Legal translation is a process in which one dual semiotic system (source law and language) is transmitted into the other dual semiotic system (target law and language). The process of transmission is complex: interpretation by a translator of the source text within the source legal system forms its crucial stage as the translator is able to convey to another language only such information that he or she finds in the source legal text, which would depend upon the translator’s proficiency and competence in both the source dual semiotic system and the target dual semiotic system.

The process is even more complex if there are conceptually different systems of law involved in translation as are continental law on the one hand, and common law on the other. We will try to find relevant ways of transmitting Czech private law into English of common law.