the wave of evictions of mortgage defaulters in Spain brought on by the financial crisis...
Book Review: The Civil Law Tradition
The Civil Law Tradition by John Henry Merryman and Rogelio Pérez-Perdomo is excellent background reading for translators in any language combination crossing the civil–common law...
The confusing and mysterious world of being an imputado
What is an imputado? So many politicians in Spain are imputados that a recently arrived Martian might assume you have to be an imputado...
European court points out the bleeding obvious
The European Court of Justice yesterday ruled Spain’s eviction laws to be incompatible with EU law on unfair terms in consumer contracts. The decision...
SOS Spain: It’s the transition’s fault!
On top of the never-ending financial crisis, we now have a political crisis. The Bárcenas (ex-treasurer of the governing Partido Popular (PP)) and Ana...
The expat approach to translation: When not to translate a word
An expat chat When you listen to expats talking together about their new country of residence, sometimes you hear strange words pop up. This...
The shrouded origins of the Louisiana Civil Code
In 1806, Moreau Lislet and James Brown were given the job of drafting Louisiana’s first civil code, which was to be a codification of...
The mystery of the civil code triangle
I couldn’t understand why the civil codes of Louisiana and Spain seemed so similar in both form and content when all that I read...
Enforcing contracts: English resource on civil procedure in Spain
Here’s quite a useful resource on civil procedure in Spain from the International Finance Corporation that has a nice explanation in English of what...
A civil law dictionary and my dissertation topic
I just bought a new dictionary: Louisiana Civil Law Dictionary by Gregory W. Rome and Stephan Kinsella. So, what would a Spanish to UK-English...
Budget or democratic deficit?
That lame third promise What most surprised me about Spain’s last general elections was one of the three promises that the PSOE candidate for...
Code of good practices for banks in Spain to stem home repossessions
Last Friday (09/03), the Spanish government announced a code of good practices for the banking sector to stem the tide of home repossessions (which...
Juries in Spain and the President of Valencia’s new suits
Trial by jury In the common law world, trial by jury is closely associated with the notion of receiving a fair trial. Despite its...
The Judiciary of Spain’s website in English
Well, some of it’s in English anyway: Poder Judicial España — Justice at your service And here’s a useful article written by a Spanish...
Spanish Constitution founding father talks about the royals
Here’s an interesting interview with Gregorio Peces-Barba, one of the authors of the Spanish Constitution, who seems to have a bit of a blind...
Resources on civil proceedings in Spain vs. England & juicio oral vs. juicio verbal
Civil cases in Spain The other day I stumbled across a good resource for legal translators here. It explains civil procedure in Spain and...
Spain’s housing repossession nightmare and dación en pago — Part 2
(…continued from Spain’s housing repossession nightmare and dación en pago — Part 1.) Landmark case In November 2010, a judge in Navarre found “that...
