Written Fluency - Autumn semester 2004
Handout 3 - Tuesday, 26 October 2004
The language of legal documents

Task 1:
Compare the following two examples of legal English. How do
they differ? What are their common features?
Elizabeth the Second by the Grace of God of the United Kingdom
of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and of Her other Realms
and Territories, Queen, Head of the Commonwealth, Defender of
the Faith: To all to whom these presents shall come greeting:
WHEREAS a request for the grant of a patent has been made by

for the sole use and advantage of an invention for

AND WHEREAS We, being willing to encourage all inventions which
may be for the public good, are graciously pleased to
condescend to the request:

KNOW YE, THEREFORE, that We, of our especial grace, certain
knowledge, and mere motion do by these presents, for Us, our
heirs and successors, give and grant unto the person(s) above
named and any successor(s), executor(s), administrator(s) and
assign(s) (each and any of whom are hereinafter referred to as
the patentee) our especial licence, full power, sole privilege,
and authority, that the patentee ar any agent or licensee of
the patentees and no others, may subject to the conditions and
provisions prescribed by any statute or order for the time
being in force at all times hereafter during the term of years
herein mentioned, make, use, exercise and vend the said
invention within our United Kingdom of Great Britain and
Northern Ireland, and the Isle of Man, and the patentee shall
have and enjoy the whole profit and advantage from time to time
accruing by reason of the said invention during the term of
sixteen years from the date hereunder written of these
presents: AND to the end that the patentee may have and enjoy
the sole use and exercise and the full benefit of the said
invention, We do by these presents for Us, our heirs and
successors, strictly command all our subjects whatsoever within
our United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, and
the Isle of Man, that they do not at any time during the
continuance of the said term either directly or indirectly make
use of or put in practice the said invention, nor in anywise
imitate the same, without the written consent, licence or
agreement of the patentee, on pain of incurring such penalties
as may be justly inflicted on such offenders for their contempt
of this our Royal Command, and of being answerable to this
patentee according to law for damages thereby occasioned:

PROV1DED always that these letters patent shall be revocable on
any of the grounds from time to time by law prescribed as
grounds for revoking letters patent granted by Us, and the same
may be revoked and made void accordingly:



9.  CONFIDENTIALITY. The Employee is aware that during his
employment he may be party to confidential information
concerning the Employer and the Employer`s business. The
Employee shall not during the term of this employment disclose
or allow the disclosure of any confidential information (except
in the proper course of his employment). After the termination
of this Agreement the Employee shall not disclose or use any of
the Employer`s trade secrets or any other information which is
of a sufficiently high degree of confidentiality to amount to a
trade secret. The Employer shall be entitled to apply for an
injunction to prevent such disclosure or use and to seek any
other remedy including without limitation the recovery of
damages in the case of such disclosure or use.
10.  NON-COMPETITION. For a period of  _____ months]  ______
year(s)] after the termination of this Agreement the Employee
shall not solicit or seek business from any customers or
clients of the Employer who were customers or clients of the
Employer at any time during the years immediately preceding the
termination of this Agreement.
Task 2:
This is a typical sentence of legal English, syntactically, as
well as lexically. Translate the following one accordingly.
NOW IT IS HEREBY AGREED as      Strany se dohodly na
follows:                        následujícím:
1. In consideration for the sum I. Za úhradu _________ liber,
of Ł____, receipt of which the  jejichž příjem prodávající zde
Seller hereby acknowledges, the potvrzuje, prodávající prodá a
Seller hereby sells and         dopraví kupujícímu a jeho
transfers to the Buyer and      právním nástupcům a nabyvatelům
his/her                         absolutního práva následující
successors and assigns          zboží (,'zboží"):
absolutely, the following goods 
(the "Goods"):
3.  Prodávající dále zaručuje, že bude chránit a hájit
kupujícího a jeho právní nástupce a nabyvatele práva, že
odškodní a bude chránit kupujícího před jakýmikoliv
protinároky, které může jakákoliv strana učinit ohledně
vlastnictví zboží.




Task 3:
Try to translate the following part oj Employment contract from
Czech into English, keeping to the typical syntax and lexis of
legal English. Paragraph 1 is left in English to help you.
                                    PRACOVNÍ SMLOUVA
Tato smlouva se uzavírá dne ___________ 200__  mezi
1. ___________________________________________________
(,'zaměstnavatel")
a
2. ___________________________________________________
(,'zaměstnanec").
Tento dokument stanoví podmínky pracovního poměru, které pro
zaměstnance upravuje Zákoník práce z roku 1996 v paragrafu I a
které platí od data uvedeného na tomto dokumentu.
1. DATUM VZNIKU A PRACOVNÍ      1. COMMENCEMENT AND JOB TITLE.
ZAŘAZENÍ. Zaměstnavatel         The Employer agrees to employ
souhlasí                        the Employee trom 200__ in the
s tím, že zaměstná zaměstnance  capacity of at ___________ [No
od ___________ 200__ jako       employment with a previous
_______________________ .       employer will be counted as
(Do doby trvání souvislého      part of the Employee`s period
pracovního poměru zaměstnance   of continuous employment. [The
se nezapočítává pracovní poměr  employment under this Agreement
u předešlého zaměstnavatele.)   forms part of a continuous
(Pracovní poměr vyplývající z   period of employment which
této smlouvy tvoří součást      began on _____. The Employee`s
souvislého pracovního poměru,   duties may trom time to time be
který začal __________.)        reasonably modified as
Povinnosti zaměstnance se mohou necessary to meet the needs of
v průběhu doby přiměřeně        the Employer`s business.
upravovat, pokud to vyžaduje
obchodní činnost
zaměstnavatele.

2.  MZDA. Zaměstnavatel bude zaměstnanci vyplácet mzdu ve výši
____________ liber ročně v pravidelných (týdenních) (měsíčních)
splátkách.
3.  PRACOVNÍ DOBA. Běžná pracovní doba zaměstnance je od
________ do ________ ve všední dny (a od _______ do _______ v
sobotu). Během této doby má zaměstnanec nárok na přestávku na
oběd v délce až jedné hodiny, a to mezi dvanáctou a druhou
hodinou odpolední. V průběhu doby může být zaměstnanec požádán
o práci přesčas, aby tak vyhověl potřebám podnikáni
zaměstnavatele (bez dalšího finančního ohodnocení)
(s hodinovou sazbou ________ liber za práci přesčas).
4.  DOVOLENÁ. V průběhu kalendářního roku má zaměstnanec k
běžným svátkům nárok na __________ denní dovolenou za plný
plat. Dovolenou je povinen si vybrat v době, která vyhovuje
zaměstnavateli; jednorázově si smí vybrat pouze __________
týdenní dovolenou.