characterised

English translation: manifested, presented, shown

GLOSSARY ENTRY (DERIVED FROM QUESTION BELOW)
English term or phrase:characterised
Selected answer:manifested, presented, shown
Entered by: Yvonne Gallagher

09:38 Jan 5, 2019
English language (monolingual) [PRO]
Law/Patents - Law: Contract(s)
English term or phrase: characterised
I am not sure of the meaning of 'characterised' in the following sentence. Any help would be appreciated.

"No Party shall be liable to any other Party without limitation for any incidental, consequential, special, direct or indirect damages, or for loss of use, lost profits, attorneys’ fees or loss of market share, however these are characterised".
Muhammad Atallah
Egypt
Local time: 20:19
manifested, presented, shown
Explanation:
Legal documents are usually drawn up using terms that give rise to the least ambiguity

"Characterised" here doesn't just mean described and specified as that would mean the list of items so specified would be limited by those definitions.
It's actually saying these items are NOT to be closely defined by using "however these are characterised".

Here, the document is making clear that the parties will have no liability whatsoever for any of the following items:
"incidental,... market share",
irrespective of the form any of these may take (be manifested) or howsoever these may be presented or shown

Hence, "no limitation" at all regarding lack of liability for any of these.


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Note added at 2 days 1 hr (2019-01-07 11:30:25 GMT) Post-grading
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Glad to have helped. Happy New Year!

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Note added at 2 days 1 hr (2019-01-07 11:32:51 GMT) Post-grading
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and more simply, as in my response to Martin's
"in whatever form these may appear"

...and none of the parties may present any of these in other ways/guises or under other names
Selected response from:

Yvonne Gallagher
Ireland
Local time: 18:19
Grading comment
Thank you!
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer



SUMMARY OF ALL EXPLANATIONS PROVIDED
4 +3manifested, presented, shown
Yvonne Gallagher
5To impaint, to describe
M. Irshad (Master of Science)
3 +1Specified
Sina Salehi
4categorise or represent
Charlotte Fleming
5 -1defined
David Hollywood
5 -1qualified (by someone, the other party or their lawyers)
Daryo
4characterised
Marie McCloud
5 -1To be a distinctive trait or mark of; distinguish
Gökhan Akçeşme


Discussion entries: 12





  

Answers


47 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 5/5
To impaint, to describe


Explanation:
To describe something by stating its main qualities.
For example: In her essay, she characterizes the whole era as a period of radical change


    Reference: http://dictionary.cambridge.org/it/dizionario/inglese/charac...
M. Irshad (Master of Science)
Germany
Local time: 19:19
Native speaker of: Native in UrduUrdu, Native in Pashto (Pushto)Pashto (Pushto)

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
neutral  B D Finch: The verb "to impaint" fell out of use about 300 years ago!
56 mins
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52 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5 peer agreement (net): +1
Specified


Explanation:
-

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 55 mins (2019-01-05 10:33:45 GMT)
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To describe distinctive features of..... : to specify
https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/characterize

Sina Salehi
Germany
Local time: 19:19
Native speaker of: Native in Persian (Farsi)Persian (Farsi)

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Jack Doughty
1 hr
  -> Thanks Jack!
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1 hr   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5
categorise or represent


Explanation:
There are many synonyms for "characterize"; legal documents seldom use the simplest term available!

Charlotte Fleming
United Kingdom
Local time: 18:19
Native speaker of: English
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7 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 5/5 peer agreement (net): -1
defined


Explanation:
that's the meaning

David Hollywood
Local time: 15:19
Native speaker of: English
PRO pts in category: 43

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
disagree  B D Finch: No, it isn't the meaning.
1 day 16 hrs
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11 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 5/5 peer agreement (net): -1
qualified (by someone, the other party or their lawyers)


Explanation:
i.e. whatever "quality" is attributed to them by someone.

an active intent to "rename it /make look it as something else" is implied - it's not going to just happen out of nowhere that for example "losses" are going to look as something else by pure accident.

or: whatever label someone decides to stick to them (= "however these are characterised") what will count will be what they substantially are.

IOW you can try to call "losses" (for example) whatever you want - try to "characterise" them as something else, they will still be losses and as such there will be no liability from the other party.

Here THE KEY POINT is if that someone (the other party, as they would be the only one having an interest to do so) tries to "re-qualify" any incidental, consequential, special, direct or indirect damages, or for loss of use, lost profits, attorneys’ fees or loss of market share as something else outside of this list in order to make the other party liable, that will not wash.

It's not that the elements of this list could happen to "present themselves" as something else, it will be someone (who has an interest in doing so) who will try to "re-quality" them as something else.

Daryo
United Kingdom
Local time: 18:19
Specializes in field
Native speaker of: Native in SerbianSerbian, Native in FrenchFrench
PRO pts in category: 16

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
neutral  B D Finch: That's only part of the meaning.//You are making an unsupported assumption about the meaning being limited to 'an active intent to "rename it /make look it as something else" is implied'. The translation should not limit the text's meaning.
1 day 12 hrs
  -> the relevant part for this ST - it's about what label other parties are trying to stick on some facts.

disagree  Yvonne Gallagher: 100%? NO. "whatever "quality" is attributed to them by someone" is incoherent and "qualified" is ambiguous. And "label other parties are trying to stick on some facts" is overtranslation as it's something that MAY happen in future, NOT happening now
1 day 14 hrs
  -> if you see no difference between "this thing shows itself as coloured green" and "someone is trying to present this thing as being coloured green (while deliberately ignoring that it's read or blue)" then yes, it certainly does look incoherent ...
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15 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5
characterised


Explanation:

The author begins by saying that the parties agree not to hold each other liable for all the items listed (e.g., damages, lost profits, etc.).

However, the author believes it's possible the items listed might be described by other names or referred to by other terms in some circumstances. So to protect himself, he says that even if the items listed are described by different names or called by other terms, both parties still agree not to hold each other liable for them.

He says it does not matter how the items are characterized (described, referred to, called) - the parties are still agreeing not hold each other liable for them.

Example: One thing was clear: Tom intentionally took my money without my permission. However, Tom characterized it (described it) differently, calling it a "mistake."

Marie McCloud
United States
Local time: 14:19
Native speaker of: English
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1 day 6 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 5/5 peer agreement (net): -1
To be a distinctive trait or mark of; distinguish


Explanation:
the sentence list the preconditions that under which no party will br liable to other part and in the folowing, saying characterized it says this precondiitions are distinguished to clarify it.


Example sentence(s):
  • The rash and high fever that characterize this disease; a region that is characterized by its dikes and canals.

    Reference: http://https://www.thefreedictionary.com/characterized
Gökhan Akçeşme
Türkiye
Local time: 21:19
Native speaker of: Native in TurkishTurkish

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
disagree  B D Finch: Incoherent, ungrammatical explanation. Nothing to do with "preconditions"
17 hrs
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3 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5 peer agreement (net): +3
manifested, presented, shown


Explanation:
Legal documents are usually drawn up using terms that give rise to the least ambiguity

"Characterised" here doesn't just mean described and specified as that would mean the list of items so specified would be limited by those definitions.
It's actually saying these items are NOT to be closely defined by using "however these are characterised".

Here, the document is making clear that the parties will have no liability whatsoever for any of the following items:
"incidental,... market share",
irrespective of the form any of these may take (be manifested) or howsoever these may be presented or shown

Hence, "no limitation" at all regarding lack of liability for any of these.


--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 2 days 1 hr (2019-01-07 11:30:25 GMT) Post-grading
--------------------------------------------------

Glad to have helped. Happy New Year!

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 2 days 1 hr (2019-01-07 11:32:51 GMT) Post-grading
--------------------------------------------------

and more simply, as in my response to Martin's
"in whatever form these may appear"

...and none of the parties may present any of these in other ways/guises or under other names


Yvonne Gallagher
Ireland
Local time: 18:19
Works in field
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish
PRO pts in category: 58
Grading comment
Thank you!

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  philgoddard
1 hr
  -> Many thanks:-) (And Happy New Year!)

agree  Martin Riordan: "in whatever form these may appear" is how I read it.
19 hrs
  -> Many thanks:-) Yes, and none of the parties may present any of these in other ways/guises or under other names (Happy New Year!)

neutral  Daryo: I can't find in your explanation *the key element*: this "different appearance" is not some neutral event, it's because someone is deliberately trying to put a different gloss over it. Passive form *may leave vague* who or what is the agent.
1 day 1 hr
  -> Yes, you are "missing something", English comprehension and knowledge of the Passive voice. No reflexive verbs here and it's certainly not "some neutral event". Also it's something that MAY happen, NOT "IS (happening)" .

agree  B D Finch: Good explanation that covers both inherent character (manifestation) and characterisation by a person.
1 day 20 hrs
  -> Indeed! Many thanks:-) (And Happy New Year!)
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