Any experts on law or rights of indigenous people??

[Rach1983]

Hey!!

This isn't about East Dulwich but as I live here I thought some lovely East Dulwich people might be able to help me in a desperate situation!!!

Basically, I have to hand my MA project in on Mon, which is a translation from Spanish to English about rights of Indigenous peoples in Latin America. There's a couple of things that have come up that I just don't understand and I'm wondering if there are any legal type people out there that can help me??

Firstly, anyone know what limit of sovereignty is??

Secondly, I have to translate something that translates as "diminished legal capacity" but in English I've seen "diminished legal responsibility" a lot more! Is this the same thing?

And lastly does anyone know whether to use v or vs when abbreviating versus in British English?

Any help greatly appreciated!!!! :)

[Huguenot]

On the abbreviation either is fine, but I wouldn't use an abbreviation in a prose document.

Aren't the other two items likely to be very specific to national laws of the countries in question?

In English capacity and responsibility are not the same thing at all. One is capability, the other is culpability.

The limits of sovereignty issue is about the conflict between the rights of the state and the rights of the individual. For example the issue whether an individual has basic human rights that exceed the rights of the state to limit them.

There is no 'answer' to this debate, it rages endlessly - a particular example being the 'right to life' compared with capital punishment for heinous social crimes.

Or alternatively the rights of followers of particular religions to ownership of certain patches of land.

[Rach1983]

Thank you so much!!! That is so helpful, now I actually understand what I'm writing about a little bit more :S

[ianr]

In British legal citations, v is currently used for versus; see for example http://www.londonmet.ac.uk/services/sas/library-services/subject-help/subjects/law/law-citations.cfm. If citing cases from other legislations, I'd stick to their own usage. For terms such as "legal capacity" and "legal responsibility" I don't think there's any alternative to using reference sources, such as may be found eg on the web, to make sure you understand their meaning in English law and that your translation is appropriate.

Usenet group uk.legal.moderated (also accessible via google groups) is a good forum for questions on matters of law.