✦ Flanders (Belgium) · Dutch
Decreet houdende vaststelling van het wapen van privé-personen en instellingen
3 February 1998 decree; current consolidated version, Article 2(3°), effective text dated 1 January 2015
oud wapen: een heraldisch wapen waarvan kan worden bewezen dat het ten minste honderd jaar geleden publiekelijk werd gevoerdStatute. Brief, attributed quotation; see full source linked below.
Before revealing the translation, identify the operative noun, verb, and institutional context. What could a careless English rendering get wrong?
‘Older arms’: a heraldic coat of arms for which it can be proved that it was publicly borne at least one hundred years ago.
Manually checked against the official consolidated Dutch source; English rendering is editorial, not an official translation.
The problem this translation solves
The clause defines an older coat of arms through a historical-evidence threshold. It does not establish that an unverified family tale qualifies. Article 3 separately deals with proof of direct male-line descent in an application to recognize older arms. The source is a consolidated legal text and has an amendment history; the wording shown is not a claim that every clause existed unchanged in 1998.
Terminology to watch
- oud wapen
- older coat of arms
- kan worden bewezen
- can be proved
- publiekelijk werd gevoerd
- was publicly borne or used
Explain why demonstrating 100-year public use and demonstrating a modern applicant's entitlement are separate propositions. Find the relevant clause of Article 3 in the Dutch original and paraphrase its evidentiary requirements without reproducing the entire article.