Preliminary communication
Foreign Language In Litigation with a Special Review of Translation Costs
Katarina Knol Radoja
; Pravni fakultet Sveučilišta u Osijeku
Abstract
Each party in judicial proceedings has the right to a fair trial. In order to achieve this right, the party must have the ability to communicate with the court. However, in cross-border civil litigations, the use of official language in the court may cause some problems in communication, when that language is unknown to the party.
The paper takes a stand that, although primary European legislation emphasized the need to respect and maintain cultural, linguistic, and national diversity and pluralism in Europe, the language barrieres in cross-border disputes are still underestimated and because of that there are not enough guarantees to provide the right of the parties to be heard in a language they could understand.
In the Republic of Croatia the conclusion could be drawn that guarantee of the parties right to use their own language is fulfilled. However, althogh foreigneirs sometimes win the lawsuit in the aspect of the plaintiff it could happen that the high costs of translation reduce or even exceed acomplished compensation. Moreover, if they win the lawsuit in the aspect of the defendant it could result that the translation costs unjustifiably cause their financial loss.
Keywords
language in cross-border civil proceedings; language of the civil procedure; litigation costs
Hrčak ID:
141254
URI
Publication date:
13.4.2015.
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