| Change log entry 49774 | |
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| Processed by: | richwarm (2013-08-19 11:08:54 GMT) |
| Comment: |
<< review queue entry 48260 >> (Second resubmission, see queue entries 47994 and 48245.) Don't worry, this will be my last resubmission for this word. :) I can't access the Encarta dictionary, but some other dictionaries have information for the legal meaning of the word "shall": Macmillian Dictionary: http://www.macmillandictionary.com/dictionary/american/shall 3 LEGAL used in instructions and legal documents for saying that something must be done The Court shall have authority to demand the presence of witnesses. Longman: http://www.ldoceonline.com/dictionary/shall 4 formal used in official documents to state an order, law, promise etc: All payments shall be made in cash. Merriam-Webster: http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/shall 2 b —used in laws, regulations, or directives to express what is mandatory <it shall be unlawful to carry firearms> And the legal use of "shall" to state a requirement is most obvious in the penal provisions of the Employment Services Act: Article 63 Anyone who violates Article 44, or Subparagraph 1 or 2 of Article 57 shall be fined therefore an amount of at least NT$ 150,000 and at most NT$ 750,000; anyone with a recurrent violation of the same provision above-mentioned within five years shall be imprisoned for a term of at most three years, or detained for hard labor, and/or penalized for an amount of at most NT$ 1,200,000. Where the representative of a legal person or the agent, employee or other staff member of a legal or natural person engages in that capacity in business operations which violate the provisions of Article 44 or Subparagraph 1 or 2 of Article 57, not only the offender himself shall be punished in accordance with paragraph 1 of this article, but the legal or natural person concerned shall also be levied therefore the fines or pecuniary penalties as referred to in the same paragraph of the same article. Here is what Wikipedia has to say about the matter: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shall_and_will#Legal_use Legislative acts and contracts sometimes use "shall" and "shall not" to express mandatory action and prohibition. However, it is sometimes used to mean "may" or "can". The most famous example of both of these uses of the word "shall" is the United States Constitution. Claims that "shall" is used to denote a fact, or is not used with the above different meanings, have caused discussions and have significant consequences for interpreting the text's intended meaning.[8] It's certainly not the best word that could be used to express a legal obligation, and it does lead to confusion, but laws do make use of this sense of the word "shall". I've dropped the non-legal "must" sense from my submission. ============================= Editor: OK, fair enough. It's like "shalt" in "Thou shalt not kill". Actually, "must" is really very like "should", except that with "must" there are more serious consequences to failing to do whatever is supposed to be done. It's all on a continuum really, I think. If you look at a word like 應當, some sources (including CEDICT) say "should; ought to" while others include "must" in the definition. By the way, I get Encarta Dictionary and other resources by Alt-clicking a word in MS-Word. It makes the "Research" pane pop up on the right. I looked again and found that Encarta *does* include the following sense: "3. rules and laws indicating that something must happen or somebody is obliged to do something because of a rule or law • The department shall issue an account number to the vehicle owner." |
| Diff: |
- 應 应 [ying1] /to agree (to do sth)/should/ought to/ # + 應 应 [ying1] /to agree (to do sth)/should/ought to/(legal) shall/ + 應 应 [ying1] /to agree (to do sth)/should/ought to/must/(legal) shall/ |