Thread: Need help with a legal phrase

Thanks Magdalena:

It all makes sense now. Petitions of course, are legal documents but not in rough draft and I suspected that the document was written by an individual who did not necessarily know legal jargon.

Your query provides proof that we cannot assume that a document is a legal document written in legal language just because a request is made under the heading of "legal". There are many informal writings, such as your rough draft, that are of a legal nature but are not legal documents and some, such as handwritten petitions and statements that are legal because they have been notarized or accepted by a court even though they are not written in legal language.

So, from what I understand, the phrase in question came from the draft in Spanish that the petitioner made and from safety valve he got válvula de escape...and he was right.

And what I'm learning here is that safety valve is a legal term that seems to provide the person with some sort of protection.

I think the problem here is that none of us recognized the phrase as a legal term, and therefore couldn't see how it fit the sentence. Now, I'm left wondering what the real legal term for safety valve would be in Spanish.

Good thing you had the original document

Hi Cotty

No, I don't think "safety valve" and "valvula de escape" are legal terms per se, rather they appear to be colloquialisms being used in a legal matter. Xóchitl L posted that he went to law school in Mexico and never heard of "valvula de escape" and I have never heard "safety valve" used as a legal term in English. As I understood Magadlena's explanation, the terms were used informally in writings found among court papers.

Hi Vicente

First of all, I hope you don't get all deffensive as some people in this forum sometimes get when you try to fully understand something. One of the reasons I am here is to learn, and everything I say is always in the vein of understanding and adding to my knowledge.

As I understood Magadlena's explanation, the terms were used informally in writings found among court papers.

That's not what I got from what she said. The only informal doc that was mentioned here was the draft made by the petitioner.

I was able to find the phrase in the gentleman's Court paperwork. I will quote part of the sentence here: "The defense took the position that the Proffer was satisfactory for
"safety valve" purposes".
.............
When I made the request I had forgotten that I had copies of the Court proceedings. I went to them and read the part that was consistent with the spanish wording..It is indeed SAFETY VALVE.

IMHO court paperwork & copies of work proceedings do qualify as legal docs.

However, you might be right in that the terms are not legal terms in that they do not involve legal concepts. So my conclusion is that safety valve=válvula de escape, in both languages can refer to a way out of some problem and even though it sounds like a colloquial expression, it can also used in formal writing. Which is similar to your comment

No, I don't think "safety valve" and "valvula de escape" are legal terms per se, rather they appear to be colloquialisms being used in a legal matter.

It still calls my attention though, that they would use a colloquial term in such type of writing, maybe, just maybe, there is a possibility that it is indeed also a legal term.
Regards,

Originally Posted by magdalena

I wanted to add this also:

http://dc.fd.org/sentencing/Sentence...on%20Guide.pdf

This is under the heading SENTENCE REDUCERS and gives more detail.

I still wonder about the "Valvula de Escape" and if this was the proper translation of Safety Valve...

Magdalena

Well Magadalena, it would seem we caused more work for you than we provided in assistance.

Hi Cotty: No, no...I do not mind being questioned since I have been wrong before and our goal is to provide accurate information. As I said at the start of this thread, I should have waited for one of our legal translators to get into this. Legal translations can be risky.

Some of our best discussions often come from this kind of exchange which forces research. Maybe somebody will find the answer to whether "valvula de escape" is the proper translation (legal, that is).