Alexandria University

Faculty of Arts
English Department
Specialized Translation Diploma
Second Semester 2014

Legal Translation Course

From Arabic to Egypt
The Egyptian Constitution 2013
(Articles: 139-145)

Submitted to: Dr. Mohamed Fawzy

By: Maram Mostafa Mokhtar Elsayed

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Introduction:
The S.T is an abstract from the Egyptian Constitution 2013. It belongs to
the legislative genre which is characterized by its special legalese and style.
This paper is an attempt to highlight some features of the legal texts and
some problems of translating them. Finally, it tries to produce an authentic
equivalent legal text recognized by the T.L reader.

Legal translation requires a professional translator who is familiar with the

two different legal systems undergo translation. The language to law is often
characterized with vagueness and ambiguity which arises from the excessive
use of technical terminology.

Legal language is also highly formal. This formality can take the form of
long sentences, complex structure and archaic vocabulary.

In addition to the use of terminology and formality, English legal

language has some unique features. In modern documents punctuation is
used to clarify meaning. In addition, doublets and triplets are commonly used
to create a sense of completeness. Moreover, pronominal adverbs (hereof,
thereof) are widely used to avoid repetition of names or phrases. English
legal language tends to use phrasal verbs.

Legal Constitutions, decrees and laws are quite directive in the SLT
whereas their TLT should be informative.

Some of the above mentioned featured will be traced in this attempt of

translating some articles abstracted from the Egyptian Constitution.

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Source Text:

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Target Text:
Chapter Two
The Executive Power
Branch I
The President of the Republic
Article (139)
The President of the Republic is the head of State and the head
of executive power. He shall promote the interests of the people;
safeguard the independence of the nation and the indivisible
integrity of the state territory and safety of its lands. He shall abide
by the provisions of the constitution, and assume his jurisdiction
as described therein.

Article (140)
The President of the Republic shall be elected for a term of four
calendar years, starting from the day following the expiration of
the term of his predecessor. The President may only be reelected
once.

The procedures for electing the President of the Republic shall be

initiated by at least one hundred twenty days prior to the end of
the presidential term. The result shall be announced by at least
thirty days prior to the end of such term.
The President of the Republic may not occupy any partisan post
throughout his presidential term.

Article (141)
A presidential candidate shall be an Egyptian of Egyptian parents,
and neither him nor any of his parents or his spouse may have
held any other nationality. He shall enjoy all his civil and political
rights and shall have done his military service or have been
exempted therefrom by law, and shall not be less than forty years
of age when the nomination opens. Other requirements for
candidacy shall be set by Law.

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 Article (142)
Nomination of a candidate for presidency shall require
recommendations from at least twenty elected members of the
House of Representatives, or the support of at least twenty five
thousand citizens who have the right to vote, in at least fifteen
governorates, with a minimum of one thousand supporters from
each governorate thereof.
In all cases, no voter may support more than one candidate as
regulated by Law.

Article (143)
The President of the Republic shall be elected by direct secret
universal suffrage, with an absolute majority of valid votes.
Procedures of the presidential elections shall be regulated by
Law.

Article (144)
On assuming office, the President of the Republic shall take the
following oath before the House of Representatives: “I do swear
by The Almighty God to faithfully uphold the republican regime, to
respect the Constitution and the Law, to fully promote the
interests of the People and to safeguard the independence of the
nation and the integrity and safety of its territories.”
In case of the absence of the House of Representatives, the oath
shall be taken before the General Assembly of the Supreme
Constitutional Court.

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 Article (145)
The salary of the President of the Republic shall be determined
by Law. The President may not receive any other salary or
remuneration. No modification to the salary shall be valid during
the presidential term approved therein. Throughout his
presidential term, the President may not, whether in person or by
proxy, be self-employed, engage in commercial, financial or
industrial activity, buy, rent or lease any property any property
owned by the State, by any public law person, or public sector
companies or any public business sector; sell, rent or barter any
part of his own property with the State, or conclude a contract with
the State as a vendor, supplier, contractor or otherwise as set out
by Law. Any of such acts shall be null and void.
The President shall submit a financial disclosure upon taking
office, upon leaving it, and at the end of each year of service.
Such financial estate disclosure is to be published in the Official
Gazette.
Throughout the presidential term, the President of the Republic
may not award himself any orders, decorations or medals.
In case the President of the Republic receives, in person or by
proxy, a cash or in-kind gift because of or in connection with the
presidential office, title thereto shall devolve to the State public
treasury.

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Glossary:

Word Meaning Word Meaning

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Commentary:
I) Semantically:

 Special features of legal texts in English:

1- In legal texts, pronominal adverbs are widely used to avoid repetition of
names or phrases. Therefore, the preposition in (‫ )مبين بها‬in Article 139 is
translated into “therein” instead of (in which/in it). Also, in (‫ )كل محافظة منها‬is
translated into (thereof),) ‫ (أعفى منها‬becomes (exempted there from). “ ‫التي تقرر‬
‫ ”فيها‬becomes “valid therein” and “‫ ”إليها‬becomes “thereto” in English.

2- In legal writing, the word “shall” is used for obligation and it replaces the
obligation forms “ ‫ مضارع‬+ ‫ ”يجب أن‬or “ ‫”مضارع‬. Consequently, the same pattern
has been followed in translating :
a) “‫ ”يرعى مصالح‬into “shall promote the interests” ,
b) “‫ ”يُنتخب‬into “shall be elected”,
c) “‫ ”يلتزم بالقانون‬into “shall abide by the law”
d) “‫ ”و يتعين على الرئيس تقديم‬into “the President shall submit”
e) “‫ ”يشترط أن يكون‬into “shall be”
f) “‫ ”ال يسرى أي تعديل‬to “no modification shall be valid”

3- The modal “may” is used in legal texts for permission and is equivalent to
“‫ ”يجوز‬and I used this form to translate :
a) “‫”ال يجوز لرئيس الجمهورية‬into “the President of the Republic may not… b) “ ‫" ال‬
‫يجوز إعادة إنتخابة‬into “ the president may only be reelected once”
c) “‫ ”ال يجوز له أن يتقاضى‬to “the President may not receive”
d) “‫ ”ال يجوز لرئيس الجمهورية أن يزاول‬into “the President of the Republic may not
be…”
e) “‫ ”ال يجوز له أن يمنح نفسة أوسمة‬into “the President may not award himself.”
4- The legal texts are characterized by doublets and triplets which are
commonly used to create a sense of completeness. This rule has been
applied to
a) “‫ ”يشتري او يُأجر‬is translated into “buy, rent or lease”.
b) “‫ ”بالذات أو بالوساطة‬has the doublet equivalent “in person or by proxy”. c) “‫ ”باطل‬is
also a doublet to “null and void” in legal writing.

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  Terminology:
Legal language is characterized by its special terms such as:
1- The lexical item “‫ ”إختصاصاته‬is translated to the legal term “jurisdiction” which
refers to the powers granted by the presidential post or the extent of authority or
control rather than “authorities”, “expertise” or “specialties” because they are not
the intended meaning.

2- The legal terminology for "‫احكام الدستور‬is “constitution provisions” and not “rules”
.
3- The English term for “ ‫" مجلس النواب‬is “The House of Representatives”,
Whereas “Parliament” is transliterated into “‫ ”البرلمان‬and “The People’s
Assembly” stands for “‫”مجلس الشعب‬

4- “ ‫" بالوساطة‬in Arabic means (agent)| ‫بالنيابة‬, ‫ التوكيل‬,‫”التفويض‬, therefore it is translate

into “by proxy” which is an ally or confederate who can be relied upon to speak or
act in one's behalf.

5- “‫ ”إقرار ذمة مالية‬is a legal/ economic term with a fixed equivalent term “financial
disclosure”.

6- In legal dictionary the word "‫ " عينية‬has more than an equivalent whether
(physical assets- allowance in kind- real chattels –in rem- corporal property)
however ( physical assets and chattels ) refer to an item of movable personal
property and (in rem ) collocates with action, so I chose ( in kind) as it
collocates with (gifts and money)

7- The legal term for “‫ ”ملكية‬is “title” rather than “property”.

8- The term “ ‫“الخزانة العامة‬is a legal term means “Public treasury”.

9- "‫ "إقتراع‬is a legal term refers to “ universal suffrage” and not “general ballot”
because the ballot is the paper in which the electors name their candidate.

10- The phrase “ ‫ ”أحكام القانون‬as a legal term is equivalent to “ law provision” which
stands for a clause in a legal instrument, a law.

11- The term “‫ ”الجمعية العامة للمحكمة الدستورية العليا‬is a fixed term and is translated into
“the General Assembly of the Supreme Constitutional Court”

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  Collocations:

1- The phrase “‫ ”انتهاء مدة‬is translated to “expiration of term” as they collocate

together while the word “termination” is more likely to be used with “contracts”.

2- The verb “‫ ”يرعى‬can be translated into “ look after”, “act in”, “ guard” or “
safeguard” but I translated it into “promote” as it collocates with the word
“interests”.

3- The verb “‫ ”يباشر‬has more than one equivalent whether “proceed| commence” ,
“assume| undertake” or “pursue| practice”. I chose “assume” as it is mainly used
with “office” to mean (take up duty).

4- The verb “‫ ”تعلن‬in “‫ ”تعلن النتائج‬can be equivalent to “is announced” or “is

promulgated” however, the verb “announced” collocates with “results”.

5- The verb “ ‫ "ادى‬in( ‫ )الخدمة العسكرية‬can be translated into “done” as it collocates

with (military service)

6- The dictionary meaning of the word “‫ ”بتقاضي‬is “earn” though it is translated into
“receive” to collocate with “salary”.

7- The word “oath” must be come together with (swear= ‫ )حلف‬or (take ) so “ + ‫أداء‬
‫ ”اليمين‬is translated into ( take an oath) instead of the literal translation (perform).

8- “To conclude a contract” is an equivalent to the Arabic collocation “ ‫"يبرم عقد‬

9- " The word “‫ ”صحيحة‬in ‫" األصوات الصحيحة‬is translated into “valid” as it collocates
with “votes” better than “correct”.

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 Miscellaneous Lexical problems:

1- The word “ ‫" سلطة‬may be translated into “ power “ or “ authority” . I chose

“power” over “authority” as the later refers to the right a person has to control
because of his position, however; “power” refers to the power that a country
or an entity has to control.

2- The constitutions are generally divided into chapters, branches, articles and
clauses. Therefore, the lexical item “‫ مادة‬Is translated into “article” and not “
item” since the word “item” is mainly used in contracts to mean “ " ‫مادة‬or “ ‫بند‬
.whereas the word “clause” is subdivided from an article means a condition "
"‫شرط‬An article is a paragraph or a system of rules. It is the subdivision of a
document or a book, while a clause is a phrase of a legal document.

3- The word “ ‫ “ رئيس‬is translated into “ president” which refers to the highest
executive officer of a republic rather than “ chairman” which is the presiding
officer of a meeting, committee or board. The President of the Republic = ‫رئيس‬
‫ الجمهورية‬whereas when referring to ‫ رئيس الدولة‬, the word “‫ ”رئيس‬is translated
into “head” implies the position of the greatest authority. ‫رئيس الجمهورية هو‬
‫رئيس الدولة‬is translated into “The President of the Republic is the head of the
State.”

4- “ ‫ “يحافظ‬can be translated into “maintain” ,”preserve” or ”sustain” but I chose

"safeguard” as it carries the sense of preservation and defense. It is more
comprehensive.

5- The lexical item “ ‫ ”مصلحة‬is better translated into “ interests” instead of

“welfare” which refers to the health, prosperity, and well-being in general or the
financial and other assistance given to people in need “‫”صالح‬
6- ‫ ”وحدة‬is rendered into “integrity” means wholeness rather than “ unity” which is
more associated with social, religious or cultural issues.

7- The word “territories” is an equivalent to “‫ ”أراضي‬associated with countries and

not “lands” since “territory” is a more collective word that refers to “land,
ground, region or country”.

8- The verb “‫ ”يلتزم بأحكام القانون‬is translated into “abide by” because it renders both
the meaning of committing and respect better than “obey” or “observe”.

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 9- “‫ ”مدة‬refers to the duration of time a president occupies his post so it is
translated into “term of office” because it is more appropriate and formal to
the context than “period” or “duration of time”.

10- “‫ ”تؤول‬means to return back so I translated it into “devolve”.

11- The word “ ‫ ”سلفة‬is a homonymous to the words “ loan”, “ ancestor”, “
brother-in-law” or “precursor/ predecessor”. However, I chose the word
“predecessor” to refer to the former president who directly preceded him in
post.

12- The adjective “ ‫ ”سري‬is translated into “secret” rather than “ discreet” or
“ confidential” to suite the contextual meaning.

13- The word “‫ ”نظام‬is rendered into “regime “ and not “ system” as it refers
to the politically system of the State.

14- The word “ ‫ ”مكافأة‬is translated into “remuneration “ which is” to pay, to
reward or to recompense” and not “bonus” which means (a sum of money
granted or given to an employee in addition to regular pay, usually in
appreciation for work done, length of service, accumulated favors, etc. ( ‫|عالوة‬
‫ )مكافأة‬since the latter is more comprehensive.

15- The verb “ ‫ ”يسري‬in Arabic means to become effective so I translate it

into “ valid” because it has the sense of “applied and approved”.

16- I translated (‫ )عمل‬in (ً ‫ )عمالً تجاريا‬into (activity) rather (business) because it

carries a negative connotation in context as it is against the law and it is more
inclusive in meaning.

17- The word “ ً ‫”شيئا‬is rather ambiguous , therefore I translated it based on

the contextual meaning to “ property” “‫"ملكية‬

18- The lexical item " ‫"تصرفات‬is translated to “acts” which better suits the
context than “behavior “or “conduct”.
19- The word “‫ ”منصب‬has the equivalents “post- position- office-job”. I chose
“office” as it means a position of duty, trust, or authority, especially in the
government or a society. “Office” is more relevant to the meaning.
20- Instead of literally translate “‫ ”مهن حرة‬into “free profession”. I used the
dictionary meaning “self-employed”.

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II) Syntactically:
1- In Article (145), I started the clause with the time phrase “throughout the
presidential term” as to all the terms intact and refer directly to the
president.

2- The structure of the second clause in Article (145) is very confusing,

therefore; I translated “ ‫"يزاول‬which refers both to (‫ )مهن حرة‬, (ً ‫ (عمالً تجاريا‬into
(be) with (self-employed) and (engage in) with (commercial activity)

3- The phrase “ ‫ أو شركات‬,‫ أو أي من أشخاص القانون العام‬, ‫أو يستأجر شيئا ً من أموال الدولة‬
‫ ”القطاع العام أو قطاع األعمال العام‬has a complex structure as (‫ )شيئا‬is owned by all
the following entities. Thus, I added the verb “owned by” to clarify the
meaning. It becomes “ any property owned by the State, by any public law
person, or public sector companies or any public business sector.”

4- The word ( of candidacy) is added to ( requirements) to clarify the

meaning even though it does not exist in the S.T.

5- The word (elected) is added to the original sentence (members of the

House of Representatives) to specify the meaning.

6- The phrase “ ‫ ”ال يجوز تأييد أكثر من مترشح‬has been modified into “no voter
may support more than one candidate” . the word “voter” is added to clarify
the meaning.

7- “ ‫" ال يعقد معها عقد التزام او توريد أو مقاولة أو غيرها‬this structure is difficult to
translate and add different adjectives to a noun so I changed the structure
and convert the adjectives into nouns referring to the person himself to
make the sentence less complicated in the T.L so it is rendered as “
conclude a contract with the State as a vendor, supplier, contractor or
otherwise.” And not “commitment, supply, contract”.

8- In Arabic “‫ "أوسمة أو نياشين أو أنواط‬are synonyms, so I tried to find three

different synonyms to go with them like “ decorations, medals or orders”
and due to binomial and trinomials in English, I rearranged them into “
orders, decorations or medals”

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 III) Stylistically:
1- In legal texts the word “:‫ ”دولة‬is commonly rendered into “State” (capitalized)
which is the territory, or one of the territories, of a government rather than the
general word “ country”.

2- Legal language is also highly formal, thus; some words have been translated
to suit the formality of the text. For instance:
a) the word “ ‫ ”تبدأ‬is translated to “ initiate” rather than “ start”
b) “‫ ”قبل‬is translated to “prior” instead of “ before”
c) “‫ ”زوجة‬into “ spouse” than “ wife”
d) “‫ ”يقدم‬is translated into “submit” and not “ present or give”
e) “ ‫ "عند‬is rendered into “ upon” rather than “ when”
f) “‫ ”الجريدة‬is translated into “Gazette” instead or “newspaper”
g) “‫ ”أنواط‬into “orders” and not “badges”

3- In modern documents punctuation is used to clarify meaning. Hence, commas

have been added or modified to clear vagueness.

4- Titles in English are always capitalized. That can be seen in (Chapter- Two)
(Branch ) (Article). Post titles are also capitalized (the President of the
Republic) and in proper nouns (The General Assembly of the Supreme
Constitutional Court), (Gazette)

5- The formality of legal text can take the form of long sentences, a whole article
can be composed of only one long sentence as in Article ( 139),(142)and
(144).
6- The word “Law” is capitalized for emphasis.
7- Listing in English is structured by using commas unlike Arabic that uses (‫)أو| و‬
(or |and). That can be clearly traced in Articles (139), (141), (142), (144) and
(145).

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 References:
:

- Blackwell , Amy Hackney: The Essential Law Dictionary. 1st ed. Illinois: Sphinx Publishing, 2008.

- Faruqi, Harith Suleiman: Faruqi’s Law Dictionary. 5th ed. Beirut: Librairie du Liban, 2013.

- http://www.almaany.com/

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