Titia Karen Dijkstra - freelance translator

Courts and litigation

Courts

The civil courts in the Netherlands are: the "Kantongerecht", "Arrondissementsrechtbank", "Gerechtshof" and "Hoge Raad". In Dutch, these are often abbreviated as follows; "Gerecht", "Rechtbank", "Hof" and "Raad". The abbreviations make it clear exactly which kind of court is involved. In English, the full names often have to be given in the text, because the abbreviated versions would all translate into court. I use the following translations for these courts; Cantonal Court, District Court, Court of Appeal and Supreme Court of the Netherlands. These terms are derived from British English and Eurodicautom [link].

Note:

Court of Appeals, with an extra s, is American English.
The British "High Court" is actually at a level which is similar to the Dutch "Arrondissementsrechtbank".
The British court system does have a "Supreme Court of Judicature", but this is the official combined term for the High Court, Crown Court and the Court of Appeal.

Statements of case

In Dutch litigation, the word "conclusie" is used with a number of very different meanings. Here, I will focus on the meaning "statement", as in statement of claim. The other meanings are of course quite simply "conclusion" and also, in patent law, "claim".

Let's first consider the term "pleading" as a translation for "conclusie". According to the Oxford Dictionary of Law, the term pleading has officially been abolished for the documents in civil proceedings. The official term is now statement of case, as the general term, however, pleadings is still frequently used informally.
The Dutch terms "conclusie van eis", "conclusie van antwoord", "conclusie van repliek" and "conclusie van dupliek" can accordingly be translated as statement of defence, statement of claim, statement of reply and statement of rejoinder, respectively. However, in British legal documents the "statement of" segment is often omitted and the term for the kind of document is capitalised.
"Conventie" and "reconventie" are the main action, or principal action, and counterclaim, respectively.
"Bodemprocedure" would be action on the merits.

Note:

The term "brief" in this context is strictly American English. British English uses brief for a set instructions, in general, and also specifically for the written instructions from a solicitor to a barrister.
The term "motion" has also officially been rendered obsolete in British legal litigation jargon. It has been replaced by "application".
The term "plea" has a couple of specific meanings in British legal litigation jargon, which I will not go into here. It is also EU English for "exceptie (van) ..." and I use it in that context.

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