Litigation faux amis

A faux ami (a ‘false friend’ in English) is a word which looks or sounds similar to a word in another language but has a different meaning. I wrote about 'délai' and 'delay' in a previous post.

Here are some other faux amis which we discussed during my recent litigation vocabulary course:

• Magistrate

In England and Wales, a magistrate is a special type of judge who sits in the Magistrates’ Court (a criminal court of first instance).  

Not to be confused with the French word magistrat, which we usually translate as a judge.

•  Tribunal

In England and Wales, a tribunal is a special type of court dealing with disputes in a particular area of law. For example: the Employment Tribunal is like the Conseil de prud’hommes.

Not to be confused with the French word tribunal, which we would usually translate as a court. 

• Pleadings

The pleadings are the formal statements of the claim and the defence in civil proceedings. These would include the claim form, particulars of claim, defence, and any counterclaim. In British English, these are now called statements of case. In French these would be the conclusions.

Not to be confused with the French word plaidoiries, in the sense of the arguments presented to the court, which we would call oral or written submissions. 

• Expert’s report

The expert’s report is the document containing the opinion of an expert who has been instructed in civil proceedings. In French this is called an expertise.

In English, expertise refers to the expert’s specialist knowledge in a certain area, not to the report that they produce.

•  Settlement agreement

A settlement agreement is an agreement between the parties to civil proceedings, agreeing to resolve their dispute without going to court.

This may be translated in French as transaction. But note that the English word transaction has a more general meaning of a deal (the action of buying and selling something).