Category: Legal Spanish Vocabulary

Procedural instrument of a precautionary nature that the court adopts, ex officio or at the request of the parties, in order to guarantee the effectiveness of the judicial decision by preserving, preventing or ensuring the rights and interests that must be elucidated in the process. E.g.: Esta autorización es independiente del proceso de revisión del acto ejecutado, o de las medidas cautelares que puedan adoptarse: This authorization is independent of the process of reviewing the decision or of any precautionary measures that may be adopted.
The lexical expressions are requerir/solicitar medidas cautelares, if the subject is the requestant; and ordenar medidas cautelares, if the subject is the judge. dc

Verb. Assign a bill of exchange or other credit document issued to the order in favor of someone, thus stating it signing on the back (dorso). E.g.: Para reintegrar dinero de tu cuenta puedes rellenar un módulo en la ventanilla de tu banco, endosa un cheque a “Yo mismo” o usar la tarjeta de débito: To withdraw money you can fill out a form at the bank counter, write a check to “myself” or use the Automatic Teller Machine (ATM). The noun is el endoso.
This verb can also be translated as ‘to back’ an idea, a proposal, a candidate, etc.; and it makes sense as dorso means back. From dorso we have dorsal a masculine noun and also an adjective in Spanish. dc

Masculine noun. From the Latin usus fructus, “use of the fruit”, usufructo is a right of use of a thing belonging to another person. The Civil Code of Spain defines this right in its article 467 as “the right to enjoy the property of others with the obligation to preserve its form and substance, unless the title of its constitution or the law authorizes otherwise”. E.g.: La viuda renunció al usufructo y se produjo una adjudicación de los bienes entonces conocidos entre los tres hermanos: The widow renounced the usufruct, and an adjudication of the assets known at the time was made to the three siblings.
The verb is usufruir: Usted puede usufruir de los siguientes servicios: You can enjoy the following services. dc

Feminine noun. Movable thing that is especially subject to security or compliance with an obligation. The right on that movable thing is called derecho de prenda. E.g.: Estas acciones se encuentran gravadas con el derecho real de prenda a favor de “CHUBB Argentina de Seguros S.A.” con motivo del contrato…: These shares have been pledged in favor of “CHUBB Argentina de Seguros S.A.” in security of the contract…
The verb is prendar. Curioulsy, in more generic Spanish, prendar can be translated as ‘to captivate, to fascinate’. E.g.: Ya aquel primer día quedé medio prendado de ella: From then on everything about the girl captivated me. I can see a link between both meanings.
By the way, una prenda is also an item of clothing. dc

Masculine noun. From the French peage and this one from the vulgar Latin pedaticum: right to set foot. Peaje is the rate or fee charged to a means of land, river or maritime transport as a right of transit to use the infrastructure of the respective communication route. E.g. El Principado exige una rebaja en el peaje del Huerna hasta su supresión: The Principality (of Asturias) demands a reduction in the Huerna toll until its abolition. dc

Feminine noun. From the Latin evincere with the meaning of “winning in a litigious situation”. It is a term of specifically legal use that supposes the existence of someone who has legally acquired an asset affected by a legal defect that they were unaware of (for example, the object was seized, mortgaged or subjected to a usufruct) and that fact causes the new owner to be stripped by court ruling in whole or in part of what he/she bought, since there is a previous creditor or someone with a better right.
In Legal Spanish, we have an expression: sanear la evicción. You will see it often in contract clauses. The noun is el saneamiento de la evicción (also saneamiento por evicción). It refers to the obligation that corresponds to the seller of a thing when the buyer is stripped or disturbed in all or in part. The seller must protect the buyer in the ownership and use of the thing. The saneamiento de la evicción also includes responding for the hidden vices of the thing.
Besides that, the English term ‘eviction’ is translated into Spanish as desalojo. The verb is desalojar. dc