Thread: Need help with a legal phrase

Hello Magdalena,

Válvula de escape means: safety valve, cut-out valve, discharge valve, escape valve, exhaust valve.

La frase: Yo era elegible para la válvula de escape (I was eligible for the escape valve) ... does not make any sense.

Regards,

Xóchitl L.

Hi magdalena! I haven't heard the phrase before but "I was eligible for the "valvula de escape" (escape valve)" sounds to me like "I was eligible for the escape clause' in a legal context. I would assume your interpretation is correct.

**However, since Xóchitl L says it doesn{t make any sense then I suggest you wait for one of our legal translators to give an opinion.

Hola Magdalena,

I agree with you and Vicente about "escape clause'' in a legal context, since the definition makes complete sense.

ESCAPE CLAUSE:

A clause in a contract that specifies the conditions under which the promisor is relieved of liability for failure to meet the terms of the contract.

BUT the term "válvula de escape" makes no sense to me. I went to a Law School in Mexico and never heard of it. There is the possibility that it is a new legal term.

Regards,

Xóchitl L.

Maybe if you post the whole paragraph, we can figure out why such an absurd phrase is in that sentence. You need the antecedent of válvula de escape, i.e. the first time this phrase appears in the doc. or something that relates to it.

Further to the meanings of válvula de escape provided by Xóchi, there is a figurative or idiomatic meaning to the phrase:

válvula de escape Actividad que permite a una persona salir de una situación aburrida o librarse de un trabajo excesivo o problema.

However, this meaning does not seem to fit a legal frame. As I said, send some more context before we discard it entirely.

Also, elegible is misspelled there, which is very rare for a legal doc. Could there also be a possibility that it is claúsula en lugar de válvula?

This might not be a legal document. The use of first person sounds more like a letter or memo or statement written by an individual so the document and phrase may be informal.

The term "escape valve" is common in English and can be used informally to describe a form of relief from the pressure of a situation or obligation.

It is similar to "escape route".

If the subject "document" is not actually a legal document and the writer was attempting to express that he had an option to get out of a situation then the sentence makes sense to me, in English anyway, even if it is not the best choice of words.

I have seen a number of posts in this forum that were not of a legal nature.

Magadalena: Thanks for the additional information but how did you come up with the sentence " YO ERA ELEJIBLE PARA LA "VALVULA DE
ESCAPE" ?

The term safety valve also makes sense in the sentence "The defense took the position that the Proffer was satisfactory for
"safety valve" purposes", which I would take to mean that the proffer provided a fallback position.