Translation of Legal Cases Programme
Pursuant to the Basic Law and the Official Languages Ordinance, Hong Kong adopts a bilingual legal system. Hong Kong requires bilingual proficiency in Chinese and English when dealing with legal matters and litigation cases. Translating English legal cases into Chinese or vice versa is significant in Hong Kong for the following reasons:
Accurate understanding and application
Translating English legal cases into Chinese or vice versa helps ensure the accurate understanding and application of legal documents. With increasing globalization, communication and cooperation between the legal systems of different countries has become more frequent, and Hong Kong needs accurate translation of legal documents to facilitate correct understanding and application of legal content.
Greater efficiency for legal professionals
Bilingual proficiency in Chinese and English enhances the efficiency of legal professionals. Translating English legal cases into Chinese, and vice versa, helps lawyers and legal practitioners understand and apply case content more quickly, improving efficiency in handling legal matters or litigation cases.
Development of Hong Kong’s legal system
Translating English legal cases into Chinese helps promote the development of Hong Kong’s legal system. Through translation, more people can understand and participate in Hong Kong’s legal system, fostering legal awareness and facilitating the continuous improvement and development of the legal system.
We, the Hong Kong Institute of Law and Translation, are now launching a Legal Case Translation Programme in Hong Kong. We encourage our members and those who are interested in legal translation to join in this programme. The details of the programme are as follows:
Programme Details
- We will provide a list of landmark cases, mainly in English, together with each case’s Uniform Resource Locator (“URL”). Legal translators may click the URL to download a case for translation, or choose their own case if none on the list interests them.
- Apart from the translation itself, translators are also required to write a summary of the case.
- Translators must write their name on the translation work; as author, they will be entitled to the (translation) copyright of the work.
- Translators must give the Institute and the Hong Kong Legal Information Institute consent and licence to publish, distribute and sell the translation on our website and through any other form of communication or media, free of charge.
- A recommended format for the translated case is enclosed for reference. Please follow it for consistency — submissions that do not follow the recommended format may not be published, at our final discretion.
For the benefit of the development of legal bilingualism of Hong Kong, your contribution is highly appreciated and welcome to your submission of translated legal cases.
Hong Kong Institute of Law and Translation
7 May 2024
