Translating an Assignation, Injonction, or Sommation: What You Need to Know?

⚖️ Understanding the nature of procedural documents

📖 Before delving into translation, it is essential to understand what the terms assignation, injonction, and sommation cover. These three legal instruments, frequently encountered in civil and commercial litigation, each follow their own logic, which determines their equivalent in foreign languages.

📋 The Assignation

In French law, the assignation is a procedural document drafted by a bailiff (huissier de justice) and intended to inform a party (the defendant) that they are being sued before a court. It contains mandatory information (court seized, facts, grounds, supporting documents, etc.) provided for by the Code de procédure civile.

In common law systems, the equivalent varies: we most often speak of summons, writ of summons, or complaint depending on the context and jurisdiction. The translation difficulty lies in the fact that these terms do not have exactly the same scope: for example, a complaint in the United States already contains the statement of grievances, while the French assignation distinguishes between the introductory act and the conclusions.

⚖️ The Injonction

An injonction is a court decision that orders a natural or legal person to perform an act or, conversely, to refrain from doing so. It can take several forms: injonction de faire, injonction de ne pas faire, or injonction de payer.

In common law countries, the injunction is a particularly broad instrument, allowing the judge to impose provisional or definitive measures. We notably distinguish:

• the mandatory injunction (obligation to act);
• the prohibitory injunction (prohibition to act);
• the temporary restraining order (emergency measure).

⚠️ The difficulty for the translator is that the French "injonction de payer" (rapid procedure provided for by the Code de procédure civile) does not correspond to the English or American injunction, which is much more general. A literal translation can therefore be misleading and should be avoided.

📝 The Sommation

The sommation is an extrajudicial act, often served by a huissier, by which one person formally puts another on notice to fulfill an obligation (pay a debt, deliver goods, perform a service). It often precedes legal proceedings, but does not emanate directly from a court.

In English, the most relevant equivalents are formal notice, letter of demand, or demand letter. Using summons would be an error, as this term rather refers to an assignation in Anglo-Saxon vocabulary.

💡 The sommation perfectly illustrates the importance of legal context: the same word can designate very different realities from one country to another, and only a functional analysis allows choosing the right equivalent.

📖 The challenges of translating these documents

📋 Translating an assignation, injonction, or sommation is never reduced to a simple linguistic exercise. These documents carry major procedural stakes: an approximate translation can distort the understanding of the text, or even lead to the irregularity or nullity of the procedure.

⚖️ A highly codified language

These documents include mandatory mentions provided for by law (identity of parties, competent court, deadlines, subject of the request, etc.). Any omission or mistranslation can alter the legal scope of the document. The translator must therefore respect the form imposed by the procedure, taking care to preserve the original structure.

🔍 Legal false friends

Certain terms are misleading and cannot be translated literally:

• Injunction in English ≠ French "injonction de payer";
• Summons in English ≠ French "sommation", but rather assignation;
• Notice ≠ assignation but notification or warning.

⚠️ The risk is giving the foreign recipient an erroneous interpretation of their rights or obligations, which could compromise the validity of the procedure.

🌍 Variations according to legal systems

The difficulty also lies in the fact that equivalents do not always have the same function:

• A French assignation (assignation en justice) does not exactly equate to an American complaint, which already includes the statement of grievances.
• The injunction in common law covers a much broader spectrum than the injonctions provided for in civil law.
• The French sommation, an extrajudicial act, corresponds more to a formal notice than to a summons.

📝 Consequences for practice

An imprecise translation can:

• create confusion for the recipient party (e.g., believing it is a judgment when it is only a mise en demeure);
• delay the procedure by contesting the validity of the act;
• compromise the responsibility of the translator or lawyer who produced the translation.

💡 These difficulties explain why translating these documents requires both mastery of procedural terminology and detailed knowledge of comparative legal systems.

🔍 Legal and procedural constraints

📖 Translating an assignation, injonction, or sommation is not merely a linguistic exercise. These documents are subject to strict procedural rules, which condition their validity.

⚖️ The necessity of certified translations

In most jurisdictions, procedural documents intended to be produced before a foreign court must be accompanied by a certified (or sworn) translation. This requirement aims to guarantee that the foreign judge can rely on a text whose accuracy is officially recognized.

💡 Example: A French assignation served in the United States as part of a commercial dispute must be translated by a certified translator recognized by American authorities, otherwise the procedure could be contested.

🌍 The international framework: The Hague Convention (1965)

The Hague Convention of November 15, 1965, on the service and notification of judicial documents abroad establishes common rules. It provides that:

• a document intended to be served in another State party must be translated into the official language of that State;
• the central authority of the requested State may refuse service if the document is not accompanied by its certified translation.

🔍 Concretely, this means that any approximate or uncertified translation can block international procedure.

📝 Specific national requirements

Beyond conventions, each country has its own rules:

• In France, the Code de procédure civile imposes precise mentions in the assignation, whose translation must be faithful and complete.
• In England and Wales, the Civil Procedure Rules (CPR) regulate the service of foreign documents, often requiring compliant translation.
• In the United States, rules vary by state, but certified translation is generally required for documents served on foreign defendants.

🎯 The strategic role of the translator

In this context, the legal translator plays an essential role:

• guarantee that the translated text respects the enforceability of the document;
• preserve procedural security by ensuring compliance with international and national requirements;
• avoid any risk of nullity, which could delay or cause the procedure to fail.

⚠️ A translation error is not limited to semantic approximation: it can have direct consequences on the outcome of a trial.

📊 In practice – The Hague Convention (1965)

📖 The Hague Convention of November 15, 1965, on the service and notification of judicial documents abroad constitutes the main international instrument in this matter.

⚖️ Key points to remember:

• 🌍 It applies between more than 70 State parties, including France, Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom, Switzerland, and Germany.
• 📝 Documents transmitted must be accompanied by a certified translation in the official language of the requested State.
• ⚠️ The central authority of the destination State may refuse service if the translation is absent or deemed inadequate.
• 📋 The regularity of the translation therefore directly conditions the admissibility of the document before foreign courts.

💡 Concrete example: A French company that serves an assignation on an American company must transmit the document translated into certified English. Without this, the American authority may refuse notification, delaying the procedure by several months.

💡 Best practices for translating procedural documents

📖 Translating an assignation, injonction, or sommation requires strict methodology. These documents are not simple information documents: they engage the parties in legal proceedings and must be legally irreproachable.

⚖️ 1. Favor functional equivalence

A term must be translated by its procedural equivalent, not by a calque.

• Example: translating "sommation" by summons would be misleading, as the latter term refers to assignation. The right choice is formal notice or demand letter.

📝 2. Respect established formulas

Procedural documents include mentions imposed by law.

• Example: "À peine de nullité, le défendeur est tenu de comparaître dans un délai de..." must be rendered by an equivalent legal formula in English, without approximate paraphrasing.

🔍 3. Use official and institutional terminologies

The translator must rely on recognized sources:

• legal texts (Code de procédure civile, Civil Procedure Rules);
• international treaties (Hague Convention);
• official terminological guides (Canada's Terminology Bank, UN or EU glossaries).

⚠️ 4. Anticipate the procedural use of the document

An assignation translated to be produced before a foreign court must meet the admissibility requirements of the country concerned.

• Example: In the United States, a complaint must contain the statement of grievances, which is not always the case in a French assignation. The translation must be adapted to avoid inadmissibility.

🎯 5. Collaborate with legal practitioners

The translation of these documents should ideally be validated by a lawyer or jurist specialized in the destination system. This collaboration guarantees that the translation is not only linguistically correct, but also legally operative.

💡 In summary: A reliable translation of a procedural document rests on a balance between linguistic fidelity and functional equivalence. The translator thus becomes a full actor in procedural security.

📋 Practical examples

📖 Concrete cases illustrate the difficulties encountered by translators when they must render a procedural document intelligible and legally valid in another legal system.

⚖️ Example 1 – Translating a French assignation to the United States

A French company serves an assignation on an American company before the tribunal de commerce de Paris. The assignation must be served in the United States under the Hague Convention (1965).

• In French: assignation en justice with mandatory mentions provided for by the Code de procédure civile.
• In English (US): the translator must choose between writ of summons and complaint. However, a complaint generally includes detailed grievances, which is not always the case in the French assignation.

💡 Solution: favor writ of summons, accompanied by an explanatory note, to avoid any procedural confusion.

🔍 Example 2 – Translating an English injunction before a French court

A British company obtains from the High Court an injunction order prohibiting a business partner from disclosing confidential information. The document must be produced in parallel proceedings in France.

• In English: injunction order, binding provisional measure.
• In French: translating by "ordonnance d'injonction" would risk being understood as an "injonction de payer," a specific and different procedure.

💡 Solution: use "ordonnance de référé interdisant..." or "mesure provisoire d'interdiction," formulations close to the French system.

📝 Example 3 – Translating a huissier's sommation to English

A French creditor has a sommation de payer served on their debtor before initiating legal proceedings.

• In French: sommation de payer established by huissier.
• In English: the literal translation summons would be misleading, as this term designates an assignation.

💡 Solution: use formal notice or demand letter, expressions recognized in practice, while specifying that it is an extrajudicial act.

⚠️ These examples show that legal translation is not a simple vocabulary transfer. It involves analyzing the procedural context, choosing a functional equivalent, and sometimes adding an explanatory note to avoid any legal insecurity.

❓ FAQ – Translation of assignation, injonction, and sommation

1. Must an assignation always be translated by a certified translator?

⚖️ Yes, in most cases where the assignation is intended to be produced before a foreign court, a certified (sworn) translation is required. This guarantees that the document is legally admissible and enforceable before the court seized.

2. What's the difference between summons and assignation?

📖 In French law, the assignation is a huissier's act that introduces the instance. In common law, the summons may have a similar scope, but its modalities vary by country. In the United States, the introductory act is often the complaint, which already includes detailed grievances.

3. How to translate an English injunction into French law?

🔍 The injunction in common law is a judicial measure that can order action or abstention. It does not correspond to the French "injonction de payer." The translation must be adapted to context, for example "ordonnance de référé interdisant..." or "mesure provisoire d'interdiction."

4. What are the risks of a poor translation of procedural documents?

⚠️ An imprecise translation can lead to:

• misunderstanding of rights and obligations by the recipient party;
• refusal of service by the foreign authority (Hague Convention);
• or even nullity of the procedure, with significant financial consequences.

5. Do international conventions impose a specific format for these translations?

📝 The Hague Convention (1965) requires that documents served abroad be accompanied by translation in the language of the requested State. Some countries additionally require that this translation be certified by a locally recognized certified translator.

🎯 Conclusion

📖 Translating an assignation, injonction, or sommation is not merely a language exercise. These procedural documents carry major legal stakes: a poor translation can alter their scope, mislead the recipient party, or even lead to the nullity of the procedure.

⚖️ The examples studied show that difficulties lie as much in terminology (legal false friends, untranslatable concepts) as in procedural context (mandatory mentions, deadlines, formal requirements). The French assignation, common law injunction, and huissier's sommation have no exact correspondents, which obliges the translator to reason in terms of functional equivalence rather than simple linguistic transposition.

💡 In practice, translating these documents requires:

• mastery of comparative law,
• recourse to official terminologies,
• and, most often, certified translation to guarantee admissibility before foreign courts.

Ultimately, translating these documents amounts to exercising a role as procedural mediator: it involves enabling parties from different legal systems to understand and exercise their rights in a secure framework. In a context where transnational disputes are multiplying, this mission is more strategic than ever.