German to English legal translation. Making Swiss law intelligible
A due diligence run from London. A report for a US parent company. English has no authoritative Swiss legal terminology, so the translation explains without inventing law that does not exist.
Request a demoEach term, in the official text
Highlight a German word: CHnell shows the English translation published by the Confederation, with its source.
powered by Neur.onDas Kapital entspricht bei der Aktiengesellschaft und der Kommandit-Aktiengesellschaft dem Aktien- und Partizipationskapital, bei der Gesellschaft mit beschränkter Haftung dem Stammkapital.
In the case of a company limited by shares and a partnership limited by shares, the capital is the share and participation capital, and in the case of a limited liability company it is the issued capital.
SR-951.311 KKV-OPCC-OICol-CISO - Source: fedlex.admin.ch - Data Set: Neur.onDie Aktiengesellschaft ist eine Kapitalgesellschaft, an der eine oder mehrere Personen oder Handelsgesellschaften beteiligt sind.
The company limited by shares is a company in which one or more persons or commercial enterprises participate.
SR-220 OR-CO-CO-CO - Source: fedlex.admin.ch - Data Set: Neur.onDie Gesellschaft wird errichtet, indem die Gründer in öffentlicher Urkunde erklären, eine Aktiengesellschaft zu gründen, darin die Statuten festlegen und die Organe bestellen.
The company is founded when the founder members declare by public deed that they are forming a company limited by shares, lay down the articles of association therein and appoint the governing bodies.
SR-220 OR-CO-CO-CO - Source: fedlex.admin.ch - Data Set: Neur.onThe official equivalents, in all four languages
The German, French and Italian columns come from the official versions; the English column follows the translations the Confederation publishes for information only.
| German | French | Italian | English | Reference |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bankgeheimnis | secret bancaire | segreto bancario | banking secrecy | art. 47 LB |
| Geldwäscherei | blanchiment d'argent | riciclaggio di denaro | money laundering | art. 305bis CP |
| Verwaltungsrat | conseil d'administration | consiglio d'amministrazione | board of directors | art. 707 CO |
| Revisionsstelle | organe de révision | ufficio di revisione | external auditor | art. 727 CO |
| Aktiengesellschaft | société anonyme | società anonima | company limited by shares | art. 620 CO |
| Konkurs | faillite | fallimento | bankruptcy | art. 197 LP |
Equivalents taken from official Swiss texts, published in German, French and Italian. In Corrext, each term opens in context in Fast lookup CHnell, with its source.
This language pair in practice
English is not an official language of the Swiss Confederation. Federal acts are authoritative in German, French and Italian; their English versions are translations published for information only, with no legal force. An English document therefore helps you understand and decide. It can never be the basis for an interpretation before a Swiss authority.
No authoritative version
English translations of federal acts are provided for information only and have no legal force. The reference text remains the German, French or Italian version. This caveat appears on the English translations published by the Confederation.
What gets converted
AGcompany limited by shares
Companies
In the Confederation's texts, Aktiengesellschaft is rendered as company limited by shares, not corporation. The abbreviation AG stays in the company name, which is never translated. A company name entered in the commercial register keeps its registered form.
Betreibung
Concepts without an equivalent
Betreibung is not debt collection in the common law sense, and a Verfügung is not a common law decision. The accepted approach is to keep the Swiss term and explain it once.
trust
The reverse trap
Consideration, trust, estoppel, discovery: these concepts have no counterpart in Swiss law. Using them to render a Swiss concept creates a mistranslation that the reader does not notice.
Art. 104 OR
Legal references
An article citation is left as it stands: Art. 104 OR or Art. 104 CO, followed by the full title of the Act. Inventing an English abbreviation makes the source impossible for the recipient to find.
What Corrext guarantees for this pair
Finance and compliance
Reports for the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FINMA), prospectuses and compliance documents circulate in English. Swiss financial terminology is available in CHnell, which covers 30 domains drawn from official sources.
Due diligence volumes
Text and document translation accepts up to 25 files of 50 MB per upload, and the PDF to Word tab turns a scan into an editable document. That matters when a large share of the documents arrives scanned.
Confidentiality
English is one of the four languages of Highly sensitive content mode: storage and processing in Switzerland only, with no reuse of the content as translation memory.
Three case files that go through English
M&A
A data room for a foreign buyer
Articles of association, contracts and commercial register extracts go out in batches and come back in their original format. Swiss concepts keep their original term, explained once, which saves the buyer's team rounds of questions.
Banks
A compliance report for head office
Supervisory and banking secrecy vocabulary must stay stable from one quarter to the next. Highly sensitive content mode keeps all processing in Switzerland while the report circulates.
Arbitration
German-language exhibits in English
The arbitral tribunal reads in English but decides under Swiss law. The alternatives offered by several engines show competing wordings, and counsel chooses the one they are prepared to defend before the tribunal.
Frequently asked questions about German to English translation
Does an English translation of a Swiss act have legal force?
No. English is not an official language of the Swiss Confederation. Federal acts are authoritative in German, French and Italian; the English versions are published for information only and cannot be relied on before a Swiss authority. For a binding citation, quote the German, French or Italian version, with its translation where needed.
Should Swiss terms be translated or kept?
Both, in that order. The Swiss term is kept, explained at its first occurrence, then reused as it is. That is the only way to render Betreibung or Verfügung without turning them into common law concepts that do not cover the same ground.
How should company names and abbreviations be handled?
They are not translated. A company entered in the commercial register as an AG or GmbH keeps that form throughout the document. Only the legal form may be explained once, for example company limited by shares for Aktiengesellschaft.
Are English translations less accurate than those in other pairs?
English is one of the four native languages of LexMachina, which is trained on Swiss legal and financial texts. What changes is not the quality of the language but the status of the text produced: it is for information only, because Swiss law is not written in English.
Can the document stay in Switzerland when the recipient is abroad?
Yes. Where processing takes place depends on the engine chosen, not on the recipient. With LexMachina or in Highly sensitive content mode, storage and processing stay in Switzerland only. You then send the translated file through your own channels.