Help for English

Before court

 

The advocate shall be capable of providing legal aid and defense before the courts of Czech Republic.
The case will be settled in court.

Dobrý den,
rád bych se zeptal, zda-li je nějaký rozdíl mezi frází ‘in court‘ a ‘before court‘. Pokud to chápu správně, jsou to synonyma znamenající ‘před soudem‘.
Děkuji

In court is an adverbial set phrase (like in bed, in school, etc.). „Before court“ isn't a set phrase and isn't used in this syntax in the sentence you quote. Before a/the court is ok.

I suspect that … defense before the courts of Czech Republic wasn't written by an English native speaker (because it should be the Czech Republic, and why „the“ courts? Out of context, this suggests all of the courts) and looks like a direct or machine translation of the Czech „před soudy“.

Hi, Dan thank you. So there is no difference in the use of each of the phrases. Is either phrase, in the following sentence, okay:

The lawyer shall be able to provide advice and defence before / in Czech courts.

?

Thank you

It's always difficult to give precise advice without context. Out of context, I'd expect:

  • The lawyer shall be able to provide advice and defence in a Czech court (of law).

„Before“ in this context sounds odd (and a Czechism) because the sense (of where the lawyer provides his services) is syntactically locative – kde, not kam. „Before“ may be possible in a different syntax where „before“ is governed by an appropriate verb, e.g. the defendant will be brought before a court … when the sense is kam, not kde.

A court“ is better than „courts“ in your sentence because the reference is generic.

 

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