Dahl’s Law bilingual Dictionaries

Author: Dahl, H.S.
Type of Dictionary: Spanish-English/English-Spanish, and French to English/English to French
Edition: third (Spanish) and second (French) edition
Published: Both in Buffalo, New York. The Spanish-English/English-Spanish in 1999; the French to English/English to French in 2001.
Pages: XLI+913 p and XXV+675 p
ISBN: 1575884968 and 2247043178

Description

In both cases: Dictionary mainly, but not exclusively, for the American market. Gives references to statutory provisions and legal literature. The depth of the information varies considerably from term to term.

The aim of this legal Dictionary is on uncovering meaning rather than listing possible equivalents and then maybe explaining the differences. The corpus often contains citations of his sources, which most of the time are authoritative ones, including statutes from Spain, Latin America and the United States.

Dahl even makes use of the Louisiana Civil Code for definitions in English of some Spanish legal terms, taking account the civil law nature of the Lousiana legal system. The Civil Code of Louisiana is at least partly based on the Spanish Civil Code.

Introduction to the Spanish-English Bilingual Dictionary

“The purpose of this book is to help communication between people from different cultures. Its essence is to explain one legal system using the language of another. It could be seen as a work of law, of linguistics, or as a tangible point where these two disciplines intersect.”(page xiii)

“A bilingual dictionary that defines contract as acuerdo, contrato, convenio, does not tell the Spanish reader very much. The English student does not gain a greater advantage when explained that contrato means agreement, contract, contract, covenant. What a comparative reader needs are functional definitions. Most people who peruse these dictionaries already know that contrato means contract, and vice versa. The reader is better served when being told how a contract operates in the foreign system, what are the formalities, basic requirements, etc. An additional benefit of this approach is that, in explaining how a legal concept operates, many other related words are introduced in their proper context, which the reader would not necessarily find otherwise.

The danger of relying exclusively on synonyms is that it leads to confusion. Comparative law is not an exact science, it is built on approximations. Contrato, of course, does not mean contract. And the converse is also true. Contrato and contract are, the best approximations we can find when our defining capabilities are limited to synonyms.”(page xiv)

Reviews

Review of the French to English/English to French Bilingual Dictionary

There is a very positive review in the International Lawyer 1997, p. 1135-1139; written by M.G. Monroy, member of the bar of Columbia.

Review of the Spanish-English/English-Spanish Bilingual Dictionary

There is a positive review by Beverly May Carl in Fordham International Law Journal Volume 18, Issue 3 1994 Article 12:

“The complicated concepts of “secured transactions”and of the “Uniform Commercial Codes”in each U.S. state receive almost four pages of explanation, essential for the Latin American lawyer.

Because Dahl’s dictionary is so good, I would like to see certain improvements made in the next edition. First, the reader does need to be informed that a “collection of ‘jurisprudencia’ “usually refers to a group of cases, and not a series of philosophical treatises. Likewise, some of the definitions need revision to emphasize that the common law term is not the equivalent of the
Spanish term. For instance, “causa”is not “consideration.”

The Spanish jurist needs to understand that in English “consideration”is really a “bargained for exchange.”Subject to certain exceptions, consideration is a basic requirement for a valid contract under common law. In common law, a contract to make a gift to one’s brother generally will fail for lack of consideration.
In contrast, in a civil law nation, such a contract is enforceable if certain formalities have been met. Thus, the element of “causa”would be considered satisfied.
Furthermore, in the next edition, a fuller explanation of “fuerza mayor”is needed to indicate that common law courts often deal with these situations under the doctrines of “impossibility
of performance,””frustration of purpose,”or “commercial impracticability.”In addition, the whole concept of tort law (“delitos civiles”or “obligaciones non-contractuales”) needs further clarification; this would include a detailed description of international torts, negligent torts, and strict liability.
Finally, the next edition should add those terms now being used so commonly in the fields of international trade, foreign investment, transnational licensing, patents, and copyrights. A
perusal of a few recent issues of international legal journals, such as this one, will indicate some of these terms and phrases, such as “remittance of foreign exchange,””strict liability,””countervailing duties,””GSP,””intellectual property,”etc. Another suggested source for currently employed vocabulary is the periodical, Integration Latinoamericano, published by the Interamerican Development Bank in Buenos Aires; this publication is especially helpful for trade terms.”

See also the very positive review in: the International Lawyer 1997, p. 1135-1139; written by M.G. Monroy, member of the bar of Columbia. Compare also the elaborated and positive review of the first edition of this dictionary (1992) by Prof. K.S. Rosenn (Inter-American Law Review 1993, p. 607-623). Also reviewed by A.M. Garro, Inter-American Law Review 1993, p. 625-627; and strongly recommended by B.M. Carl, Fordham International Law Journal 1995, p. 1069-1071.

About the Author

Enrique Dahl has a civil law degree from the University of Buenos Aires in Argentina
and a common law degree from King’s College in the United Kingdom. In
addition, he completed studies in socialist law in Leningrad (St. Petersburg). He has
taught law at Buenos Aires University in Argentina, Louisiana State University, Southem
Methodist University, and the University of Puerto Rico, as well as at various law
schools in France.

Dahl’s Law Dictionary