I did a talk at METM18 in Girona on translating civil-law notary terms into English. You can download a PDF file of the slides here.
As well as the references below, you might want to look at this post. However, please note that the research I did for this talk has changed my mind about some of the translations suggested in that post.
For instance, I’m now far more hesitant about using “public form” and “public instrument” in translations. As I explained in the talk, these terms are obscure in English. You can only really count on notaries knowing them. They’re also usually redundant (also explained in the talk).
I’ll either update that post or maybe write a new one when I get a chance.
References
Books
Alcaraz Varó, E. and Hughes, B. (2007) Diccionario de Términos Jurídicos, A dictionary of Legal Terms, 10th edition
Del Arco Torres, M.A. (ed.) (2009) Diccionario Básico Jurídico
Merryman, J.H. and Pérez-Perdomo, R. (2007) The Civil Law Tradition: An Introduction to the Legal Systems of Europe and Latin America, 3rd Edition
Pérez-Manglano, J. (2012) Spanish Law for Notaries: An Overview of the Spanish Legal System and a Practical Guide to Spanish Documents and Transactions, 1st edition
West III, T.L. (2012) Spanish-English Dictionary of Law and Business, 2nd edition
Online Resources
English translations
Jowers, R. Léxico Jurídico Español-Inglés …a site for exploring legal terminology
Common law notaries (mainly England and Wales)
Cox, N. (2000) The Notary Public- the third arm of the legal profession
Private vs public form notarial acts
The UK and Ireland Notarial Forum
Rules and regulations for English and Welsh notaries
Notaries Practice Rules 2014 (as amended July 2017) (pdf)
Spanish notaries
Official page of the General Council of Spanish Notaries (in English)
Spanish legislation/reports
Informe número 193 de la Comisión de Derecho Internacional Privado del Colegio de Registradores de España sobre la resolución de la DGRN de 14 de septiembre de 2016 (B.O.E de 4 de octubre de 2016) (I haven’t found this on line. Ask me if you want a copy.)
Ley del Notariado de 28 de mayo de 1862
