language puerto-rico
In what language(s) are laws written in Puerto Rico?
<p>A comment on <a href="https://law.stackexchange.com/q/80132/508">the recent question about the possibility of U.S. laws in Spanish</a> mentioned an assumption that Puerto Rican law would be mostly in Spanish.</p>
<p>Not being familiar with Puerto Rican law, this comment just made me curious whether or not that assumption is correct. Are Puerto Rican laws indeed written primarily (or entirely) in Spanish? Or are they written primarily or entirely in English? Or are they written in both in parallel?</p>
<p>It seems that having them written in Spanish only would be problematic for federal court cases arising from them, since the federal courts (<a href="https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/48/864" rel="noreferrer">including the one in Puerto Rico</a>) would be conducting any proceedings in the English language - and comparing the Puerto Rican laws with U.S. federal law and existing case law, which are also in English. On the other hand, having laws that much of the local populace couldn't read would also be problematic.</p>
<p>(As background for those who may not be familiar with Puerto Rico, it is a territory of the United States, but <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_language_in_Puerto_Rico" rel="noreferrer">Spanish is by far the primary local language there</a>.)</p>

<p>It depends on the language used to pass the statutes, but if in doubt then Spanish prevails.</p>
<p>See <a href="https://casetext.com/statute/laws-of-puerto-rico/title-thirty-one-civil-code/subtitle-preliminary-subtitle-preliminary-provisions/chapter-1-the-laws-their-effects-and-the-general-rules-for-their-application/13-discrepancy-between-spanish-and-english-texts" rel="noreferrer">section 13</a> of the Civil Code:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>In case of discrepancy between the English and Spanish texts of a statute passed by the Legislative Assembly of Puerto Rico, the text in which the same originated in either house, shall prevail in the construction of said statute, except in the following cases:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>(a) If the statute is a translation or adaptation of a statute of the United States or of any State or Territory thereof, the English text shall be given preference over the Spanish.</p>
</li>
<li><p>(b) If the statute is of Spanish origin, the Spanish text shall be preferred to the English.</p>
</li>
<li><p>(c) If the matter of preference cannot be decided under the foregoing rules, the Spanish text shall prevail.</p>
</li>
</ul>
</blockquote>

<p>According to <a href="https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Law_of_Puerto_Rico" rel="noreferrer">Wikipedia</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Puerto Rico['s]... legal system operates primarily in... Spanish. However, because the U.S. federal government operates primarily in English, the result is that Puerto Rican attorneys are typically bilingual in order to litigate in English in U.S. federal courts and to litigate federal preemption issues in Puerto Rican courts.</p>
</blockquote>
