Glossary entry

English term or phrase:

purposeful availment

French translation:

décision délibérée/choix délibéré

Added to glossary by Ph_B (X)
Jan 23, 2019 23:24
5 yrs ago
6 viewers *
English term

purposeful availment

English to French Law/Patents Law (general) Droit
In cases involving international defendants, a variety of bases have been deemed appropriate for a U.S. court to assert personal jurisdiction, including nationality, domicile, “purposeful availment,” and a number of federal statutes.
Change log

Mar 3, 2019 14:37: Ph_B (X) Created KOG entry

Discussion

Eliza Hall Jan 31, 2019:
PS sorry wrong link I accidentally provided the same link twice in my answer and a discussion post. This is the link for the longer explanation of jurisdiction:

http://www.kentlaw.edu/cyberlaw/docs/rfc/usview.html
Eliza Hall Jan 31, 2019:
@ BD Finch You asked, "How can anything 'purposeful' exist "by accident"?"

Answer: because legalese is legalese. If you drive your car in State X, even if you don't realize you're in State X (for instance, because you got lost and don't have GPS), and you cause an accident, you can get sued in State X. The rationale, in legalese, is that you "purposefully availed" yourself of the laws of State X by driving there. No court is going to say, "Oh, you can't be sued here because you didn't realize you were here at the time."

Legal rules have to work in the real world. If we said accidentally driving into State X wasn't "purposeful availment," that would give drivers a huge incentive to lie ("Oh, I had no idea I was in state X, I drove there completely by accident"). So rather than creating a loophole based on something that cannot be proven, we just say, if you were intentionally driving, then we don't care whether you knew where you were -- that counts as purposeful availment.
Eliza Hall Jan 28, 2019:
Definition of purposeful availment Here's a definition: https://www.quimbee.com/keyterms/purposeful-availment

And here's a much longer explanation of US jurisdiction, including explanations of purposeful availment:

"It is always necessary that there be an act 'by which the defendant purposefully avails itself of the privilege of conducting activities within the forum State, thus invoking the benefits and protections of its laws.' Such an act may be a single occurrence, such as driving a car through the territory of the state; it may be the continuous presence of the defendant in the state as a citizen or domiciliary; it may be (and frequently is) something in between. But any time a defendant is by choice physically present in a state, she has benefitted from its legal protections; Hanson is satisfied, a prerequisite of the assertion of jurisdiction though not sufficient to sustain it." https://www.quimbee.com/keyterms/purposeful-availment

Proposed translations

13 hrs
Selected

décision délibérée/choix délibéré


décision délibérée/choix délibéré de soumission à la législation du pays d'activité

« L'un des critères fréquemment employé pour déterminer la compétence d'un tribunal particulier aux États-Unis est celui du «purposeful availment»... Ce critère permet au tribunal de déterminer si le défendeur a délibérément décidé d'exercer des activités dans le territoire en question et ainsi peut se prévaloir des avantages de la loi locale. »
https://www.ulcc.ca/fr/lois-uniformes-nouvelle-structure/loi...

« …par son activité dans le for, le défendeur s'est délibérément soumis à la législation étatique. Note 214 : "When the defendant "purposefully avails itself of the privilege of conducting activities within the forum State, thus invoking the benefits and protection ofits laws"...
...une activité dirigée vers le ressort du tribunal est nécessaire (an act purposefully directed toward the forum state).
The nature and quality of the defendant's activity must be such that "the defendant purposefully avails itself of the privilege of conducting activities within the forum state, thus invoking the benefits and protections of its laws". »
https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/55645445.pdf

Pour évaluer la nature des contacts du défenseur et afin de déterminer s’il a une compétence spécifique, le juge effectue un test composé de trois facteurs. Premièrement, le facteur du purposeful availment exige que le défenseur ait accompli des actes commerciaux dans l’Etat du forr. Ces actes commerciaux ne peuvent être simplement fortuits, occasionnels ou unilatéraux.
https://sites.uclouvain.be/cridho/documents/Working.Papers/C...

On parle aussi de « focalisation » :

« La méthode de la « focalisation», largement utilisée aux États-Unis pour résoudre les conflits de lois et de juridictions liés au commerce électronique, est donc transposée en droit communautaire pour les litiges avec les consommateurs… En France, on doit cette notion à Olivier Cachard qui en élabore une véritable théorie générale dans
sa thèse. Nous nous empressons de signaler que cet auteur justifie le recours à cette méthode uniquement en matière délictuelle. Pour lui, la seule accessibilité d'un site internet, si elle est relayée par la conclusion
d'un contrat, suffit à considérer que l'opérateur a dirigé son activité vers l'État du consommateur. »
https://archipel.uqam.ca/4701/1/M12219.pdf

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Note added at 13 hrs (2019-01-24 13:19:23 GMT)
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Ma dernière ligne a sauté pendant le copier-coller : « Pas certain que ce terme de focalisation soit très lisible… »

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Note added at 15 hrs (2019-01-24 14:40:55 GMT)
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« soumission », ça fait très Houellebecq ; préférer « se soumettre » : « décision/choix… de se soumettre à... ». Ça se lit mieux.
Peer comment(s):

neutral Eliza Hall : You have the concept right, but to my ear, "délibéré" sounds a lot more deliberate or thoughtful or thought out than "purposeful availment" actually means.
4 days
Cf. les sources citées : « délibérément décidé/délibérément soumis/[pas] simplement fortuits, occasionnels ou unilatéraux/activité dirigée vers »
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1 KudoZ points awarded for this answer.
-1
40 mins

Profit/avantage à des fins précises

Not sure about this but it sounds like that's the meaning!
Peer comment(s):

neutral Tony M : I don't think 'profit / avantage' is really appropriate when talking about availing oneself of this or that jurisdiction.
10 hrs
disagree Eliza Hall : Tony M is right, and there's no sense in this proposed translation of WHAT the person was availing themselves of. Also, it's not so narrow as "fins précises."
4 days
Something went wrong...
12 hrs

recours délibéré

https://www.persee.fr/doc/ridc_0035-3337_1994_num_46_2_4877
de R Legeais - ‎1994
A. La multiplication des indices d'un recours délibéré au droit comparé

Peer comment(s):

neutral Eliza Hall : Délibéré is too strong here. "Purposeful availment" can exist with just the slightest intention, and even by accident (see the example in my answer).
4 days
How can anything "purposeful" exist "by accident"? "Having or showing determination or resolve." https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/purposeful
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5 days

recours volontaire

What counts as "purposeful availment" in US law is much less than a thoughtful, specifically intended act. You can "purposely avail" yourself of State X's laws by doing nothing more than driving your car into State X.

Here's an example. If you live in Ohio and want to drive to Chicago, which is in Illinois, you have to drive across Indiana -- and in doing so, you "purposely avail" yourself of Indiana law; as a result, if you happen to get into a car accident while crossing Indiana, Indiana courts have jurisdiction over you if the other driver sues you.

Similarly, if you send a cease-and-desist letter to someone in Indiana, making them reasonably fear that you're going to sue them for something, just sending the letter into Indiana by mail or email may constitute "purposeful availment" sufficient to allow the recipient to sue you in Indiana court (if they happen to have a legal claim against you).

So "volontaire" works much better than "délibéré," because it's really not a thoughtful or deliberate act at all. It can even be accidental (for instance, if you're driving in Ohio, take a wrong turn and end up in Indiana).

Here's a definition: https://www.quimbee.com/keyterms/purposeful-availment

And here's a much longer explanation of US jurisdiction, including explanations of purposeful availment:

"It is always necessary that there be an act 'by which the defendant purposefully avails itself of the privilege of conducting activities within the forum State, thus invoking the benefits and protections of its laws.' Such an act may be a single occurrence, such as driving a car through the territory of the state; it may be the continuous presence of the defendant in the state as a citizen or domiciliary; it may be (and frequently is) something in between. But any time a defendant is by choice physically present in a state, she has benefitted from its legal protections; Hanson is satisfied, a prerequisite of the assertion of jurisdiction though not sufficient to sustain it." https://www.quimbee.com/keyterms/purposeful-availment

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Note added at 7 days (2019-01-31 20:03:56 GMT)
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PS: Here's the correct link for the one-paragraph quote above: http://www.kentlaw.edu/cyberlaw/docs/rfc/usview.html

Please note the difference between INTENTIONAL or VOLUNTARY, and KNOWING. You don't have to know where you are in order to be intentionally driving there.

If you get lost and continue driving without knowing for sure where you are, any consequences of that decision (to voluntarily drive while lost) are on you. The consequences will not be placed on some innocent person whose car you crash into. If you intentionally keep driving, and you happen to cross a state line and cause an accident in the next state, you can be sued in that state.
Peer comment(s):

neutral Ph_B (X) : Selon vous : can even be accidental et donc vous utiliseriez « volontaire » pour traduire accidental? Plutôt… « involontaire » alors !) + cf. citations dans ma réponse : « [pas] simplement fortuits, occasionnels ou unilatéraux »
11 mins
The voluntary act doesn't have to be purposeful or knowing. Driving your car down a road is voluntary. If you get lost and don't know where you are, but you keep driving, you're driving voluntarily in whatever jurisdiction you happen to be in.
neutral B D Finch : Your own reference says purposeful means "Some intentional act". So, taking a wrong turning in your car wouldn't meet that criterion. Also, "purposeful" is stronger than "voluntary".
1 hr
You intentionally drove and intentionally turned. No US court cares whether you knew where you were; you don't need full knowledge of all facts in order to act intentionally. Getting lost doesn't give you a loophole to avoid being sued for a car accident.
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11 hrs

l'intention (du défendeur)

je pense qu'il est plus approprié de traduire de façon à ce que le concept soit clair plutôt que de se restreindre à une traduction littérale, qui ici n'aurait pas de sens pour un lecteur français.

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Note added at 13 days (2019-02-06 16:14:06 GMT)
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purposeful availment: In the law of civil procedure, an intentional act by one party directed into a particular state, thereby permitting that state to constitutionally assert personal jurisdiction over that party.
Peer comment(s):

agree GILLES MEUNIER
1 day 3 hrs
disagree Eliza Hall : No, this is way too broad. Purposeful means intentional, but you haven't translated "availment" at all.
4 days
''L'action intentionnelle '' if you prefer. But is refers to the same legal concept anyway
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Reference comments

10 hrs
Reference:

Choix du for juridique

The purposeful availment requirement in determining personal jurisdiction ensures that a nonresident defendant will not be haled into court based upon "random, fortuitous or attenuated" contacts with the state
Example sentence:

"deliberate action

Peer comments on this reference comment:

agree B D Finch
1 hr
agree Ph_B (X)
3 hrs
agree Eliza Hall : And here's a definition: https://www.quimbee.com/keyterms/purposeful-availment
4 days
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