English translation: acts that are difficult to verify
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Spanish to English translations [PRO] Law/Patents - Law (general)
Spanish term or phrase:actos de dudosa justificación
Following on from a previous question, this phrase is from a legal report regarding a legal claim made in the UK about an event occurring in Spain. In this section it is discussing the validity of a waiver. The full sentence is long and complicated, but here's the most relevant section:
"si la renuncia ha de ser clara y terminante sin que sea lícito deducirla de expresiones equívocas o de actos de dudosa justificación, tenemos que dicho documento no admite otra interpretación"
Now, I may be wrong, but I don't think "justification" is appropriate here. As I understand it, justificación refers to the documentary record (cf. "justificante" as a noun) and so "dudosa justificación" means that this record is in some way questionable.
So, the question is, if that is the right interpretation, how best to put that.
The text cites three judgements by the Tribunal Supremo (26/9/1983, 18/10/1984, 3/3/1986) and I think the report may have lifted the phrase from one of these, but I haven't been able to verify this.
After a good discussion, help from all the contributors, and a bit of a think on my part, this is what I went for, with Charles's modification to "acts". Thanks everybody! 4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer
I didn't intend to create a muddle here. I don't doubt that Greg's text says "justificación", and if so, that is presumably what has to be translated. I just thought it was interesting to note that it appears to be misquoting the TS. Whether knowing this helps one to translate "actos de dudosa justificación". I'm not sure, but it might. In particular, I think "actos" is more likely to means "acts" than "documents", and that "justificación" is related to "justificar" in the sense of "prove" or "verify" rather than "justify". "Significación" makes better sense, in my opinion.
A number of documents seem to indicate that the TS actually used the expression "actos de dudosa significación", not "dudosa justificación"; the latter occurs nowhere but in this question:
OK, let's say Emiliano's right about "actos": it still leaves us with the problem of "de dudosa justificación". Although I used the word myself in my original question, I'm not convinced by "questionable", or "unreliable". Perhaps "actions which are open to ambiguity/different interpretations" (reflecting Emiliano's explanation in Spanish) or patinba's suggestion.
Sí, totalmente de acuerdo contigo, Emiliano. No estoy segura de la mejor manera de decirlo en inglés, por eso no he votado... me gusta mucho lo que propone Phil.
But "expresiones" and "actos" refer to "actions". How can you come to "documents"? Maybe you are thinking of actA.
In the sentence they compare a clear written waiver with an unclear action you need to interpret (to recognise the waiver)
Anyway, I posted the question because I'm not sure and I'm still not 100%. Some good references either way would be the way to convince me and they've been a bit thin on the ground so far... although I'm grateful for everyone's interest!
Wow, a lot of different answers and opinions here.
17:04 Jan 30
I must say that I am more convinced by “documents” rather than “acts” or “actions” at this stage. For the specific situation being talked about, the parties involved did sign a document, although whether in this particular phrase the lawyer is referring to their case or speaking more generally is up for debate, I suppose.
I think that, even though in the end it makes no ultimate difference, Spanish sometimes seems to emphasise the importance of the event, the meeting at which a legal document is signed (“X y Z celebran este contrato”) and the document is merely the record of that, whereas in English more emphasis is placed on what is actually done to the document (“X and Z have signed the contract”).
See, for example, this Proz question: http://www.proz.com/kudoz/spanish_to_english/law_patents/218...
For an English speaker, “hereby” refers to the document rather than the event, I think. Or this one: http://www.proz.com/kudoz/spanish_to_english/law:_contracts/...
“Acto” and “document” are not the same thing semantically, but maybe pragmatically, in this context, they are.
The translation workplace 
peer agreement (net): +2
