Glossary entry (derived from question below)
German term or phrase:
geltendes Recht
English translation:
Current legislation
German term
20+ Years Experience
Native in: German
Works in: German to English, English to German
geltendes Recht
I'm translating a theoretical text on a semi-legal subject. How do you translate "geltend" in the sense of "geltendes Recht" properly? The three terms I can think of: "valid law", "applicable law" or "prevailing law" sound all ok to me, what are the differences between them? Which one would be best to use in a more theoretical, general sense - the document I am translating is not legal in the sense that it would be used in court, it's more of a discussion of law and its origin.
| 5 | Current legislation |
David Moore (X)
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| 5 +9 | applicable law |
Denise Boehning (X)
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| 4 +1 | established law |
Ingrid Blank
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| 4 | valid law |
Сергей Лузан
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PRO (1): Astrid Elke Witte
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Proposed translations
Current legislation
Okay, so you shouldn't rely too heavily on google, as I've often pointed out myself. But 984,000 contributions can hardly ALL be wrong, can they....
applicable law
"Deutsch-Englisch" Legal Dictionary Romain, Byrd, Thielecke
| agree |
Robert Kleemaier
: with Olaf's request above
33 mins
|
| agree |
Claudia Tomaschek
44 mins
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| agree |
Christine Lam
45 mins
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| agree |
Michael Kucharski
2 hrs
|
| agree |
Allesklar
: how about current law?
2 hrs
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| agree |
Thomas Bollmann
2 hrs
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| agree |
Ineke Hardy
5 hrs
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| agree |
Richard Hall
9 hrs
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| agree |
Christian
: Yep, that's it.
9 hrs
|
Russian Federation
Always welcome! :)
Native in: Russian 
Works in: German to Russian, English to Russian, Spanish to Russian, and 7 more.
valid law
http://www.google.ru/search?q= "geltendes Recht"&hl=en&lr=la...
134 English pages for valid "geltendes Recht".
75 English pages for applicable "geltendes Recht".
English pages for prevailing "geltendes Recht".
Without further context "valid law" is preferable IMHO. Hope it helps you. Good luck,
established law
Cf:
For much of human history, rulers and law were synonymous -- law was simply the will of the ruler. A first step away from such tyranny was the notion of rule by law, including the notion that even a ruler is under the law and should rule by virtue of legal means. Democracies went further by establishing the rule of law. Although no society or government system is problem-free, rule of law protects fundamental political, social, and economic rights and reminds us that tyranny and lawlessness are not the only alternatives.
http://usinfo.state.gov/products/pubs/principles/law.htm
| agree |
Johanna Timm, PhD
: as in "law of the land": http://dict.die.net/law of the land/
17 hrs
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Discussion
Das geltende V�lkerrecht beruht in erster Linie auf Vertr�gen; die Frage ist jedoch: Wem steht es zu, durch Vertrag den einzelnen Rechtss�tzen die Eigenschaft der "Geltung" zu verleihen?
... das Recht wird durch �bereinstimmung der Willenserkl�rungen der dazu befugten Personen zur Geltung gebracht ...
Diejenigen Erscheinungen des v�lkerrechtlichen Gebiets, welche gestaltende Bedeutung haben und der Geltung der v�lkerrechtlichen S�tze vorangehen, k�nnen wir als Quellen des V�lkerrechts bezeichnen.
Das geltende Recht von X ist ein Teil des geltenden internationalen �ffentlichen Rechts, d.h. des V�lkerrechts.
As you can see, I'm looking for a more general translation of "geltend" or "Geltung". It's actually a more philosophical treatise on legal principles.
Again, Thanks in advance!
Happy New Year!