Glossary entry

French term or phrase:

dans le dernier état de leurs écritures

English translation:

in their most recent submissions

Added to glossary by Lee Penya
Nov 10, 2020 15:46
3 yrs ago
52 viewers *
French term

dans le dernier état de leurs écritures

French to English Law/Patents Law (general)
This phrase appears in a decision of a French Administrative Court of Appeal (https://www.legifrance.gouv.fr/ceta/id/CETATEXT000037936596/... as follows:

"Par une requête et un mémoire enregistrés le 25 novembre 2016 et le 23 juillet 2018, la société d'expertise et de services agissant par son représentant légal et M. A...B..., représentés par MeE..., demandent à la cour ***dans le dernier état de leurs écritures*** :

1°) d'annuler la décision du 14 avril 2014 par laquelle le préfet du Rhône leur a fait injonction de modifier leurs pratiques commerciales dans un délai de trente jours en application de l'article L. 141-1 V du code de la consommation ;

2°) de mettre à la charge de l'Etat le versement de la somme de 2 000 euros en application de l'article L. 761-1 du code de justice administrative.

Par un jugement n° 1405944 du 27 septembre 2016, le tribunal administratif de Lyon a rejeté leurs demandes."

Target country: USA

Proposed translations

+2
20 hrs
Selected

in their most recent submissions

It seems that this is the passage in the decision of the Appeal Tribunal where it recalls what has happened before. I am inclined to simply say submissions, since at least in E & W that is what the parties do at last, when they summarise the evidence and make the arguments on behalf of their clients. Sometimes these submissions are in writing.
Peer comment(s):

agree SafeTex : This too work fine IMHO
2 hrs
merci
agree Eliza Hall : This works too. It's synonymous with my proposed translation and also uses the correct register/niveau.
7 hrs
cheers
neutral AllegroTrans : This is not completely wrong but in England we usually refer to submissions as oral; this source text is clearly referring to written pleadings; also in France, whilst oral submissions are heard, they are very limited in scope
22 hrs
I think it is a functional equivalent. Besides, although the submissions may be originally purely oral, increasingly, advocates are emailing them to the court as this helps the judge in writing the decision (certainly in children's law cases)
Something went wrong...
3 KudoZ points awarded for this answer. Comment: "Thanks/merci!"
+3
11 mins

in the latest version of their pleadings

Si cette information fait
partie du mémoire ou de toute autre écriture soumis au Tribunal par une partie, toutes les écritures sont restituées
[...]
daccess-ods.un.org

If such information is part of the
brief or any other written pleadings submitted to the Appeals Tribunal by a party, all pleadings shall be returned
[...]
daccess-ods.un.org
Peer comment(s):

agree Kathleen Johnson
13 mins
tx
agree philgoddard
1 hr
tx
disagree Eliza Hall : "Pleadings" doesn't include this type of docs ("une requête et un mémoire"), and "versions" isn't a word that a court would normally use. See my explanation below.
2 hrs
I have often personally heard County Court judges refer to the "latest version" e.g. after an amendment, but perhaps "most recent amendment" or similar would sound more formal
agree EirTranslations
13 hrs
thanks
agree SafeTex : Pleadings is fine
19 hrs
thanks
Something went wrong...
-1
2 hrs

US AmE > in the last amended status of their briefs; E&W > latest Statements of Case, as amended

Briefs in BrE double as 'undergarments' or a case sent to Counsel for an opnion on the *law* or an Advice on *Evidence*.

Though 'twas I who recently rasied the spectre or specter of e-filings in the London High Court for 'un e-acte', there is always a remote possibility that they may never in fact had been filed.

Otherwise, de novo, in English Common Law countries, like the USA, Can. and the UK, there are strict requirements for amendments pre- and post-trial, as one may in fact amount to a new action.

A brief shall not include any new or non-admitted amendment, or any new or non-admitted affidavit or other evidence. See § 1.116 of this title for amendments, affidavits or other evidence filed after final action but before or on the same date of filing an appeal and § 41.63 for amendments, affidavits or other evidence after the date of filing the appeal.
Example sentence:

USA: Status of amendments. A statement of the *status* of any amendment filed subsequent to the close of prosecution.

USA: If appellant does not file an amended brief within the set time period, or files an amended brief which does not overcome all the reasons for non-compliance stated in the notification, that appellant’s appeal will stand dismissed.

Peer comment(s):

disagree Eliza Hall : Neither "briefs" nor "statements of case" translates the FR "écritures" (since écritures here refers to requête & mémoire). There's also no indication anything was amended.
20 mins
You obviously need to revisit your US civil litigation notes as this is patently an amended-pleadings scenario.
Something went wrong...
-1
2 hrs

in their latest filings

This does mean essentially what AllegroTrans has proposed--"in the latest version of"--but I can't see a court using that phrasing, and "pleadings" isn't the right word for the type of of documents at issue.

I've omitted "version" because litigants do not generally file different versions of briefs, motions, etc. The only time I've ever seen a different version of something filed is when the first filing contained an error and the party needed to re-file a corrected version.

The word I would expect a court to use here is simply "filings." The writings that each party files with the court, in other words.

As for saying "filings" rather than "pleadings," the term "pleadings" is incorrect here because the types of documents that the court is referring to--"une requête et un mémoire"--are not "pleadings."

The pleadings stage of a lawsuit is the very beginning. A complaint, and an answer to a complaint, are pleadings. Overview: https://www.americanbar.org/groups/public_education/resource...

But motions and briefs are not pleadings. "A motion is a request to a court for a judgment. Unlike pleadings, motions argue a point and cite cases and statutes." https://get.courtroom5.com/how-to-use-motions-pleadings-and-...

The FR court is using a very general term (écritures), and the similarly general term that courts use at least in the US is filings.


--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 8 hrs (2020-11-11 00:18:03 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

About "dernier état": this is dernier in the sense of latest or current, like so...

- dernier état financier: latest or current financial statement/latest or current balance sheet.

- dernier état de la technique: the latest technology/the most current technology

- dernier état d'avancement: current state of affairs/current progress status

- le dernier état des arriérés: the latest status of arrears

- le dernier état de la recherche: the latest research

Etc.

If you google "dernier état de leurs écritures" in quotes, tons of FR court opinions come up, always in the same context as the question here (i.e., in the "dernier état de leurs écritures," Party X has requested that the court do the following things: 1, 2 and 3...). So this is a boilerplate phrase courts often use to preface their discussion of what a litigant has asked the court to do.

And the documents in which litigants move the court to do something are NOT normally amended. It's very unusual to amend any court filing other than the very earliest ones (complaints and answers/counterclaims, in the US system). I don't think this phrase would be used so often if it implied that the documents in question had been amended, simply because motions and briefs are almost never amended. In almost 15 years of practicing law, the only times I've seen amended versions of motions or briefs filed is when the first filing had a serious error in it that needed to be corrected.
Peer comment(s):

neutral AllegroTrans : "dernier état" strongly suggests an amendment not merely "latest"/ Altiough we never say "filings" in E&W (except in relation to fingernails etc.), this is OK for US consumption
3 hrs
I would disagree about "dernier état." It generally means the latest or most current X (with X in this case being écritures).
disagree Adrian MM. : Wrong emphasis : it's not the latest but the *accumulated status* of all bundles of pleadings so far. 'Filings': écritures can be regularis/zed/ by oral submissions : adjusted by word of mouth last-minute in court w/o any docs. being filed.
6 days
Something went wrong...
-5
1 day 39 mins

in their most recent correspondence

leurs écritures
their writing or correspondence

In the legal context they can be letters, submissions, correspondence, files

"By request (inquiry) and an explanatory text, the company acting by legal representation on behalf of monsieur made a request to the court in their most recent entry or submission."

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 1 day 2 hrs (2020-11-11 18:44:26 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

"Mere" is being nothing more than what is specified, considered apart from something else, small, slight or pure.
Correspondence is written communication by exchange of letters or emails.
Correspondence can also be the act, fact or state of agreeing or conforming.

https://www.deepl.com/translator#fr/en/dans le dernier %C3%A9tat de leurs %C3%A9critures

"in the last state of their writing" is not normal English language, possibly not even in the most formalized of officially legalized courts.
"In their most recent correspondence" is a more realistic translation in connection with real life.

In formal case studies of law the only more formalized use of language involves submissions, presentations, briefs, statements of case, non-admitted or other sources of evidence in litigation.

"An injunction is a court order requiring a party to refrain from doing a particular act."

https://www.jurifiable.com/conseil-juridique/droit-de-la-con...

"Le code de la consommation est un corpus juridique qui compile l'ensemble des lois et des règlements ayant trait au droit de la consommation."

https://www.hiesscheme.org.uk/regulation/hies-scheme-rules-c...

"The aim of the Code of Practice is to reduce consumer detriment, and it covers many areas which include vulnerable customers."

https://r.search.yahoo.com/_ylt=AwrIDKlTLqxf5kgAAyB3Bwx.;_yl...

"Les articles législatifs et réglementaires correspondants sont regroupés, commentés et anotés avec de la jurisprudence."

https://r.search.yahoo.com/_ylt=AwrIDKnzLqxfEKsA7gV3Bwx.;_yl...

"Proponents of the bourgeois theory of administrative justice proclaim that the formal independence of the institutions of administrative justice from administrative agencies is the most important guarantee of the rights and interests of citizens."

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 1 day 4 hrs (2020-11-11 20:39:33 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

"La societé d'expertise et de servises agissant par son représentant légal demandent à la court dans le dernier état de leurs écritures."

"The specified law services firm acting on behalf, by someone's legal representative, makes a request to the court in their most recent written correspondence." (written communication)

Apparently 'correspondence' is not accepted by three individuals who disagree.

Perhaps those individuals who disagree with written correspondence as a possibility between a specified law services firm and a court would accept 'the law firm's most recent written communication' instead of
' ... correspondence'.

Cultural disparities are a problem when some people have an unusual system of interpreting words, declining the possibility that formalized legal scenarios are based on humanity in the first instance. Those who refuse to accept correspondence or communication as possibilities are from a separate culture, since in other places a court may accept correspondence (which is written communication in the form of letters or emails).
One individual who disagreed with recent correspondence as a possible answer stated that courts see correspondence which is part of a court filing. In the case sample, the phrase 'most recent correspondence / submission / presentation or filing' (dans le dernier état de leurs écritures) implies that other written communications have been submitted and filed previously. The most recent written correspondence (communication / filing / submission / brief / statement of case etc) is therefore a part which is to be included in an already established court filing.

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 1 day 6 hrs (2020-11-11 22:38:05 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

In the same law case study a specialized law firm has submitted (filed/submitted/presented) written communication to the court in which the law firm asks a question to the court.
Court documents filed by lawyers in their specific format is a separate issue.

It's accepted that correspondence is correspondence while filings or statements of case are filings or statements of case. However, in the case study a court had received written documentation from a specialized law firm, one way or another. A law firm has ways of filing a document or statement of case to a court. The law firm would have done so by means of sending sealed mail by postal correspondence delivery to the court, electronic mail document attachments (email correspondence) or even by document fax correspondence.

"La société d'expertise et de services agissant par son représentant légal demandent à la court dans le dernier état de leurs écritures."

("The specialized law firm, acting by a legal representative makes a request to the court in the last part (condition) of their written documentation. / In their most recent written communication to the court the law firm asks a question...")

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 2 days 19 hrs (2020-11-13 11:38:59 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

According to the original information:
"A specialist group made a request to the court for money. The court rejected the same request. (Decision case number 1405944)"

(Selon l'information originelle:
Un groupe spécialiste a fait une demande d'argent à la cour. La cour a rejetté la demande.; jugenent número, 1405944 )

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 2 days 21 hrs (2020-11-13 13:04:15 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

to be in correspondence (written communication) with someone
to agree with someone
to respond to letter writing (correspondence) with someone
(être en correspondance avec quelqu'un
être d'accord avec quelqu'un
entretenir une correspondance avec quelqu'un)

[Collins Robert Concise French Dictionary,
ISBN number 0-001-470711-7]

If the Court partakes in correspondence with a person or not is the Court's own prerogative (special power or privilege) or choice. Perhaps it depends on the individuals involved or the place in which the case is found. The Court decides to inform an applicant on their decision or judgement regarding the request for money, or the Court decides not to take part in any correspondence (letter writing) with the applicant. However, if it was a decision or judgement in which the applicant had attended a court room, the outcome of the Court's decision or judgement would have been spoken and heard that same day.

(Si la Court entretient une correspondance (lettre écrite) avec quelqu'un ou non pas, c'est la prérogative (pouvoir spéciale ou le privilège) ou le choix de la Court. Peut-être ça dépend des individus impliqués ou l'endroit où se trouve le cas. La Court peut décider d'informer l'applicant de leur décision ou jugement sur la demande d'argent, ou la Court peut décider de n'entretenir pas de correspondance. Cependant, si c'était d'un jugement dans lequel l'applicant avait asisté au Court, c'était parlé comme jugement ou décision. Ce n'est pas le même.)

Peer comment(s):

disagree Tony M : 'écritures' is specifically NOT mere correspondence (which might possibly be 'écrits'), hardmy relevant in this context.
19 mins
disagree Angus Stewart : This is something more formal than mere corrsespondence
57 mins
disagree Eliza Hall : Courts don't see parties' correspondence unless it's included as part of a court filing (which is unusual).
3 hrs
disagree AllegroTrans : Agree with all three above comments; lawyers file court documents in a specific format and it definitely is not correspondence
5 hrs
disagree Angelo Berbotto : What the relevant passage highlights is what the parties have asked the court to do (which the Lyon court dismissed) such requests are made usually orally in the English courts by way of submissions -- parties don't send corresp to the crt to argue a case
9 hrs
Something went wrong...
Term search
  • All of ProZ.com
  • Term search
  • Jobs
  • Forums
  • Multiple search