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The declaration of Belgian independence in 1830 constituted a major turning point in Belgian language history: French was almost instantly installed as the only official language in public offices and judicial cases, which left the majority of Flemish citizens unable to understand or reply to official documents. While the monolingual French authorities quickly recognized the necessity of providing Flemish translations of laws and decrees, numerous Flemish jurists and officials criticized these official translations for being inadequate, since they contained several errors in syntax and legal terminology. This criticism led to a flow of new translations and ideological commentaries, especially in newly created Flemish legal journals. My contribution seeks to point out the key role of these journals in the process of emancipation and standardization of the Flemish legal language and in the creation of a proper Flemish legal culture. My focus is on the first volume of the legal journal Rechtskundig Tijdschrift voor Vlaamsch-België (1897–98), which actively supported the coming into being of a Flemish legal language and identity. This journal published translations of important francophone judgements, annotated translations of laws and decrees as they appeared in the government journal Moniteur belge, and numerous discussions of jurists on the Flemish legal language.

Translation space in 19 th -century Belgium:Rethinking translation and transfer directions 'Landscape', 'space' and 'directionality' are metaphors that have become widely accepted in the humanities, including translation studies. This contribution focusses on translation and transfer directionality, a metaphor that covers a broad and complex range of techniques, actions, places and policies, beyond the supposed one-way process of bridging languages. It provides building blocks for a comprehensive study of translation and transfer directions and presents the results of a pilot study devoted to 19 th -century Belgium, a young, multilingual entity that has elaborated a sophisticated and influential network of translation and transfer directions in the legal and administrative domains. The detailed account of these directions reveals that translation issues have penetrated to the core of social, political and cultural life, addressing questions of representative democracy, language standardization, language equality, cultural identity and citizenship.

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