Beila Goldberg Sep 27, 2009:

Je soutiens que dans ce cas, ce ne doit pas être traduit par exemplaire et j'ajoute que des entrées dans le dictionnaire ne constituent pas toujours des justifications pertinentes : j'ai vu beaucoup d'erreurs.
Il y a une très grande différence entre le fait que les différentes parties soient présentes à la signature et donc que chacune reçoive son exemplaire signé par les autres et le fait que les parties ne pouvant pas être réunies au même moment au même endroit, seule la réunion sera constitutive de l'acte.
Ce n'est que du droit.

gsloane Sep 24, 2009:

In response to Termium The explanation given in Termium in English doesn't adequately address the meaning of "executing in counterparts", especially where an addendum(a) to an agreement is concerned, thereby making the translation into French somewhat faulty. One cannot significantly amend an agreement that has already been accepted as the final version by all parties concerned and then attach same to constitute the entire agreement. If significant changes are made, it means that you're back to the drawing board in negotiating an agreement acceptable to all parties. The bottom line is that all parties to an agreement must execute the exact same final version of the agreement without amendments being made to which there was no agreement. That is what Termium failed to make clear in its explanation. It stands to reason that the same agreement must be executed by all parties or else the agreement is rendered null and void and defeats the purpose of executing an agreement.
On a more humorous note, punctuation & language , especially where you place a comma, can actually make you win or lose a legal battle. The French translation saved the day: http://www.thestar.com/article/700143

gsloane Sep 24, 2009:

"Executed in counterparts" This means that only ONE final version of the agreement has been executed by all parties concerned but on different signing pages with the end result being several signing pages attached to the final agreement, thereby constituting the entire agreement, with the final outcome of deeming that agreement to be properly executed and therefore official. "Executed in counterparts" doesn't mean executing several copies of the agreement. "Executed in counterparts" came about to address the logistics of not having to re-fax several times the same signing page as each party executed it where that may not be possible due to different time zones and time sensitivity issues. Therefore, when you translate it into French by "signé en plusieurs exemples", all you're saying is that "several copies [of the agreement] were executed". The test is to translate it back into English to see if you have addressed the original meaning in the source language. If for some reason, you believe that "contrepartie" is an anglicisim, then you would need to find an appropriate expression in French to convey the meaning of "executed in counterparts" in French.

Joco Sep 23, 2009:

Selon Termium : Counterpart

EX – signed in counterpart. Source, fiche 4, Exemple d’utilisation 1 - counterpart

EX – executed in counterpart. Source, fiche 4, Exemple d’utilisation 2 - counterpart

EX – This Agreement and any amendments hereto may be executed in counterpart and when each party has executed a counterpart all counterparts taken together shall constitute one agreement.

Exemplaire:

EX – Chacune des deux parties peut signer un différent exemplaire de la présente entente et de toute modification subséquente; les deux exemplaires signés constituent une seule et même entente.