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What is the correct English legal translation of the words unbedingt and bedingt when referring to a court sentence? E.g.:
Jemand wurde zu vier Monaten bedingt verurteilt.
(Roughly: Sombeody was sentenced [bedingt] to four months.)
I read this in reference to Austrian law; I’m not sure if it’s also applicable to Germany.
Bedingte Strafnachsicht (lit. conditional clemency) is an Austrian legal term, often referred to as bedingte (ant.: unbedingte) Strafe. Germans would call it auf Bewährung or ausgesetzt zur Bewährung. Details may differ, but the principle is the same.
In legal English the whole concept is known as a suspended sentence.
In Austria, just as in Switzerland and Germany, a bedingte Strafe is a conditional penalty. That is a penalty that is not executed immediately, but only when within a certain period some conditions are violated. During that time, the subject is on probation (auf Bewährung).
Unbedingt therefore is translated unconditional.
For a definition see here.
What differs between the countries is the severity of penalty that still can be granted as conditional.
bedingt is derived from Bedingung. In dict.cc (if you have searched) you could have found the Law-tag with the translation
conditionally
