Author: dc

According to the Real Academia Española (RAE), procedencia means, among other things, «conformidad con la moral, la razón o el derecho», a definition particularly relevant to legal language. The noun derives from the verb proceder, from the Latin procedĕre, formed by pro- (forward) and cedĕre (to go or move). Although procedencia commonly refers to the origin or source of something, in Legal Spanish it has another important meaning: the legal admissibility, justification or appropriateness of a claim, request, action or measure under the applicable law. For example, El tribunal deberá determinar la procedencia de la demanda → The court must determine whether the claim is legally well founded. Similarly, El juez declaró la procedencia del recurso → The judge ruled that the appeal was well founded. The related adjective is procedente, meaning legally justified, appropriate or warranted: El despido fue declarado procedente → The dismissal was ruled lawful. The opposite is improcedente: El tribunal declaró improcedente el despido → The court ruled that the dismissal was unfair. The verb proceder is equally important: La demanda procede → The claim is legally well founded; No procede conceder la indemnización solicitada → There are no legal grounds for awarding the compensation requested. Students should be particularly careful with the difference between procedencia and admisibilidad. A claim may be admisible, meaning that it satisfies the procedural requirements for consideration, without necessarily being procedente in the sense of being legally justified on its merits. The precise distinction depends on the jurisdiction and the procedure involved. Another interesting expression is no ha lugar, frequently encountered in judicial decisions, which may convey a similar idea to no procede when a court rejects a particular request. Finally, English speakers should not automatically translate procedencia as “provenance” or procedente as “proceeding”. In legal contexts, these words frequently concern whether something is justified or permitted by law, rather than where it comes from or whether a proceeding is taking place. dc

According to the Real Academia Española (RAE), acusar recibo means «comunicar a alguien que se ha recibido algo que envió o entregó», that is, to acknowledge receipt of something sent or delivered. The expression is particularly interesting because the verb acusar comes from the Latin accusāre, meaning “to accuse” or “to bring a charge against someone”, while recibo derives from recibir, from the Latin recipĕre, meaning “to receive”. In everyday Spanish, acusar usually means “to accuse”, but in this expression it acquires a completely different meaning: to acknowledge or confirm. In Legal and Business Spanish, acusar recibo is frequently used in formal correspondence, contractual communications, administrative procedures and legal notifications. For example, Acusamos recibo de su comunicación de fecha 15 de octubre → We acknowledge receipt of your communication dated 15 October. Similarly, El abogado acusó recibo de la documentación remitida por la parte contraria → The lawyer acknowledged receipt of the documents sent by the opposing party. The expression is generally followed by the preposition de: acusar recibo de una carta, de una solicitud, de una notificación or de un correo electrónico. The related noun is acuse de recibo, meaning “acknowledgement of receipt” or “proof of receipt”, depending on the context. For example, La notificación se remitió con acuse de recibo → The notification was sent with acknowledgement of receipt. An important distinction in legal practice is that acknowledging receipt of a document does not necessarily mean accepting its contents or agreeing with them. It simply confirms that the document has been received. Furthermore, an acuse de recibo does not always constitute conclusive proof of legally effective service, since this depends on the applicable rules and the method of notification. Finally, English speakers should remember that acusar recibo has nothing to do with accusing someone of an offence. The verb acusar also appears in expressions such as acusar una pérdida or acusar el impacto de una crisis, where it means to show or experience the effects of something. As so often happens in Legal Spanish, a familiar verb can acquire a surprisingly different meaning when used in a fixed expression. dc

Verb derived from the Latin obligāre, formed from ob- and ligāre, “to bind”; literally, the original idea is to bind someone to something. From the same root we have obligación (obligation), obligatorio (mandatory/compulsory) and obligado (obliged/bound). In Legal Spanish, obligar means to require or compel someone to do something, although in contractual contexts it can also mean “to bind”. The usual structure is obligar a alguien a hacer algo. E.g.: La ley obliga al empleador a informar al trabajador → The law requires the employer to inform the employee. It is particularly common in the language of contracts: El contrato obliga a las partes desde el momento de su firma → The contract binds the parties from the moment it is signed; El tribunal puede obligar a la parte demandada a cumplir el contrato → The court may compel the defendant to perform the contract. This brings us to an interesting problem for English speakers: the verb to enforce. I frequently hear enforzar used as though it were the Spanish equivalent, but it is not. There is no single Spanish verb corresponding to enforce in every context: hacer cumplir una ley → to enforce a law; ejecutar una sentencia → to enforce a judgment; hacer valer un derecho → to enforce a right; exigir el cumplimiento de una obligación → to enforce an obligation. However, obligar and enforce do meet when an authority or court compels someone to comply with an existing obligation. Thus, obligar a una parte a cumplir un contrato may be translated as “to enforce a contract against a party” or “to compel a party to perform a contract”. The difference is largely one of perspective: obligar normally focuses on the person who is compelled — obligar a una parte a cumplir el contrato — whereas enforce often focuses on the contract, right, judgment or obligation being enforced — to enforce the contract against a party. And be careful with forzar: it does exist, but normally means “to force”, as in forzar una puerta or forzar a alguien a hacer algo. So obligar, forzar and enforce sometimes inhabit the same territory, but they are certainly not interchangeable. dc