This paper aims at investigating some of the main translation problems that arose during the realization of a translation proposal of German judicial acts written at the beginning of the 19th century. More specifically, the source texts were published in the volume E.T.A. Hoffmann. Juristische Arbeiten edited by Friedrich Schnapp (1973) and were written for the most part by E.T.A. Hoffmann during the work of the newly established Prussian Committee of inquiry (Immediat-Untersuchungskommission). The analysis, carried out on the basis of the functionalist approach, highlights both the technical and the historical dimension of the source texts and comments on some of the main translation choices made to render the dual nature of the text into the target language as well. The informative function of the target text has allowed the translator to adopt an overall domesticating approach, even though foreignization was sometimes chosen over naturalization in order to preserve the historical dimension of the text.
