Juez del registro del estado civil

[Tomisimo]

I was reading a birth certificate from Mexico, and it has the term:

juez encargado del registro del estado civil

This appears to be referring to the person who is in charge of the civil registry. Would this be properly translated as 'judge' or something else? Maybe 'officer in charge of the civil registry'?

EDIT: This same birth certificate refers to the person who recorded the birth as "juez" also.

[pjt33]

Depends on the context. If I were translating for a British audience and the goal was general understanding rather than legal precision I would use registrar.

[AngelicaDeAlquezar]

This "juez", I think, would be the chief registrar (in the UK) or the chief of the Clerk of Courts Office (in the USA).
He/she normally doesn't take the data from the citizens; sometimes they just sign either the birth/marriage/death certificate, or the book where all registry entries are kept. :thinking:

[Tomisimo]

Translating things like this can get pretty complicated because the same position does not exist in all countries.

I guess clerk, officer, and registrar are all valid options. The more I think about it, the more I like just leaving judge even though the usage sounds strange in English, it better represents what the document actually says, especially in the legal sense.

[AngelicaDeAlquezar]

It even seems to change from state to state in the USA. :eek:
If it doesn't sound right in English, I think "official" could work alright because this "juez" doesn't actually belong to the Judicial Branch and they don't enforce rules. They are like a "government notary" more than an actual judge. :)