Catherine Muir (asker) Feb 25, 2013:

Of course, it's not up to me to fix the logic... all I can do is point it out to the client (who is not the originator of the document). While two iterations of an error/typo might create the impression that it was intentional, I suspect that, because the original text was in English, it got scrambled in translation into Indonesian. I will translate the sentence 'as is', with a [sic] and a translator's note.

Bashir Basalamah Feb 25, 2013:

Maybe it's not for you to fix the logic As often happens, it takes a translator's keen eye and sense of logic to detect an error in a document. :-)

Regi2006 might be right, although I'd say this is more likely a case of translation error than a typo. A typo might occur once, but the logic requires two instances of the word "ketidakadilan" here.

The more pertinent question, however, is as you wrote: how to translate this sentence. This being a legal document, I don't think you should try to fix the logic or improve the content. The sentence has to be translated as is, warts and all, with a caveat [sic] added at the end. It's up to the reader to make the relevant inferences from it.

Of course, if you can refer the problem back to the client to be fixed or otherwise, so much the better. That is, if your client is the original source of the document and is in the position to fix it.

Catherine Muir (asker) Feb 25, 2013:

In fact, he seems to state the obverse... he writes, "an injustice is tolerable only when it is necessary to avoid an even greater injustice." I wonder if the Petitioner made a typo; maybe he meant 'ketidakadilan' instead of 'keadilan'. Hmmm...