The 'Deed' and the 'Statutory Declaration' for a German Court
You are a UK-based translator commissioned by a German law firm to translate into German a 6-page English 'statutory declaration' and an attached 'deed of covenant' for use in German court proceedings. The statutory declaration was signed before an English solicitor; the deed contains the phrase 'in consideration of the sum of £1 (one pound) paid by the Covenantor'. The German court has requested a 'beglaubigte Übersetzung'. You are not publicly appointed and sworn in Germany. The firm says any translator can certify, and asks you to deliver by Friday with a signed certificate. The declaration refers to facts dating from 2019, and the deed is undated.
1. How would you render 'statutory declaration' and 'deed' into German, and what conceptual gaps must you address?
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'Statutory declaration' describes a written statement of facts made under a statutory procedure and signed before an authorised person. The nearest German functional equivalent is 'eidesstattliche Versicherung', but that term carries specific criminal-law consequences and procedural rules, so I would use 'statutory declaration (eidesstattliche Versicherung)' on first mention and explain the English procedure in a translator's note. 'Deed' has no single German equivalent. A deed is a formal instrument whose validity depends on execution formalities, not on consideration; 'notarielle Urkunde' is wrong unless the document was actually notarised. I would use 'deed (feierliche Urkunde)' or 'Urkunde in der Form eines deed' and add a note that the English formalities differ from German notarial form. The aim is to signal the foreign institution, not to pretend that German law has an identical category. A literal rendering such as 'Urkunde' alone would erase the execution formalities that the German court may need to understand.
2. What does 'in consideration of £1' do, and how do you translate it without importing a German doctrine?
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In English law, consideration is the bargained-for exchange that makes a simple contract enforceable; a deed is enforceable without consideration, but drafters often recite nominal consideration out of caution or tradition. German law has no doctrine of consideration, so a literal 'Gegenleistung' would suggest a synallagmatic exchange that the clause may not create. I would translate 'in consideration of the sum of £1 (one pound) paid by the Covenantor' as 'in Anbetracht der von dem Verpflichteten gezahlten Summe von 1 GBP' or 'unter Bezugnahme auf die Zahlung von 1 GBP durch den Verpflichteten'. I would add a translator's note stating that consideration is a common-law requirement and that the £1 is nominal. The note matters because a German judge may otherwise ask why a covenant needs a payment of one pound, or may mistake the recital for a price term. I would not use 'Gegenleistung' without qualification.
3. Advise on 'beglaubigte Übersetzung' and the firm's claim that any translator can certify.
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The firm's claim is too broad. In Germany, a 'beglaubigte Übersetzung' is generally a translation certified by a translator who is publicly appointed and sworn for the relevant language pair, or by another person authorised to certify. A UK-based translator's own certificate may be acceptable for some private purposes, but it does not make the translation 'beglaubigt' in the German court sense. I would ask the court or the instructing firm to confirm whether it requires a certified translation by a publicly appointed and sworn translator. If it does, I would decline to issue a German-style certification and recommend instructing a qualified German translator, or ask whether the court will accept my certificate with an apostille or legalisation of the source documents. I would also flag that the undated deed may need explanation, and that the solicitor's signature on the statutory declaration may require proof. Certification is not a substitute for those formalities.