act
noun · Gesetz
Gesetz where the Act is a statute, Handlung where the act is conduct, Tun oder Unterlassen in the doublet. Akte and Akt are the traps, one is a file, the other belongs to the theatre, and the syllable carries law only inside compounds like the Verwaltungsakt, § 35 VwVfG.
Which translation, when
Why
Act splits into a statute and a deed, and German has clean words for both, Gesetz and Handlung, plus two look-alikes that mean neither. Die Akte is the file, the thing with an Aktenzeichen, der Akt is a stage act, a ceremony, and the syllable carries law only inside compounds, the Verwaltungsakt of § 35 VwVfG, the Rechtsakt of EU usage, never standing bare. So statutory references translate by genus and name, the Act as such becomes das Gesetz, the named statute keeps its English title with a single gloss on first use, der Bribery Act 2010, das britische Antikorruptionsgesetz, and the conduct sense runs on Handlung, with acts and omissions arriving as Handlungen und Unterlassungen, never as Auslassungen, which are gaps in a text, not failures to act. A rendering that reaches for Akt or Akte has not chosen a rarer synonym, it has left the legal register entirely, parliamentary theatre in one reading, the filing room in the other.
Typical mistakes
- Akt des Parlaments stages a play, the genus is das Parlamentsgesetz, and named Acts stay English with one German gloss on first mention.
- Die Akte is the case file, the act rendered as Akte sends the reader to the registry shelf, and nothing in the sentence retrieves him.
- Auslassungen are gaps in a text, not failures to act, so acts and omissions must arrive as Handlungen und Unterlassungen, the doublet the German codes themselves use.
What matters
Statutory references test the word: liability under the Act reads Haftung nach dem Gesetz, and the named statute keeps its English name with one German gloss, der Bribery Act 2010, das britische Antikorruptionsgesetz. Ein Akt in that sentence sends the German reader to the theatre, eine Akte to the filing room, and in a legal text the syllable survives only inside compounds, der Verwaltungsakt, § 35 VwVfG.
What the machine misses
Act ricochets in machine output between Gesetz, Akt and Akte, and only the first survives contact with a statute. Der Akt des Parlaments stages a play, die Akte des Parlaments opens a file, and the conduct sense fares no better when acts and omissions arrive as Handlungen und Auslassungen, textual gaps in place of the failures to act the doublet actually names.
Examples
| an Act of Parliament | ein Parlamentsgesetz |
| under the Act | nach dem Gesetz |
| acts and omissions | Handlungen und Unterlassungen |
| administrative act | der Verwaltungsakt |
More notes on these sections
administrative act Verwaltungsakt