Dylan Edwards (asker) Sep 6, 2012:

Thank you for all the various comments. As I understand it now, they're talking about a literal interpretation of the wording.

Elizabeth Spacilova Sep 4, 2012:

articles (@ Vladimir) "in the act establishing the Premyslid dynasty ..."
"in Act No. 1/873 Coll., on the establishment of the Premyslid dynasty..."

Same reason why there wouldn't be an article here:
"In The Metamorphosis, Gregor Samsa woke up one day and..."
and there is here:
"In the book, Samsa deals with ..."
I'm sure there's a proper name for this. But definite articles are the reason why I'm not an English teacher :)

Elizabeth Spacilova Sep 4, 2012:

má smysl přečíst smysl @ Scott, Vladimir etc
I was just bringing up Scott's note:
"but using diction here sets it off from another common legal phrase 've smlyslu ustanoveni...' - 'in the wording of the provisions of...'"

So I was just saying that I would not translate something like "ve __smyslu__ zakona č. 1/873 Sb." as "in the __wording___ of Act No. blah blah blah". But maybe someone else would.

jankaisler Sep 4, 2012:

usual formulations are: "Z dikce zákona vyplývá" and "podle dikce zákona" i. e. not "v dikci" ("in the wording")

Vladimír Hoffman Sep 4, 2012:

2 Scott But you had good intention to help, and it is what is important!:-))
However, I am highly reluctant as regards "in the wording of Act". If you want to express that something is to be compliant with wording of Act, I feel that "as stipulated by Act" expresses same and sounds better.

By the way, in this connection, there is one question I have been musing for years - why there is no article before word Act, if we talk about specific Act unamnigously identified by number?

Scott Evan Andrews Sep 4, 2012:

and wasn't I tickled pink to look into my concordance search in Trados just now and find that I've translated dikce 3 times as wording and once as diction - I get too excited trying to be first...:) - @ Elizabeth - "ve zneni zakona c..." is indeed translated as "in the wording of Act no..."

Vladimír Hoffman Sep 4, 2012:

2 Scott Especially as regards to "ve smyslu ustanoveni..." Why not to use "in accordance with". A citizen is expected to act so as to obey both explicit (wording) and implied (spirit) aspects of law. So, to follow the law, to act in accordance with it. I very often saw "ve smyslu ustanoveni..." in the meaning "according to provisions".

Vladimír Hoffman Sep 4, 2012:

2 Elisabeth I think that "as intended by" or "as implied in" would sound more "English". There is an analogy - v znení ďalších zmien a dodatkov (Zákon č. ... v znení ďalších zmien a dodatkov) is translated using only "as amended".

Dylan Edwards (asker) Sep 4, 2012:

"Literal wording" - so it refers to the letter rather than the spirit of the law. That's useful to know.

Following up the "literal wording" idea, I came across this:

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plain_meaning_rule
As there is always the danger that a particular interpretation may be the equivalent of making law, some judges prefer to adhere to the law's literal wording.

I have no experience of seeing the word "diction" used as a legal term, that's why I would hesitate to use it here.

Elizabeth Spacilova Sep 4, 2012:

@ Scott - I'd translate "ve smyslu" as under / within the intention/spirit of.

jankaisler Sep 4, 2012:

In Czech legal texts the term "dikce" is used in the sense "(literal) wording" and means "(doslovné) znění"
"Z dikce ustanovení není zcela jednoznačné, která ustanovení obchodního
zákoníku se v daném prípade pokládají za príslušná. V prípade zániku obecne
prospešné spolecnosti by zrejme šlo o ustanovení § 68 obchodního zákoníku,
obchodní zákoník však obsahuje i speciální ustanovení o zániku spolecnosti
u jednotlivých typu obchodních spolecností."
http://www.vlada.cz/assets/ppov/lrv/dokumenty/Metodicka_pomu...
many links for: znění zákona

Scott Evan Andrews Sep 4, 2012:

so we've got the literal "diction" or "wording" ...I stand by diction, it's a legal term to that has its place, I don't change cognates too much unless there is a compelling reason - ex. realizace is implementation - as for "wording" Radka is surely right, but using diction here sets it off from another common legal phrase "ve smlyslu ustanoveni..." - "in the wording of the provisions of..."

Scott Evan Andrews Sep 4, 2012:

sure Dylan, can't be anything but a cognate of the Latin (from Wiki) Latin: dictionem (nom. dictio) "a saying, expression, word"), ...in that spriti Ivan's suggestion is valid too

Dylan Edwards (asker) Sep 4, 2012:

Just found this legal definition of 'dikce' in the Czech Wiktionary: způsob zákonného vyjádření