Author: dc

Verb. In legal Spanish, enmendar has two meanings: 1. To correct, eliminate errors, eliminate defects. 2. To compensate or repair damages and losses. E.g.1.: Se ha avanzado mucho efectuando modificaciones en la práctica sin necesidad de enmendar el documento: Much has been achieved by changes in practice without the need for amendment. E.g.2: Llega un momento en el que ya no puede servirse a la justicia, cuando es muy tarde para enmendar daños cometidos o sufridos: here comes a time when justice can no longer be served When it is too late to right wrongs, committed or received.
The noun is el enmendamiento and the adjective enmendado/a or enmendable. Another noun is la enmienda, and we use it when referring to the amendment of the law.
By the way, remendar, with the same origin, means ‘to patch up’, usually used for clothes. The adjective is remendado/a/s. There is another adjective: remendón/a; it refers to the person, usually a tailor or cobbler who has the job of mending. It is a beautiful word, I learned it as a child when I was reading Tolstoj, El Zapatero Remendón: transalted into English as ‘Where love is, God is’. dc

These two words used in Legal Spanish express aggravating circumstances of criminal responsibility and they usually are together in pieces of legislation.
Alevosía. Feminine noun. Caution to ensure the commission of a crime against people, without risk to the offender. The adjective is alevoso and the adverb alevosamente.
Ensañamiento. Masculine noun. Inhumanly and deliberately increasing the suffering of the victim on the commission of a crime.
E.g.: Ejecutar la infracción con alevosía, traición, insidias o sobre seguro; o por precio, recompensa o promesa; o por medio de inundación, naufragio, incendio, veneno, minas, descarrilamiento de ferrocarriles, armas prohibidas, u otros medios que pongan en peligro a otras personas a más de la ofendida; o empleando la astucia, el disfraz, el fraude; o con ensañamiento o crueldad, haciendo uso de cualquier tortura… When the act is treacherous, deceitful or underhand or takes advantage of the victim’s defenceless state; or it is committed for a price, reward or pledge; or by means of flooding, shipwreck, fire, poison, mining, derailment of trains, prohibited weapons or other methods that endanger other persons besides the victim; or by employing guile, dissimulation or fraud; or with viciousness or cruelty, making use of any form of torture. dc

Verb. To move and impel to do or accomplish something, compel, bind. E.g.: El contrato obliga al proveedor a cumplir con los plazos de entrega: The contract compels the supplier to meet delivery times.
The nouns are la obligación and el obligamiento; the adjetives obligatorio/a and obligativo/a/s. They are interchangeable inside their own category but I prefer obligación and obligatorio/a/s. There is another noun: la obligatoriedad and it is applied to the quality of obligatorio/a/s. dc

These two words are adjectives but they are usually used as nouns.
Acreedor/a: As a noun, is the person who has an action or the right to request the fulfillment of an obligation. E.g.: El acreedor que pretenda obtener una orden de embargo antes del título ejecutivo deberá presentar pruebas en apoyo de la demanda: A creditor seeking an attachment order before obtaining an enforceable right would need to supply evidence to support the claim.
Deudor/a: Also as a noun, is the person who owes or is obliged to satisfy a debt. E.g.: Es necesario aclarar qué partidas de gastos forman parte de los gastos ocasionados por el retraso del deudor en sus pagos: It must be made clear what cost items are included among the other costs arising from late payment by the debtor.
The nouns are el crédito and la deuda. And the verbs are a bit trickier: tener un crédito and tener una deuda or deber. dc

Feminine noun. From the Latin ferĭa, big market. From ferĭa we also have fiesta and día feriado.
In Legal Spanish, feria judicial means ‘holidays’. It is the period when the courts and tribunals are closed, and no proceedings take place. In Argentina it usually is the whole month of January and a couple of weeks in winter, usually the last two weeks of July. For urgent matters we have a juzgado de feria or jueces de guardia in Spain for every Departamento Judicial. Poor people. dc