Category: Business Spanish Courses Online – Learning Resources

Feminine noun. It is a claim in front of judge to challenge the effectiveness of a public instrument like a escritura.
The whole point of making a contract on escritura pública in front of a escribano is to give certainty regarding 3 main points:
a. The identity of the parties who execute the act.
b. Their capacity to contract.
c. The date of celebration.
If the act is executed on escritura pública, this contract is almost watertight, and its authenticity cannot be challenged. Every Spanish speaking country has their own proceedings but in the acción de redargución de falsedad the claim generally can just be based in 1. the material adulteration, for the document not having been granted by the official who appears to subscribe it or having been deleted, modified or added any of its enunciations; 2. in the inaccuracy of the facts that the public official had stated as being carried out by him or that have happened in his presence. dc

Feminine noun. It is a notarial instrument that contains one or more declarations of those who intervene in an act or contract, issued before the notary that complements it with the legal requirements specific to each act, for its incorporation into the notarial protocol and, where appropriate, so that it can be registered in the corresponding public registers. Some contracts are due to be executed on escritura pública and be registered so they can be effective against third parties, , e.g. transmisión de inmuebles o de bienes registrables. In this case, if the contract is not executed on escritura pública, the interested party can try the acción de reducción a escritura pública (elevación a público in Spain).
Some other documents, to be effective, must be made on escritura pública without the need of registration, e.g. a power of attorney. In fact, any contract can be made on escritura pública to give it more certainty regarding the identity and capacity of the parties and the date of celebration.
The verb is escriturar and the notary is called escribano/a. They tend to be rather boring. dc

Feminine noun. Public limited company with legal personality in which the capital, divided into shares (acciones), is made up of the contributions of the partners who are not personally liable for the company debts. It is usually presented with the name of the company plus S.A. E.g. YPF S.A.
Why is it called anónima? Because the share can be transferable to anybody, although the estatuto social (bylaw) can state some limitations. If the acciones are sold in the bolsa de valores (stoke exchange) is a sociedad anónima cotizada. dc

Plural masculine nouns. In Legal Spanish they are never used in singular.
Daños are those impairments that, because of a certain event, a person suffers in their property, and for which another must respond. On the other hand, perjuicios are those legal gains that are no longer obtained or the expenses that are caused by the act or omission of another, and that the latter must compensate, in addition to the daño caused directly. dc

Feminine noun. From the Latin adjective nullus, without value and effects.
As in resolución and rescición we are speaking about the end of a contract, but in the case of nulidad, the cause of the end the contract pre-exists its execution and it makes it invalid or non-existent. Another legal fiction: we are speaking about the end of something that does not exist. In a nutshell, if in the rescición of a contract we are in front of a valid contract with a pre-existent cause of invalidity, in the nulidad of a contract, we are in front of nothing. An example of a contract subject of rescición is when someone who is insolvent sells their assets. An example of a contract subject of nulidad is the contract executed by a minor.
There is another word: anulabilidad, and it refers to the end of a contract due to a cause pre-existent to its execution (as in rescición and nulidad) but, these irregularities can be amended and there it resides the main difference with a contract with a nulidad, which cannot be amended. A perfect example of a contract subject to anulabilidad is the sale of community property (bien ganancial) without the consent of both spouses; that consent can be given at a later stage.
The verb is anular. dc