Jan 24, 2015 12:58
9 yrs ago
3 viewers *
French term

aux droits de

French to English Tech/Engineering Construction / Civil Engineering
This is a letter of intent from a company wishing to purchase a site where there used to be a service station, and which is saying that the vendor has to decontaminate the site before the sale takes place.

This first para explains that the vendor has to be concerned not only with the plot ("actif"), but also the area downstream from it, when dealing with contamination:

"Afin de délimiter la zone sur laquelle le Vendeur devra intervenir et les moyens à mettre en œuvre pour procéder à la remise en état environnementale de l’Actif, le Vendeur s’engage à (faire) réaliser des sondages du sol et des eaux sur l’Actif et en aval hydraulique supposé à partir des mesures disponibles de l’Actif ..."

This is the main bit

"Respect par le Vendeur de ses obligations réglementaires et contractuelles de nature à assurer l’Acquéreur que l’Actif est conforme à sa Destination, notamment :

- l’exécution des travaux de remise en état environnementale permettant au Vendeur de respecter ses Obligations Réglementaires consistant notamment en (i) l’excavation des sources sols de pollution et (ii) le traitement des eaux subsurfaces potentiellement impactées présentes sur ou au droit de l’Actif ;

...

- l’Analyse des Risques Résiduels visant à déterminer les éventuelles mesures complémentaires nécessaires aux droits de l’Actif (qui feront alors l’objet des travaux dits de Phase 2) ; ladite Analyse des Risques Résiduels devra mentionner qu’il n’y a pas d’obstacle de nature environnementale (résultant de l’activité de station-service précédemment exploitée sur l’Actif) à la construction d’un bâtiment de plain-pied sans sous-sol ..."

In the first bolded expression, it would appear that the expression "au droit de" (possibly the most horribly ambiguous preposition in French) here means "vertically below". Are we then to conclude that the later expression "aux droits de" means the same thing?

Or have I "parsed" it completely wrongly? Is the text concerned with the "rights" of the "asset"? But does that really truly make any sense at all?

Discussion

Mpoma (asker) Jan 24, 2015:
thanks to all yes, I'm coming round to "in line with". Just found that the phrase occurs again: "que l’état des sols et/ou des eaux souterraines aux droits de la zone soit incompatible avec un usage futur « commercial sans sous-sol », et..."
@Nikki... I think "mesures" is however more likely to be (anti-contamination) "measures"... I see this as cleaning up bits of land adjacent to (particularly downstream from) the main plot.
@BD Finch: tx for the diagram, useful to see how Francophones perceive the meaning of "au droit de". I'm not sure it is justified to confine the understanding to highways, though.
Nikki Scott-Despaigne Jan 24, 2015:
I've not seen it in the plural before either. In the singular "au droit de" can already be rendered in a number of ways :
directly above, perpendicular to, in a line with, at a right angle to etc.

Bear in mind that "une droite" is a "straight line" and that will come into it somewhere, then as Tony says, a plural reading is possible. ("Rights" makes no sense here to me at all, as "mesures" certainyl reads as "measurement" and not as steps that are to be taken, which is the only way it might work. As that reading doesn't stick, then it has to be something along the lines (pun) Tony suggests).
Tony M Jan 24, 2015:
in line with I suspect the sense of 'à droit de' here is not above / below so much as 'in line with' — albeit in the sense of 'in line with' primarily downstream.

I've never personally encountered it in the plural before, but I suppose it would sort of make sense, since something could be in line with it in different directions. I think your right, I don't think this is anything to do with 'droits' in the sense of 'rights'.

Proposed translations

+1
9 hrs
Selected

adjoining

au droit de

[+] Locution prépositive

Construit à partir de « faisant un angle droit avec ».
Locution prépositive
au droit de /Prononciation ?/

Perpendiculairement à.
Pour éviter le rejet sur la plate-forme de l’air vicié par la tête française du tunnel, un puits vertical de 7 m de diamètre est créé au droit de la courbe d’entrée du tunnel. (Tunnel du Mont-Blanc sur Wikipédia)

(Par extension) En face de, au-dessus de, à côté de.

L’étude d’impact doit idéalement intégrer un suivi piézométrique au droit du projet ou à proximité immédiate sur une période conseillée de 2 ans. — (Ministère de l’écologie, Exploitations de carrières en secteurs karstiques, 2008)
Une allée a été entièrement rénovée en béton projeté au droit de ce jardin. — (Site web ville-chamalieres.fr)

http://fr.wiktionary.org/wiki/au_droit_de

when it comes to water contamination, the potential problem is not what happens "at right angle" to the property, but "just next to it"

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Note added at 9 hrs (2015-01-24 22:54:09 GMT)
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the area just "adjoining" the property

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Note added at 11 hrs (2015-01-25 00:03:21 GMT)
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or "adjacent to" the property
Note from asker:
Thanks! Yes, overnight I also came to the conclusion that "adjoining", "adjacent" or possibly "contiguous" is the answer! The point is that area A must have a "side" in common with area B... so in the case of a chess board square X would be "au droit de" the four squares in line, but not with the four squares next to it on a diagonal. I also suspect that the plural use, "aux droits de" may be a drafting error, perhaps due to the phonetic identity with "au droit de".
Peer comment(s):

agree B D Finch : With "adjacent to" - Looking at this again, I think I was interpreting it in too restricted a way. It isn't just about the highway and, as Asker notes, the plural is almost certainly an error. NB pollution plumes can extend for hundreds of metres.
1 day 18 hrs
Thanks!
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4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer. Comment: "thanks"
1 hr

In line with /complying with

Suggestion
Something went wrong...
2 hrs

to the part of the highway ascribed to the property

Have a look at the diagram given with "Réponse 5" in https://lafibre.info/raccordement-maison/raccordement-au-cab...

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Note added at 2 hrs (2015-01-24 15:53:00 GMT)
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On second thoughts, "ascribed" is the wrong word; "attributed" would be more accurate. Whatever, it is generally up to the centre of the part of the highway immediately fronting the property, though there could be reasons for extending that area.

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Note added at 3 hrs (2015-01-24 16:05:35 GMT)
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It is more usually used in the singular, even for this particular context.

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Note added at 3 hrs (2015-01-24 16:08:22 GMT)
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Another thought: the plural might imply that there is more than one section of highway or other public land involved, noting that the phrase can also apply to river banks.
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