Category: Legal Spanish Vocabulary

Masculine and feminine noun. Person united to another in marriage. E.g.: Ahora bien, el permiso expedido debe tener la misma duración que el del cónyuge: Now, the permit issued should have the same duration as that of the spouse.
The adjective is conyugal. E.g.: Cuando usted solicite este beneficio conyugal, sabrá si él es elegible o no: When you apply for your spousal benefit, you will find out whether he is eligible. dc

From the Latin testario mentis: testimony of the will. Legal document that expresses a person’s (testador) wishes as to how their property (patrimonio) is to be distributed after their death. E.g.: Sin testamento, las leyes del estado pueden determinar cómo su patrimonio puede ser distribuido: Without a will, the laws of the state will determine where your property is distributed.
The verb is testar. Curiosly, testar is also the legal expression used in Spanish to say ‘to cross out’. For example, if in a legal document there is a mistake, the only way to correct it is to cross the mistake out (testarlo) in a way you can read what it is written under it, then to add at the bottom of the document a note like this: ‘lo testado no corresponde’, and then to sign next to the note.
By the way, testar means also ‘to test’, but, I prefer, in this case testear. 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