Problems of reproduction of the content of English legal terms «responsibility» and «liability» into Ukrainian (by the example of Report on civic monitoring of implementation of the EU-Ukraine Association Agenda, from December 2011 to September 2012)
Abstract
In the scientific research the character and the main traits of the notion of «responsibility» from foreign and native scientists’ points of view were analyzed; the interpretation of English terms «responsibility» and «liability» was considered and their semantic divergence was traced; the versions of reproduction of the notion «responsibility» in English were illustrated.
Studying the phenomenon of legal liability is one of the most difficult both in the general theory of law and in branch sciences. Responsibility as a central law concept requires special attention in the process of considering its properties and main characteristics. Legal liability is considered to be one of the leading institutions of law which is the basis of any legal system. Its peculiar bipolarity of sense has become a controversial issue in jurisprudence. Many researchers associate legal liability only with wrongful conduct or offense which entails negative consequences (penalties, sanctions, legal coercion, etc.). This type of liability is often called a negative or retrospective one. Many other scientists though view liability as conscious and initiative performance of duties (moral, legal, etc.), and also as recognizing one’s debt to society, the state, as well as to other members of society. This kind of responsibility is named positive or prospective one.
From the standpoint of international law, the institution of international legal responsibility (which is a subspecies of legal liability) is essential precondition of the maintenance of world peace and the rule of law. That is why a major role in this process has the correct understanding, perception and interpretation of the concept of «responsibility» in different languages.
In English the terms representing certain kinds of obligations are «responsibility» and «liability». According to our research there is a difference between them. During the studying of the Report on civic monitoring of implementation of the EU-Ukraine Association Agenda we found out that the notion «responsibility» had mostly the sense of prospect (the context narrates about allocation of responsibilities, delegation of powers etc.). But the term «liability» was used only in negative meaning, and the context dealt with responsibility for the past actions (offences, crimes and so on).
Tracing the specifics of use of both terms, we can conclude that in the studied English legal text the term «responsibility» is more multipurpose and can be used in both senses: obligation and consequence. The notion «liability», however, is not viewed as a positive. This proves the fact that the first term can substitute the second but not vice verse. So, one may summarize that the main term which means a legal duty or obligations (as a result of past actions) in English is a noun «liability». But we do not expel the thought that the notion «responsibility» can sometimes have a negative (retrospective) connotation. So the task for translator in this case is to study the sense of the legal text, to analyze the meaning of the word «responsibility» in a certain context, to check if the constant term or terminological phrase exist in a target language, and then to decide which one of the two words should be used in a translation.
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