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Simplify the sentence | ||
Tags: Transparency | English | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Specific Languages |  | |
| chenshujian Diglot Senior Member ChinaRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5455 days ago 122 posts - 139 votes  Speaks: Mandarin*, English Studies: French | Message 1 of 4 23 February 2012 at 2:30am | IP Logged | ||
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We confirm that, the Department may continue to treat the Company as entitled to exercise and enforce all of its rights and remedies under or in respect of the Agreement and the Certificates on the right to use the land and own houses and other assets attached to the land issued to and in favour of the Company in respect of the Land Lots and the land lots to be leased for the construction of the Housing Facilities and office buildings of the Company (hereinafter referred to as the Certificates) until you receive notice in writing to the contrary from the Onshore Security Agent, in which event the Department will comply with such notice.
Anyone is kind enough to simplify this sentence for me? I am so frustrated by its complication! And I also want to make sure the meaning of "remedy","on the right to" and "to the contrary" and "Onshore Security Agent". Thanks a lot! Edited by chenshujian on 23 February 2012 at 2:33am 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
 emk Diglot Moderator United States Joined 5537 days ago 2615 posts - 8806 votes Speaks: English*, FrenchB2 Studies: Spanish, Ancient Egyptian Personal Language Map | Message 2 of 4 23 February 2012 at 3:32am | IP Logged | ||
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I will attempt to translate this sentence from "legalese" to standard English. However,
my translation will contain errors, because I am not a lawyer, and because some of these words used in this sentence probably have specialized legal meanings based on earlier court cases. Also, this sentence is awful, and I know some lawyers who would complain about it. For an accurate and legally precise explanation, you will need to find a good lawyer. To find a good contract lawyer in the US, try searching online for law firms that seem competent and specialize in the right area of law. Speak with somebody at these firms for 20–60 minutes apiece. Go with somebody (1) who does similar work on a regular basis, (2) who can explain things to you clearly, and (3) who takes the time to understand your goals. Expect to pay over $200/hour starting after the initial interview. Ask for an estimate of how many hours will be required. This doesn't guarantee you a good lawyer, but it may eliminate some of the bad ones.
"Yes, the Department may act as if the Company is allowed to enforce its rights under the Agreement and Certificates, until such time as you receive a letter from the Onshore Security Agent which says something different. When that happens, the Department will do what the letter says." The big section in the middle explains which certificates they're talking about. "Onshore Security Agent" is capitalized, so it's probably either an official job title, or a term defined elsewhere in the contract. Capitalized words in contracts are generally define somewhere (look for a phrase such as "hereinafter referred to as the ___"). A "remedy" is normally something which cures an illness or fixes a problem. In the legal sense, it's probably the right to receive money or other compensation if something goes wrong. This will be explained in another contract, or in a law. "Certificates on the right to use the land" is unclear, but it probably means "Legal documents discussing the legal right to use the land." "Notice in writing to the contrary" means a letter (or possibly an email) which contradicts or changes the earlier policy. Good luck! Again, I am not a lawyer, and this is not legal advice. Edited by emk on 23 February 2012 at 3:50am 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Arekkusu Hexaglot Senior Member Canada bit.ly/qc_10_lec Joined 5386 days ago 3971 posts - 7747 votes Speaks: English, French*, GermanC1, Spanish, Japanese, Esperanto Studies: Italian, Norwegian, Mandarin, Romanian, Estonian | Message 3 of 4 23 February 2012 at 4:34pm | IP Logged | ||
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Unfortunately, you give us no context either for the text, or for your situation, so it's hard to help you. You can't just extract a sentence out of a legal text -- or a poem -- and expect it to be crystal clear.
This is typical legal wording and I don't think a lawyer would want to simplify this as all notions expressed are important, but it's really hard to understand what it means exactly (especially for you) without the context and the preceding text. Moreover, all capitalized words are usually defined at the beginning of the contract (or of the section you're in), and the defined meaning is not necessarily what you'd consider a usual meaning for that word. For instance, "Company" could mean a number a things. There used to be a famous example of a Canadian law where "naked" was defined as wearing clothes that don't cover the body sufficiently, or something like that. There shouldn't be a comma after "We confirm that". I suppose they put it there because the text that follows was a quote? 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Elexi Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 5570 days ago 938 posts - 1840 votes Speaks: English* Studies: French, German, Latin | Message 4 of 4 23 February 2012 at 5:29pm | IP Logged | ||
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As Arekkusu says, the absence of context makes things harder.
In traditional legal drafting (before the onset of plain English campaigns) contracts were drafted without punctuation marks as silly punctuation errors made by legal draftsmen could easliy turn into a professional negligence claim. The thinking was/is that it is better to leave it to the advocates and the judge to argue out what the contract means in the unlikely event that there is a dispute and the case gets to Court. As has been said before - Department, Company, Agreement, Certificates, Land Lots, Housing Facilities and Onshore Security Agent have been defined already in the contract (which is probably the Agreement as agreement is the legal draftsman's term for contract). I would venture that one problem with the flow of the clause here is that the meaning of 'Certificates' is defined within the clause (hence the 'hereinafter referred to as the Certificates'). Taking the definition of Certificates out the clause makes it make more sense. I have also added some minimal punctuation: 'We confirm that the Department may continue [i.e. has permission] to treat the Company as entitled to exercise and enforce all of its rights and remedies under, or in respect of, the Agreement and the Certificates . . . until you receive notice in writing to the contrary from the Onshore Security Agent, in which event [i.e. the receipt of the notice from the OSA] the Department will comply with such notice.' In addition we have to define 'Certificates'. These are those documents ‘on the right to use the land and own houses and other assets attached to the land [which have been] issued to, and in favour of, the Company in respect of the Land Lots and [also] the land lots [that are] to be leased for the construction of the Housing Facilities and office buildings of the Company' As to the word 'remedy' - the Shorter Oxford English Dictionary (which is what the English judiciary use) defines it as 'A means of counteracting or removing something undesirable; of finding redress, or obtaining relief.'. So in the legal context for example, an injunction is a remedy obtained from the court to stop someone doing something undesirable to you. Does that work? Or is it still complicated? Edited by Elexi on 23 February 2012 at 5:30pm 2 persons have voted this message useful |
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