cedida la palabra

01:33 Jan 30, 2012 

Thanks, Andy -- that is the solution that I think works best in the context of my document.

15:51 Jan 29, 2012 

The order of addressing the court/industrial tribunal is important, and esp. in criminal trials where whoever has the last word can make an impact on the (jury's) verdict.

23:36 Jan 28, 2012 

I find it hard to believe that the parties in this situation would be invited to ""take the floor".

@TranLM - What need is there to translate this literally?

What is lost if you simply say:

The Defendant/Plaintiff (whatever...) declares that....?

Legal formulae (including courtspeak) are by no means standardised (esp. Roman vs. Common).

i.e. No need to slavishly imitate the original.

You appear to be translating the same text into German, also. What's their response?

19:52 Jan 28, 2012 

Verb
have the floor

(idiomatic) To have permission or time to speak, especially in a formal situation.

Of course, this term is not usually used in this setting, but if the chair of this panel uses the term, "cedida la palabra", then the chair is doing just that, i.e. giving permission to speak according to the formalities of the panel/court of the country in question.

19:47 Jan 28, 2012 

Perhaps I was a bit quick off the mark. While floor is used in this court-based example, http://www.euro-justice.com/member_states/greece/country_rep... I imagine this is a translation and I can't find many other convincing uses of floor in this context.

18:32 Jan 28, 2012 

"Floor" se utiliza en una reunión (de un comité, p.ej).

El escenario más probable aquí, dado el contexto) es un tribunal/sala de lo civil/arbitraje.....