David Knowles Jun 22, 2020:

Thanks Olga - you've given me plenty to think about as well! I think this is an area where there are considerable differences between countries. Here is an article from a company in Jersey (but modelled on English law), which doesn't mention the word pledge: https://www.collascrill.com/knowledge-documents/guides/colla...
and here is another one from an English company selling standard agreements (you can't read all of it, but the general idea is clear):
https://www.netlawman.co.uk/d/loan-agreement-company-secured...
One difference may be that it is not usual in England for there to be a legal transfer of the security to the lender, but for a legal charge (encumbrance) to be registered with the appropriate body that would prevent the unauthorised sale of the asset.
Interestingly, in Scotland, the law seems to be much more in line with your examples: https://www.turcanconnell.com/legal/business-law-solicitors/...
I shall be more aware of all these differences in the future!

Olga Sushytska Jun 22, 2020:

As for the pledge agreements... Most often, I translate share pledge agreements. You can find plenty of information on this type of agreements, e.g.:
https://gowlingwlg.com/en/insights-resources/articles/2017/g...
https://www.findlegalforms.com/product/share-pledge-agreemen...
Here is an example of a share pledge agreement: https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1088162/000089843002...

I am not a lawyer, but as I've mentioned, I have translated multiple pledge agreements that were drawn up in English, not translated from Russian into English. So, at least in my experience, the term "pledge" exists and is used by lawyers. And the use of this term that I've seen generally corresponds to this definition: https://legal-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/pledge

Anyway, thank you for the food for thought, David, and a chance to compare meanings of all the terms you've mentioned!

Olga Sushytska Jun 22, 2020:

Thank you, David. In my experience, the terms you've mentioned are not exactly interchangeable.

Encumbrance: https://dictionary.law.com/Default.aspx?selected=629 (I usually translate it into Russian as "обременение");
Charge is a really broad term, I have not yet seen it used in the meaning of залог in contexts similar to the one we are discussing here;
Lien: https://dictionary.law.com/Default.aspx?selected=1160 (note that encumbrance is "a general term for any claim or lien on a parcel of real property" - see first link). In my experience, it is usually translated as "право удержания". Multitran largely agrees here: https://www.multitran.com/m.exe?l1=1&l2=2&s=lien&langlist=2
Security is, again, a general term, "usually applied to a deposit, lien, or mortgage voluntarily given by a debtor to a creditor to guarantee payment of a debt": https://legal-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/on security The Russian translation of "security" depends on the context, e.g. it can be "обеспечение обязательств" or, again, "обременение".

David Knowles Jun 22, 2020:

Ukrainian uses застава where Russian would have залог, filling in my collection of Slav translations!

David Knowles Jun 22, 2020:

залог/pledge The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD/ЕБРР) has as translations "charge", "encumbrance" etc. (but not "pledge") - at least that's according to Multitran!
I think it depends which end you look at. If I want a bank loan, and the banker says OK, but you need to accept a priority charge against your deposit account, I would call that a "lien". The bank might call it a "security". I would not call it a "pledge". It might well be a difference between US and European usage.
IATE (the EU glossary) doesn't have Russian, but it does have other slav languages and offers the following for "aircraft lien"
aircraft lien
cs zástavní právo k leteckým dopravním prostředkům
hr založno pravo na zrakoplovu
pl zastaw na statku
My Lingvo dictionary has залоговое право for "lien", which corresponds to Croatian. The Polish and Czech have "zastaw" or "zastavni pravo".
So I don't think I'm proposing anything outlandish!
David