According to the RAE, recabar means alcanzar o conseguir con instancias o súplicas lo que se desea (“to obtain or secure something through a request or petition”). The term comes from Old Spanish recabar, probably derived from recabar in the sense of “to recover” or “to obtain again”, ultimately from the Latin recaptāre, the frequentative of recipere (“to recover, take back, receive”). In modern Legal and Business Spanish, however, recabar has acquired a much more technical meaning. Rather than simply meaning “to obtain”, it usually means to formally obtain, collect, gather, or request information, documents, evidence, reports, authorisations, or consent from another person or authority. It is therefore one of the verbs lawyers, public authorities, and compliance professionals use almost daily. Common expressions include recabar información (to gather information), recabar pruebas (to collect evidence), recabar datos (to obtain data), recabar el consentimiento (to obtain consent), recabar autorización (to obtain authorisation), and recabar informes (to obtain reports). For example: La autoridad podrá recabar la información necesaria para el ejercicio de sus funciones → The authority may obtain the information necessary for the exercise of its duties. Another common example is: El juez podrá recabar pruebas de oficio → The judge may obtain evidence on his or her own initiative. Students often confuse recabar with recoger. While recoger usually refers to physically picking something up, recabar implies obtaining something through a formal or official request. Likewise, it is more precise than obtener because it usually suggests that the information or document comes from another person or institution following a legal or administrative procedure. As with many legal verbs, precision matters. Lawyers rarely recogen evidence—they recaban it.
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