Legal Multivalent Terms. Their Definitions And Usage In Context
A. Highlighting The Problem
The usage of legal terms depending on context represents one of the major difficulties for students. Generally, we are aware of the fact that every word in every language has a lot of meanings that should be used appropriately in compliance with certain context. But in such specific linguistic field as legal English this phenomenon gives rise to numerous misunderstandings.
Let’s focus on the term “interest” frequently used in any types of legal documents. Students know the literal meaning of this term in general English. To be exact, in this segment of the language the word “interest” doesn’t serve as a term, it’s just a common word that means «интерес». But in terms of legal English “interest” has become a term acquiring a lot of additional meanings such as «процент», «вещное право», «доля участия в компании», etc. Thus, the crucial objective here is to teach students how to translate the same term in different contexts properly. For example, if the term has plural form, it can not be translated as «проценты», and the only possible version here will be «доли участия в компании» or «акции». On the other hand, when used in the set legal expression “any right, title and interest to or in” the term means nothing but «вещное право».
B. List of Terms
1.
trustee in bankruptcy – управляющий конкурсной массой;
trustee (in terms of trust) – доверительный управляющий, доверительный собственник;
trustee (in general context) – опекун, попечитель, доверенное лицо;
Translate correctly the underlined terms into Russian. Treat the italicized words as clues:
1. The trustee acquires title to all of the debtor’s property (“the estate”) and administers the estate by collecting and liquidating assets as well as deciding claims.
2. To establish a trust, one party (the settlor) transfers property to another party (the trustee), who administers it for the benefit of a third party (the beneficiary).
3. The official receiver must either call a creditors’ meeting to appoint a trustee in bancruptcy to manage the bankrupt’s affairs or he becomes trustee himself.
4. The trustee must be qualified insolvency practitioner.
5. Trustee is a person or institution that oversees and manages a trust.
6. The trustees acknowledge that on the signing of this deed they will hold the trust fund on trust for the purposes set out in the objectives of this deed.
Translate correctly the underlined terms into English. Treat the italicized words as clues:
1. Управляющий конкурсной массой созывает первое собрание кредиторов.
2. К полномочиям конкурсного управляющего относятся: обеспечение сохранности имущества должника и справедливое распределение его имущества среди кредиторов в случае ликвидации предприятия-должника.
3. Доверительный собственник обязуется осуществлять добросовестное управление имуществом учредителя доверительной собственности в пользу третьего лица, именуемого выгодоприобретателем.
4. В соответствии с настоящим документом опекун осуществляет управление имуществом несовершеннолетнего лица до достижения последним совершеннолетия.
5. Акт учреждения доверительной собственности предполагает наличие трех сторон, а именно: учредителя доверительной собственности, доверительного управляющего и бенефициара.
Translate and memorize:
Trustee 1. a person who administers property for the benefit of another party; 2. a person occupying a position of trust; a fiduciary; 3. in bankruptcy, a person who acquires title to the debtor’s property (the estate) and administers the estate by collecting and liquidating assets, as well as deciding claims; the trustee has numerous powers and is in charge of distributing the estate to creditors.
(Black’s Law Dictionary)
2.
Estate – имущество/имущественный фонд;
Estate (in a will) – имущество покойного;
Real estate – недвижимость;
Translate correctly the underlined terms into Russian. Treat the italicized words as clues:
1. The trustee distributes the debtor’s estate.
2. Estate in land can also be divided into estates of inheritance and other estates that are not of inheritance
3. The term 'estate' is also used to refer to the whole of a person's property or of a particular kind of property (such as 'real estate' (meaning land and buildings) or 'personal estate' (meaning goods and chattels).
4. Under the law of bankruptcy in the United States, the "bankruptcy estate" is defined by the Bankruptcy Code as all assets or property of any kind belonging to the debtor which is available for distribution to creditors.
5. A deceased person’s estate comes into existence when a person dies and leaves property and/or a document that is a will or is intended as a will.
Translate correctly the underlined terms into English. Treat the italicized words as clues:
1. Имущество покойного лица возникает в момент, когда лицо умирает и оставляет имущество и(или) документ, являющийся завещанием или имеющий целью выполнять роль завещания.
2. Управление имуществом предприятия-должника осуществляется конкурсным управляющим под надзором его кредиторов и арбитражного суда.
3. При продаже недвижимости, как правило, заключаются договоры за печатью.
4. Настоящим учредитель передает все свое движимое и недвижимое имущество в распоряжение доверительного собственника.
Translate and remember:
estate the sum total of a person’s real and personal property; also, the nature, quantity and extent of interest that a person has in real or personal property (his/her right to possess, use, and enjoy the property);
estate for years a tenancy (leasehold) for a definite period of time;
(Black’s Law Dictionary)
3.
Interest (used in singular form) – проценты (interest rate – процентная ставка);
Interests (used in plural form) – доли участия в компании, акции (interests in a company);
Interest (in) – вещное право (any title, right and interest to or in – право собственности, вещное или иное право на что-либо);
Interest (in general context) – интерес;
Security interest – залоговое право/право залога/право, обеспечивающее исполнение обязательств;
to be subject to security interest – являться предметом залога
Translate correctly the underlined terms into Russian. Treat the italicized words as clues:
1. The assignor shall transfer to the assignee any and all title, right and interest in and to the assigned property.
2. Generally, most assets or rights may be subject to a security interest, including inventory, movable property, buildings and other immovable property.
3. Accrued interest on each loan shall be payable on each date on which such loan shall become due.
4. The company shall pay to the lender interest on the unpaid principal amount of each loan.
5. Creditors must have a written pledge agreement that accurately described the pledged property in order to create a valid security interest.
6. Security interest is interest in property obtained pursuant to security agreement.
Translate correctly the underlined terms into English. Treat the italicized words as clues:
1. Настоящим продавец заявляет и гарантирует, что у него имеется все и всяческое право собственности, вещное и иное право на ценные бумаги.
2. Процентный период, предусмотренный настоящим соглашением, не должен превышать тридцати дней.
3. Каждый владелец обыкновенных акций имеет право на доли участия в компании.
4. Проценты, начисленные на основную сумму кредита, подлежат оплате в конце каждого календарного месяца.
5. Компания уплачивает Кредитору проценты на непогашенную основную сумму каждого Кредита за период с даты предоставления Кредита включительно по дату его полного погашения.
Translate and remember:
Interest. The most general term that can be employed to denote a right, claim, title, or legal share in something. In its application to real estate or things real, it is frequently used in connection with the terms “estate”, “right” and “title”.
Accrued interest. Interest earned but not yet paid.
Interest rate. The persentage of an amount of money which is paid for its use for a specified time.
Security interest. Interest in property obtained pursuant to security agreement. A form of interest in property which provides that the property may be sold on default in order to satisfy the obligation for which the security interest is given.
(Black’s Law Dictionary)
4.
Equity – обыкновенные акции; собственный капитал компании; имущество, распределяемое при ликвидации юридического лица;
Equity – право справедливости.
Read and translate the following, paying attention to various meanings of the term “equity”:
Equity
Justice administered according to fairness as contrasted with the strictly formulated rules of common law. It is based on a system of rules and principles which originated in England as an alternative to the harsh rules of common law and which were based on what was fair in a particular situation. One sought relief under this system in courts of equity rather than in courts of law.
A stockholders’ proportionate share (ownership interest) in the corporation’s capital stock and surplus. The extent of an ownership interest in a venture. In this context, equity refers not to a legal concept but to the financial definition that an owner’s equity in a business is equal to the business’s assets minus its liabilities.
Value of property or an enterprise over and above the indebtedness against it.
(Black’s Law Dictionary)
Find the proper Russian equivalent to the underlined terms. Translate the passages given below:
1. In modern practice, perhaps the most important distinction between law and equity is the set of remedies each offers. The most common remedy a court of law can award is money damages. Equity, however, enters injunctions or decrees directing someone either to act or to forbear from acting.
2. Shareholders' equity is ownership equity spread out among shareholders whose class of share may have special rights attached to it. If all shareholders are in one and the same class, they share equally in ownership equity from all perspectives.
3. The book value of equity will increase if the firm's assets increase more than its liabilities. For example, a firm making profits, receives more cash for its products than the cost at which it produced these goods, and so in the act of making a profit it is increasing its assets. Also, an issuance of new equity in which the firm obtains new capital increases the total shareholders' equity. Equity will decrease, for example, when machinery depreciates, which is registered as a decline in the value of the asset, and on the liabilities side of the firm's balance sheet as a decrease in shareholders' equity.
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