"divorce before the AM"

French translation: divorce devant le AM

15:01 Nov 26, 2019
English to French translations [PRO]
Law/Patents - Law (general) / law
English term or phrase: "divorce before the AM"
I am translating a divorce document from English to french and I came across this sentence "On the issue of divorce before the AM guided by the provisions of Section 66 (2) of the Marriage Act which provides grounds of divorce as follows"

Type of document: divorce case document
Country : Kenya
Target audience: French
Specific context : divorce case
Reference: I have search on proZ.com without success
Lucile Dossou-Yovo
Kenya
French translation:divorce devant le AM
Explanation:
A legal document referring to "divorce before the..." probably means "before the court" or "before the [type of judge]." In other words, "before" here means "devant," not "avant."

The fact that Section 66 of Kenya's Marriage Act is about civil marriages -- i.e. marriages that began with a civil ceremony, not a religious one officiated by an Imam (Muslim marriages are covered by a different divorce law in Kenya) -- makes it even more likely that "before the AM" means "before the court or judge." In Kenya, Muslim divorces are handled by religious authorities; civil divorces are handled in civil courts.

And it so happens that the judges who hear civil divorce cases in Kenya are called magistrates. Section 2 of the Marriage Act defines "court" as "a resident magistrate's court established under Section 3 of the Magistrates' Courts Act," so when the Marriage Act says "court" (as it does in sections dealing with divorce), it means a magistrate's court.

That's what Section 66(2) is referring to: "A party to a marriage... may only petition the court for... the dissolution of the marriage on the following grounds..." That's the section of the Marriage Act that's at issue in the source text here.

So AM is almost certainly an abbreviation for some type of magistrate. However, although many countries have Assistant Magistrates and some have Associate Magistrates, I was not able to find anything indicating that Kenya does. That makes me lean towards leaving the abbreviation as is, and letting the client know that it likely refers to the magistrate or magistrate's court.

Sources:

Kenya Marriage Act (2014) -- this is the version of the Act that covers grounds for civil (non-Muslim) divorce in Section 66. The previous version of Kenya's Marriage Act didn't have a section 66, so this must be the one they're referring to. An attempted link to a full PDF of the Act is below, but if it doesn't work, here are highlights of the Act: http://kenyalaw.org/kenyalawblog/highlights-of-the-marriage-...


Marriage Act link that hopefully works: https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&c...
Selected response from:

Eliza Hall
United States
Local time: 05:05
Grading comment
I found the comments very helpful.I never thought of the "Acting Magistrate" (Magistrat en exercice". The whole document was just badly drafted. Sometimes abbreviations drive me crazy. Wonderful and helpful lessons for me. Thank you Regards. Lucile
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer



Summary of answers provided
3 +3divorce devant le AM
Eliza Hall
Summary of reference entries provided
AM
Pavel Altukhov
*
Françoise Vogel

  

Answers


1 day 3 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5 peer agreement (net): +3
"divorce before the am"
divorce devant le AM


Explanation:
A legal document referring to "divorce before the..." probably means "before the court" or "before the [type of judge]." In other words, "before" here means "devant," not "avant."

The fact that Section 66 of Kenya's Marriage Act is about civil marriages -- i.e. marriages that began with a civil ceremony, not a religious one officiated by an Imam (Muslim marriages are covered by a different divorce law in Kenya) -- makes it even more likely that "before the AM" means "before the court or judge." In Kenya, Muslim divorces are handled by religious authorities; civil divorces are handled in civil courts.

And it so happens that the judges who hear civil divorce cases in Kenya are called magistrates. Section 2 of the Marriage Act defines "court" as "a resident magistrate's court established under Section 3 of the Magistrates' Courts Act," so when the Marriage Act says "court" (as it does in sections dealing with divorce), it means a magistrate's court.

That's what Section 66(2) is referring to: "A party to a marriage... may only petition the court for... the dissolution of the marriage on the following grounds..." That's the section of the Marriage Act that's at issue in the source text here.

So AM is almost certainly an abbreviation for some type of magistrate. However, although many countries have Assistant Magistrates and some have Associate Magistrates, I was not able to find anything indicating that Kenya does. That makes me lean towards leaving the abbreviation as is, and letting the client know that it likely refers to the magistrate or magistrate's court.

Sources:

Kenya Marriage Act (2014) -- this is the version of the Act that covers grounds for civil (non-Muslim) divorce in Section 66. The previous version of Kenya's Marriage Act didn't have a section 66, so this must be the one they're referring to. An attempted link to a full PDF of the Act is below, but if it doesn't work, here are highlights of the Act: http://kenyalaw.org/kenyalawblog/highlights-of-the-marriage-...


Marriage Act link that hopefully works: https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&c...

Eliza Hall
United States
Local time: 05:05
Specializes in field
Native speaker of: English
PRO pts in category: 80
Grading comment
I found the comments very helpful.I never thought of the "Acting Magistrate" (Magistrat en exercice". The whole document was just badly drafted. Sometimes abbreviations drive me crazy. Wonderful and helpful lessons for me. Thank you Regards. Lucile

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
neutral  Françoise Vogel: se pourrait-il que ce soit plutôt "Acting Magistrate" ?
1 hr
  -> Yes, I think you may be right. Google the following and some links come up that support that idea: Kenya "Acting Magistrate"

agree  Germaine: avec l'idée devant [type of judge] et la suggestion de Françoise - mais traduire AM
1 day 13 mins

agree  Cyril Tollari: "magistrat en exercice" au lieu de AM ?
1 day 14 hrs
  -> If we're reasonably sure "Acting Magistrate" is right, then perhaps "devant le AM [magistrat en exercice]."

agree  Ph_B (X): (Je n'avais pas vu cette réponse !) « devant le magistrat par intérim (acting magistrate) » ?
5 days
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Reference comments


2 hrs
Reference: AM

Reference information:
magistrate?

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 2 hrs (2019-11-26 17:15:11 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

Administrative Magistrate

Pavel Altukhov
Specializes in field
Native speaker of: Russian
PRO pts in category: 4

Peer comments on this reference comment (and responses from the reference poster)
neutral  Daryo: unlikely - a divorce would not be an administrative matter, but a civil matter.
4 hrs
neutral  Eliza Hall: Magistrate yes, administrative no. Per the Kenyan Marriage Act (2014) and other sources, it is magistrates who handle non-Muslim divorce cases.
1 day 55 mins
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1 day 5 hrs peer agreement (net): +3
Reference: *

Reference information:
Magistrate | Revolvy
https://www.revolvy.com › page › Magistrate
In Kenya, there are five categories of magistrates, namely: Resident ..... of the Peace and Unofficial magistrate (also known as Acting magistrate) is an judicial ... Not Dating (2014), Divorce Lawyer in Love (2015), Introverted Boss (2017), ...


Kenya Gazette - Apr 7, 1989 - Page 438 - Google Books Result
https://books.google.it › books
Vol. 91, No. 14 - ‎Magazine
THE KENYA GAZETTE ... P.O. Kitui, and whereas the Acting Magistrate of the Court has, in pursuance of an order ...

Françoise Vogel
Native speaker of: Native in FrenchFrench
PRO pts in category: 256

Peer comments on this reference comment (and responses from the reference poster)
agree  Germaine: Tu devrais soumettre une réponse. // Je dirais "juge suppléant"
22 hrs
  -> Reste pour Lucile à traduire à mon avis.
agree  Eliza Hall
1 day 18 hrs
agree  Ph_B (X): (Je n'avais pas vu cette référence !). « magistrat par intérim (acting magistrate) » ?
5 days
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