François Tardif Jun 16, 2020:

Oui, « affix » ici veut dire joint ou en annexe. Donc ce pourrait être qqch comme :
Je certifie que le document en annexe de la présente authentification est la copie conforme du dossier consigné au greffe de la Cour de circuit [no] et que je suis le dépositaire de ce dossier.

Cassandra Delacote (asker) Jun 16, 2020:

Thank you very much Eliza Hall for your explanation which I think, is correct.
It was the term "affixed" which is usually translated as "apposé" and refers to a signature or seal, the said signature enabling the authentication of the document in certain cases.
But you are quite right, so that would mean the term should be translated as "authentification ci-jointe".

Cassandra Delacote (asker) Jun 16, 2020:

Hi Daryo none of the following terms appear in the document: Hague Convention" / Hague Convention Abolishing the Requirement of Legalisation for Foreign Public Documents, the Apostille Convention, or the Apostille Treaty?

François Tardif Jun 16, 2020:

Je comprends qu’il y a quatre sortes de documents : le doc original, son authentification (texte qui reconnaît l’authenticité du doc original et qui constitue un doc à part), une photocopie du doc original et le dossier du greffe.

Eliza Hall Jun 15, 2020:

In US court cases, documents have to be authenticated (shown to be authentic). There are various ways to do that, usually involving the records custodian (=person whose job includes maintaining the set of records that the document in question comes from) swearing orally or in writing that the document is authentic.

The authentication here is a written attestation by the records custodian that the attached court record is a true copy of the real thing. In other words, the authentication isn't a signature on the real document; it's a separate piece of paper attached to a copy of the real document.

To put it another way, the authentication is the piece of paper on which the text you're translating is printed. It's is the written statement by the records custodian.

Daryo Jun 15, 2020:

here is the "original" model for the "Apostille"

https://assets.hcch.net/upload/apostillef.pdf

Daryo Jun 15, 2020:

Is there by any chance a mention of anything ressembling a "Hague Convention" / Hague Convention Abolishing the Requirement of Legalisation for Foreign Public Documents, the Apostille Convention, or the Apostille Treaty?

I'm 99.9 % sure that it's about THAT kind of "authentication", which would be definitely required if a legal document originating from US is to recognised / taken into account by French courts (or any other public authority).

It's about confirming that the whole document is valid / genuine.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apostille_Convention

https://www.alscanada.ca/fr/apostille/

https://www.hcch.net/fr/instruments/conventions/full-text/?c...

plenty more:

https://duckduckgo.com/?q=Convention de La Haye du 5 octobre...

Technical aspect: the " authentication" (done according the Apostille convention) would be a on separate sheet ADDED to the document being authenticated and attached to the document by ribbon/thread that is sealed OR it could be a text stamped on the original document and filled by a competent authority.

see https://duckduckgo.com/?q=appostille Convention de La Haye d...

Germaine Jun 15, 2020:

Authentication - ÉQUIVALENT 1: authentification (f.)
Acte par lequel un document est reconnu comme authentique.
Vanderlinden, Jacques, Gérard Snow et Donald Poirier, La common law de A à Z, 2e édition, Cowansville (Québec), Yvon Blais, 2017, s.v. authentification.
SOURCE 2: Centre de traduction et de terminologie juridiques (CTTJ), Vocabulaire de la common law, tome 3 : Procédure civile et Preuve, Moncton, Université de Moncton, Faculté de droit, 1983, p. 27.
SOURCE 3: PAJLO, Vocabulaire bilingue de la Common Law : Droit de la preuve, Coll. La Clef, Ottawa, Ass. Bar. can., 1984, p. 13.

Au Canada, dans le droit de la preuve, le Comité de normalisation de la terminologie française de la common law a retenu le terme authentifier et ses deux dérivés authentification ("authentication") et authentifiant : témoin authentifiant.
https://www.btb.termiumplus.gc.ca/juridi-srch?lang=eng&srcht...

Pour ce qui est de "affixed", il s'agit peut-être d'un timbre (étampe) qui contient la phrase en question, ce qui n'est pas rare aux États-Unis.