French Business Law in Translation

2. Auflage 2008
ISBN: 978-1-57823-245-1
Verlag: Juris

Buch, Englisch, 840 Seiten

French Business Law in Translation constitutes a unique collection of translations of those French laws that really matter in an international business context. It presents a bilingual version of the French laws and regulations that the authors have condensed from tens of thousands of pages down to the “essence” of the law in each of the fifteen subject areas. They refer to rules and regulations in French law that are of recurrent importance to business professionals and legal practitioners involved in international business.

By adding the relevant French text in a column directly across from the translation into English, this 2nd edition has a whole new dimension which makes it an invaluable resource in legal linguistics for international practitioners and academics.

The selection of texts has been made by members of the Paris law firm of Paul, Hastings, Janofsky & Walker (Europe) LLP, under the direction of Pierre Kirch. A team of advanced French and American law students at Columbia University Law School, supervised by Professor Bermann, have prepared the basic translations. The definitive translations and chapter introductions have been prepared by the authors.

Through a sound translation of the legislation which recurringly applies to ordinary and usual business situations, it is possible to discern the philosophy underlying the French system, reflective of how France conceives and regulates business phenomena that are in themselves essentially universal.

It is no secret that business is done in France in a heavily regulated environment. In this respect, a public offering of securities, or an IPO, or a public tender offer (or, indeed, a takeover battle) can best be understood through a review of the various rules and regulations which constitute their regulatory framework.

In the same way, the French approach has certain particularities: for instance, the criteria for evaluating the impact of a merger on competition diverge somewhat from those set out in the EU’s merger regulation and applied by the European Commission.

Tax and labor laws have also become very complex over the years. For instance, French labor law imposes a number of procedural and other constraints on the employer and grants the employee significant rights.

In a French setting, transactional work involves not only fundamental contractual concepts set out in the Civil Code, but also securities law, intellectual property, competition, tax and labor law considerations. That is the reason why significant extracts of these fast-evolving areas of the law have been translated and included in French Business Law in Translation. Each chapter opens with a brief introduction to the subject and an outline of its contents. The purpose is to allow the reader to place the translated legislation and rules in their overall context. The selection of translated material is done in such way as to enable the reader to appreciate in their full scope the fundamentals of each area of the law, as conceived by the legislator, the French Government and, in certain cases, independent regulatory authorities. A glossary is added to each chapter. This glossary is not intended to be a complete “dictionary,” but rather to give a preliminary idea of the conceptual linguistic tools used in each of the subject-area chapters.

Legal translation is not an exact science, but based on the authors' combined experience of more than 50 years in dealing with the fascinating differences between French law and US law, they are keenly aware of the fact that the translation of legal language is not made by the translation of words, but rather by an attempt to use words to achieve an (often rough) equivalence of concepts. By putting the French original across from the translation, and by investing themselves in the qualitative value of seeking not words but conceptual equivalents or explanations for the rules of French law, they hope to have fostered a deeper understanding of the laws and regulations governing business in France. This should not only better inform those lawyers involved internationally but also be instructive to French lawyers interested in the recurrent linguistic characteristics of French legal texts. This can only be shown when the French original is compared with the appropriate conceptual link to American legal English.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Bermann, George A.

Kirch, Pierre

Inhaltsverzeichnis

CHAPTER I - CONSTITUTION OF FRANCE AND THE EUROPEAN TREATIES
A. INTRODUCTION TO FRENCH CONSTITUTIONAL SOURCES AND FUNDAMENTAL CONCEPTS
OF EUROPEAN LAW
B. OUTLINE
C. BASIC GLOSSARY
D. TRANSLATIONS
• THE DECLARATION OF THE RIGHTS OF MAN AND OF THE CITIZEN OF AUGUST 26, 1789
• PREAMBLE TO THE CONSTITUTION OF OCTOBER 27, 1946
• THE ENVIRONMENT CHARTER 2004
• THE CONSTITUTION OF OCTOBER 4, 1958 (AS AMENDED)
• CONSOLIDATED VERSION OF THE TREATY ESTABLISHING THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITY
(TREATY OF NICE VERSION, AS ENTERED INTO FORCE ON FEBRUARY 1, 2003)

CHAPTER II - LEGAL PROFESSIONS AND DISPUTE RESOLUTION
A. INTRODUCTION TO THE LEGAL PROFESSIONS AND DISPUTE RESOLUTION
B. OUTLINE
C. BASIC GLOSSARY
D. TRANSLATIONS
• ATTORNEYS
• NOTAIRES
• THE COURT SYSTEM
• CIVIL PROCEDURE

CHAPTER III - GENERAL PRIVATE LAW PRINCIPLES
A. INTRODUCTION TO GENERAL PRIVATE LAW PRINCIPLES
B. OUTLINE
C. BASIC GLOSSARY
D. TRANSLATIONS
• CIVIL CODE
• UNITED NATIONS CONVENTION ON CONTRACTS FOR THE INTERNATIONAL SALE OF GOODS
OF APRIL 11, 1980
• CONVENTION ON THE LAW APPLICABLE TO CONTRACTUAL OBLIGATIONS OPENED FOR
SIGNATURE IN ROME ON JUNE 19, 1980

CHAPTER IV - GENERAL COMMERCIAL AND COMPANY LAW
A. INTRODUCTION TO GENERAL COMMERCIAL AND COMPANY LAW
B. OUTLINE
C. BASIC GLOSSARY
D. TRANSLATIONS
• CIVIL CODE
• COMMERCIAL CODE

CHAPTER V - SECURITIES LAW AND FINANCIAL MARKETS
A. INTRODUCTION TO SECURITIES LAW AND FINANCIAL MARKETS
B. OUTLINE
C. BASIC GLOSSARY
D. TRANSLATIONS
• THE REGULATORY AUTHORITY
• PUBLIC OFFERINGS

CHAPTER VI - MONEY AND BANKING REGULATIONS
A. INTRODUCTION TO MONEY AND BANKING REGULATIONS
B. OUTLINE
C. BASIC GLOSSARY
D. TRANSLATIONS
• MONETARY AND FINANCIAL CODE

CHAPTER VII - COMPETITION LAW
A. INTRODUCTION TO COMPETITION LAW
B. OUTLINE
C. BASIC GLOSSARY
D. TRANSLATIONS
• COMMERCIAL CODE

CHAPTER VIII - CONSUMER LAW
A. INTRODUCTION TO CONSUMER LAW
B. OUTLINE
C. BASIC GLOSSARY
D. TRANSLATIONS
• CONSUMER CODE
• LAW N°94-665 OF AUGUST 4, 1994 RELATING TO THE USE OF THE FRENCH LANGUAGE.

CHAPTER IX - LABOR LAW
A. INTRODUCTION TO LABOR LAW
B. OUTLINE
C. BASIC GLOSSARY
D. TRANSLATIONS
• LABOR CODE

CHAPTER X - TAX LAW
A. INTRODUCTION TO TAX LAW
B. OUTLINE
C. BASIC GLOSSARY
D. TRANSLATIONS
• TAX CODE
• TAXATION OF UNDERTAKINGS
• ANNUAL TAX ON REAL PROPERTY
• VALUE ADDED TAX
• OTHER BUSINESS-RELATED TAXES
• REGISTRATION DUTIES

CHAPTER XI - INSURANCE LAW
A. INTRODUCTION TO INSURANCE LAW
B. OUTLINE
C. BASIC GLOSSARY
D. TRANSLATIONS
• INSURANCE CODE

CHAPTER XII - INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY
A. INTRODUCTION TO INTELLECTUAL
PROPERTY
B. OUTLINE
C. BASIC GLOSSARY
D. TRANSLATIONS
• INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY CODE

CHAPTER XIII - ENVIRONMENTAL LAW
A. INTRODUCTION TO ENVIRONMENTAL LAW
B. OUTLINE
C. BASIC GLOSSARY
D. TRANSLATIONS
• ENVIRONMENTAL CODE

CHAPTER XIV - PUBLIC PROCUREMENT
A. INTRODUCTION TO PUBLIC PROCUREMENT
B. OUTLINE
C. BASIC GLOSSARY
D. TRANSLATIONS
• PUBLIC PROCUREMENT CODE (2006)

CHAPTER XV - REAL ESTATE LAW
A. INTRODUCTION TO REAL ESTATE LAW
B. OUTLINE
C. BASIC GLOSSARY
D. TRANSLATIONS
• CIVIL CODE
• ZONING CODE
• COMMERCIAL CODE

Über Autor(innen)

George A. Bermann is the Jean Monnet Professor of European Union Law and Walter Gellhorn Professor of Law at Columbia Law School, where he also directs the European Legal Studies Center.

Prior to joining the Columbia faculty in 1975 he practiced as an associate at the New York law firm of Davis Polk & Wardwell. Professor Bermann is a graduate of Yale College and Yale Law School, where he was an editor of the Yale Law Journal.

Professor Bermann teaches and writes extensively in the fields of European Law, Comparative Law, Transnational Litigation and Arbitration, and WTO dispute resolution. He is the author or editor of, among other books, Introduction to French Law (co-editor Picard, Kluwer Pub.), Transnational Litigation (West Pub.), Law and Governance in an enlarged European Union (co-editor Pistor, Hart Pub.), Transatlantic Regulatory Co-operation: Legal Problems and Political Prospects (co-editor Lindseth, Oxford Univ.), and Cases and Materials on European Union Law (co-authors Goebel, Davey & Fox, West Pub.). He is a visiting member of the law faculties of the Universities of Paris I and II, the Collège d’Europe (Bruges, Belgium) and the Institut des Sciences Politiques (Sciences Po) in Paris.

Professor Bermann is currently President of the Académie internationale de droit comparé (based in Paris) and Co-editor-in-chief of the American Journal of Comparative Law. He founded and is chair of the executive editorial board of the Columbia Journal of European Law. He has served throughout his academic career as an expert on foreign law in U.S. courts and international arbitral tribunals. He is currently Chief Reporter of the American Law Institute’s new Restatement of the U.S. Law of International Commercial Arbitration.

Pierre Kirch, a graduate of Dartmouth and the University of Paris Law School (Paris I and Paris II), a past president of the Dartmouth Club of France, immediate past chair of the EU law section of the Union Internationale des Avocats, currently serves as the rapporteur of AmCham EU's working group on State aid in Brussels. He is also a founding member of the Editorial Board of the French language quarterly review of competition law, Concurrences (Thomson/Transactive).

Mr. Kirch has contributed to publications such as European Competition Law: A Guide to the EC and its Member States (LexisNexis/Matthew Bender; chapter on France), Merger Control in Europe (Kluwer Law International; chapter on France), Droit europa en des affaires (co-author, Dunod), Economic Analysis of State Aid Rules: Contributions and Limits (co-author, Lexxion). Mr. Kirch is a member of the Paris and Brussels Bars. Before joining Paul Hastings as a partner in 2004, he was a partner at Moquet Borde & Associates.