Questions tagged [language]
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Copyright Fair Use: Is using the phrase "Courtesy of" legally acceptable when no permission has been given?
When quoting content under copyright fair use, is it legally acceptable (in English) to use the words "Courtesy of ACME Inc.", even if no permission has been granted?
To me, the words "...
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Does the fact that a treaty or legal text have differing translations preclude its enforceability?
Sometimes a legal text (a statute, or a treaty, for example) has inconsistent translations in two or more languages. Does this preclude its enforceability?
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How does the law deal with translating inherently ambiguous writing systems?
During a trial, sometimes the prosecutor must present written materials (emails, text messages, files) obtained from the defendant as evidence in order to prove something. Sometimes this evidence can ...
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What legally constitutes a change in "the pronoun" used to refer to a student?
In the recently passed SL2023-106, also known as SB49, the North Carolina state legislature decided to require schools to adopt a policy to notify parents of, among other things:
Prior to any changes ...
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2
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Does the Canadian government translate court cases from English to French and vice versa?
I am currently reading through various tax judgments when a specific case caught my attention.
Racine; Demers et Nolin v. Ministre du Revenu National, 1965 CanLII 1108 (CA CÉC), 2 RC de l'É 338
...
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Can I use a Spanish word in my software license?
This License is a libre and copyleft license for software, specifically designed ...
Can I use the Spanish world "libre" in the preamble and following legal document? "Libre" ...
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45
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13
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Is "legalese" a thing in languages other than English?
The idea of legalese needs little introduction. An archaic professional jargon that has developed in the English-speaking world over hundreds of years, it has been largely preserved and sustained by ...
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Can restaurants charge differently based on customer's language?
I greeted some Chinese friends who just arrived at an airport. They were hungry after a long flight so we ate lunch inside the airport. We sat down and opened the menu in Chinese. We ordered some food ...
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Do “out-of-pocket expenses” typically include someone’s time?
The Residential Tenancies Act (2006) of Ontario states the following:
A landlord may charge a tenant only for the landlord’s reasonable out-of-pocket expenses incurred in giving consent to an ...
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0
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Sign a name with ASCII characters or in my native language?
I submitted some patches for GNU software, and its maintainers accepted them.
They want me to assign the copyright to the FSF, so they sent me a legal document.
Here is the text at the end of that ...
- 101
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Is it Misrepresentation of Intellectual Property to change the dialect of the same language?
Say that Bob wrote a paper that consists of the word, "industrialised". This is how the British English word is spelled. Now, say that Jerry wants to quote Bob on his paper. But Jerry speaks ...
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What does "sign it voluntarily as my own free act" mean?
At the very end of a company's severance agreement (for laid-off employees), just before the signature box, the agreement reads (emphasis mine):
I HAVE CAREFULLY READ THE FOREGOING RELEASE, FULLY ...
- 252
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1
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197
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How to confirm if I can legally use a pedagogical mnemonic?
The field of education uses many mnemonics, such as CUPS, RACE, KWL, the CRAAP test, SQRRR, etc. Most of these were originally created by academics, and introduced in academic journals.
Many years ago ...
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Inferring grammatical order of operations in US immigration forms
In mathematics and programming, there exist "order of operations" standards for interpreting expressions. Does something similar exist in US government documents? In particular, I am ...
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1
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The status of Urdu in Pakistan versus the status of Hindi in India
This is a critical question because it caused the 1952 language movement in Pakistan.
The Internet says that Urdu is the national language of Pakistan, but that Hindi is not the national language of ...
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What do lawyers mean when they say somebody said something 'in terms'?
I occasionally see lawyers refer to something somebody else said or wrote, and they often insert, parenthetically, the words 'in terms'. Here is an example to motivate the question. Imagine there is a ...
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What is the best way to write a court case name?
I can think of four ways to write the name of a court case (using Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization as an example):
Dobbs v Jackson Women's Health Organization
Dobbs v. Jackson Women's ...
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What is the difference between "is" and "isn't" when asking a question?
This kind of question has parallels in here and here, although my question differs from both.
In the latter, the question focused on the difference in context of a statement.
But in the former, the ...
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In what language(s) are laws written in Puerto Rico?
A comment on the recent question about the possibility of U.S. laws in Spanish mentioned an assumption that Puerto Rican law would be mostly in Spanish.
Not being familiar with Puerto Rican law, this ...
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If Congress passed a bill written in a language other than English, would it be valid?
Suppose Congress passed a bill written in Spanish and the President signed it. Everything about the bill and the procedures by which it was written and passed were completely normal, other than the ...
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What does it mean to "hold and enjoy" an office?
US Constitution, Article 1, Section 3, Clause 7:
Judgment in Cases of impeachment shall not extend further than to
removal from Office, and disqualification to hold and enjoy any
Office of honor, ...
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1
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Can I choose how to pronounce my own name?
This is more a thought experiment than anything else...
Let's say my name is 'Alan Temaficoni', and, as a joke, I decide to pronounce 'Alan' as 'Professor', making my name sound like 'Professor ...
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Is it legal for employers to hire only native speakers?
I recently learned that there are some companies (for instance, certain editing, writing, or translation services) that explicitly refuse to hire non-native English speakers for certain positions a ...
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Are exercises in language books copyrighted?
Good afternoon,
I am working on a language app to learn languages, and I was thinking to include sentences and dialogues for the users to practice their languages.
My question is: can I re-use, and ...
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Using lyrics in an app to learn languages
I am working on an app to learn languages, and beside the usual texts, dialogues, and lists of words, I was thinking to include also written lyrics of famous songs, to help the users practicing the ...
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1
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Why does 48 U.S.C. § 864 require English in Puerto Rican federal court if the US has no official language?
The US famously has no official language, and federal courts in removal jurisdiction are required to apply state law (which applies equally to Puerto Rico—48 U.S.C. § 864).
Given that Puerto Rico's ...
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Are sentences taught in the context of language learning copyrighted on youtube? Or in any other setting?
I am a college student aspiring to learn Chinese.
Youtube has a wealth of resources available for learning Chinese - intructors, videos with subtitles, example sentences, movies... I was wondering the ...
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1
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If the US has no officially recognized language, what's stopping me from submitting forms in other, potentially much less widespread languages?
As the title states, I realized today the USA doesn't have an officially recognized language, which implies (to me) that I can submit forms in any language if I so chose - the most obvious example ...
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Legal term for (novel?) technique -- "Use of Force", "Tactical Language", or for intel analysts -- if some police repeat some info on licence plates? [closed]
TL;Dr: The legal issue may be that there is a need to name the law enforcement issue. Is it called "repeating license plates"? Is there a name for the activity, so normal people can describe ...
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Are Parent-to-Child death threats legal exceptions?
Is it legal for a parent to make a death threat to their child verbally, to "keep them in line"? Is a parent threatening a child with death an exception, if they said it was "from love ...
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Is there any (which?) English speaking jurisdiction that uses a civil (continental) law system?
I am trying to develop an artificial legal reasoning system. I am using the English language for it, but I want/need to develop it (firsthand) for the civil/continental law system, not for the common ...
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Is including the text of an email in a document attached to the same email indicative of litigious intent?
I began having conversations with a consulting firm which approached me with an offer of services. I liked the presentation and expressed willingness to look over the agreement and consider the offer. ...
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What effect does bad English have on warnings / disclaimers?
I've come across more than one case of ill-phrased 'legalese' and often wondered where the line is with respect to enforcibalilty etc. For example, a McDonalds promotion which disclaimed: "Offer ...
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Are hospitals required to provide language interpreters to patients?
California, USA. The hospital is on COVID lockdown, no visitors allowed. The patient had a stroke, lost her English, but seem to understand her native language; she slowly and barely coherently speaks ...
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Regarding German Patent attorney candidates
I'm thinking about becoming a German and European patent attorney.
I'm fluent in German (my mother language), English and French, (and Romanian, my other mother language).
The issue is that I have a ...
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Does a grammatical error in a license annul the statement?
In a license for commercial software, I have recently encountered the following perl pearl of perspicuous and immaculate syntax:
[company] does not warrant that use of the Software will operate ...
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Opposite of "Ignorantia juris non excusat" (ignorance of the law excuses not)
The title of this question is about how being ignorant of the law is not an excuse for violating it. However, I believe being ignorant of the law is sometimes applicable as a defense. I am curious ...
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What proof of language skills is required for simplified naturalization as a Hungarian?
Hungary provides for a simplified naturalization procedure for spouses of Hungarian citizens. With this procedure, there is no requirement that the applicant be or have been resident in Hungary; it ...
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Language dispute between two countries
Let's imagine there are two countries Molandia and Rolandia.
Both speaking the same language, but as they are nationalist countries, that language is named respectively molandese in Molandia and ...
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Why is no language in the world defined by one single official entity?
As I understand, languages are mutable and shaped by their usage and the need for newer terms.
The definitions of single words and expressions aren't always clearly defined by dictionaries. There are ...
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does the phrase below mean a 'No Comment' notification must be received?
Project Co shall implement the plan submitted in accordance with Section 4.6(a)(iii) upon receipt of a NO COMMENT notification from Contracting Authority, in accordance with Schedule 10 - Review ...
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Meaning of "costs throughout to" in a court case?
A judge said, "I would therefore dismiss the appeal with costs throughout to the respondent."
Excuse my simple post here. I looked for an answer on google, but could not find any. I would like to ...
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Which countries' law should be considered for Privacy Policy and Terms of Use in a localized website
Should a multi-language website have different privacy policy and terms of use content for the languages it implements?
Or is it just perfectly legal to have a mot-a-mot translation of the base ...
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Is it sufficient to provide a privacy policy only in english language?
Regarding GDPR, is it sufficient for a gaming app available in some commercial app store to provide a privacy policy only in english language?
Is a translation necessary for every country of the EU ...
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Is there a difference between "say" and "submit" in court parlance?
In the (senior) courts of England & Wales, a submission given verbally might perhaps be introduced with:
We say…
or
We submit…
Strictly speaking, is there some distinction ...
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Is there a (EU) law that a written contract has to be in a certain language?
I live and work as a freelancer in country A. I am about to sign a contract with a company that has its offices in country B. They therefore insist on having the contract written in language B.
Both ...
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Why do lease agreements commonly prohibit animals and also specifically prohibit reptiles?
I was reading over my lease agreement and noticed the following clause:
No animals or reptiles of any kind may be kept in or about the leased premises.
I thought it odd that the language seems to ...
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What are the differences between the terms "act", "law", and "regulation"?
Is there any difference between "act", "law", and "regulation"? Are they interchangeable?
Is "law draft" acceptable to use to refer to a "bill"? Is that legalese and common to use in legal documents?
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What's the difference between the use of terms "decree" and "decision"?
I have heard that "decree" is only used in the presidential level (Presidential Decree) while in the lower agencies we use "decision", e.g. 'decision of the Minister', 'decision of the Head of People'...
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Are the terms "stipulate" and "determine" interchangable in legal texts?
Are "stipulate" and "determine" interchangeable? Can I say, "the Government Regulation is determined by the Presidential Decree", for instance, or simply use "stipulated" instead?
I read on the ...