Hors collection - Le nouveau droit des contrats - 432

ThE NEW FRENCh CONTRACT LAW

even explanation in the Code itself : the codal provisions use the language of
the law which lawyers, at least, can be expected to know.2
Secondly, in selecting the English words used to translate French legal concepts
we have sought words which reflect the French significance as far as possible
while recognising that the French concept may differ (and sometimes importantly) from the apparently similar English "equivalent". In this respect, we bear
in mind the readership for whom this translation is intended, that is, lawyers
trained in the common law (including but by no means limited to English law)
but also lawyers not so trained who can read English though not French. Our
purpose is to give both these groups of lawyers a sense (hopefully a clear sense)
of the content of the new law and, therefore, the direction in which the French
law has travelled after this major reform. In doing so, we try to use more neutral
English words, that is, those which do not have any direct technical significance
in English law (for example, preferring to translate exécution forcée en nature as
"enforced performance in kind" rather than "specific performance"3). However,
sometimes even English (with its abundance of words) cannot provide a word
or expression which does not already exist within English law and, therefore,
necessarily possesses a technical meaning there. Here, we adopt the English
technical expression, even though it may not fit entirely or possess the perfect
resonance of the original French. What we have not done in this sort of situation
is resort to the invention of English words nor to the use of English words which
appear in large dictionaries but which are not used in the living language.
For example, it would be tempting to translate la prestation as "the prestation", but the latter is a word which would be meaningless to the majority of
English-speaking lawyers. In this kind of situation, we have either translated
the term by an explanatory phrase (so la prestation is "act of performance") or
have chosen the nearest equivalent English legal term (for example, translating
les obligations solidaires as "joint and several obligations"). 4 The result is by
no means perfect as it involves a degree of compromise between the original significance (both in the sense of meaning and in terms of its role in the
wider law) and the comprehensibility of the translation. And, of course, as the
official French website, Legifrance, clearly states, "translations of French legal
texts available on the Legifrance site have no legal force : they are provided for
informational purposes only." This applies, of course, equally to the translation
appended here.5
2. There are significant exceptions to this pattern, as in the case of force majeure, which is defined for the
purposes of contractual liability by art. 1218 C. civ.
3. See below, section 4 of this Introduction.
4. See below, section 3 of this Introduction.
5. See https://www.legifrance.gouv.fr/Traductions/en-English/Legifrance-translations (accessed
17 December 2018), where it is added that "Only the French version of texts appearing in the Journal officiel de
la République française have legal force."

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https://www.legifrance.gouv.fr/Traductions/en-English/Legifrance-translations

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