Aug 30, 2019 07:53
4 yrs ago
3 viewers *
French term

ad art

French to English Law/Patents Law (general) Paternity case
Hello again
This comes from a letter referring to a paternity case/inheritance dispute in Switzerland. Does it just mean "in article"?
Thanks for your help!
Commentaire de la loi fédérale du 18 décembre 187, ad art. 29 N 7.
Proposed translations (English)
5 +1 at art. [or just art.]

Discussion

Charles Davis Aug 31, 2019:
Maybe you should avoid the issue and just put "ad art.", as many people do when citing these Swiss and other generally Germanic sources in English. "Ad art." is actually not that uncommon in English citations, as Abraham mentioned in the previous question. It would be more satisfactory to put something that clarifies what it means, but I must confess I'm really not sure what it does mean. I have some difficulty with ad being used to mean "at" (i.e., expressing location) in Latin, at least in classical Latin, though I suppose this could be the kind of doggy neo-Latin that is contaminated by vernacular usage, so ad might be used, for example, as equivalent to "à" in French. (Michael's dictionary.com reference doesn't support ad meaning "at", and anyway I would trust dictionary.com over Lewis & Short on Latin usage.) Nevertheless, I must admit that where "ad art." is used in contexts where you can more or less guess its meaning, that meaning seems to be closer to "about" or "added to", rather than "at". The context cited in the question does not establish clearly that it must mean "at". So I'm not sure that Phil was wrong, after all.

Proposed translations

+1
5 hrs
Selected

at art. [or just art.]

As folks here have already noted, ad art. X just means at article X. I wouldn't translate ad art. with "in article," as you have suggested, because the convention in legal citations is to either omit the pointer (i.e. not translate "ad" at all) or to say "at" a certain place in the text (a page, paragraph, article, etc.). I have never seen "in" used in a legal citation.

An example of each of the correct ways to cite:
Citing to a particular section of a statute: 42 U.S.C. § 405(r)(2).
Citing to a particular page of a judicial opinion: Brown, 291 U.S. at 203.

More here: https://www.law.cornell.edu/citation/6-500

Note from asker:
Thanks Eliza
Peer comment(s):

neutral philgoddard : This is a duplicated question. We've discussed it before and had three answers, all of which were on the right lines. I don't think you should try to score extra points by posting another answer and claiming it's the only possible one.
22 hrs
"On the right lines" and "right" are two different things. Translating the correct meaning is a basic skill; as professional translators, we are supposed to do better than that. There are only two correct ways to say this in EN.
agree Michael Confais (X) : "origin of Latin ad, ad-: to, toward, at, about" https://www.dictionary.com/browse/ad- https://www.lw.com/thoughtLeadership/international-arbitrati... (p.4)
23 hrs
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4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer. Comment: "Thanks for the help!"

Reference comments

49 mins
Reference:

kudoz glossary -first place to check

Peer comments on this reference comment:

agree Charles Davis : Definitely the first place to check, but several suggestions were made there and unfortunately, I think the wrong one was chosen // Though I have had second thoughts on that; I'm no longer sure.
17 mins
yes-as (too) often, the answer chosen is wrong but the right answer and explanation(s) are there.
agree B D Finch : Yes and agree that the wrong answer was chosen.
1 hr
I often find very helpful info posted on questions where the wrong answer was chosen. Sometimes the right solution is sitting there but was ignored by asker. So it's always worth having a look.
agree philgoddard : I stick by my previous answer. "Commentaire ad" means "commentary concerning".
4 hrs
neutral Eliza Hall : Thx Writeaway -- good source due to the explanations. But PhilGoddard, ad does not mean re or concerning. It means at. It's a pinpoint cite to a specific place in the cited text.
7 hrs
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