Module 2.2

Legal Education

Task 1. Check to see if you know the meanings of these key words for discussion:

advisory office	юридична консультація;
defence counsel	захисник;
defendant	відповідач;
legal counsellor	юрист, адвокат;
litigate	виступати стороною у цивільному npoцeci;
marriage settlement	акт розпорядження майном у шлюбі;
notary	нотаріус;
plaintiff	позивач;
regional bar	колегія адвокатів;
standard of conduct	норма поведінки

Task 2. Read and translate the text.

My Future Profession

I am a second year student of Kyiv National Linguistic University, Law faculty. When I entered the University I had a vague idea of what I would do in future. Having studied a lot of legal subjects, such as Theory of Law and State, Criminal Law, Civil Law, Financial Law and others I could outline the profession I'm engaged in. Now it is obvious that in community some kind of law is necessary because every day of our lives we are restrained and guided by law. It protects us while it restricts us. Sometimes it punishes us.

Law can also be defined as a standard of conduct, which regulates the relation of the individual to the central government, the relation of the government to the individual, and the relations among the individuals. If there is a conflict in these relations, the law also provides the court system, through which the respective sides can litigate a problem and reach a solution. So, the scope of the law necessarily makes it complex, and complexity has created the need for specialists, namely a lawyer, whose work is quite diversified. He may act as the defence counsel in court, he may represent the interest of the plaintiff or the defendant in civil or criminal cases.

In national economy lawyers are entrusted the control on the legality of orders and instructions issued by governing bodies; they participate in drawing up different agreements and contracts, which are concluded with other enterprisers; lawyers also inform on the current legislation and give help in legal matters, conduct cases in courts. In addition they give advice on various legal problems and are often employed by business firms. In almost all civil-law countries there are notaries, who have exclusive rights to deal with such office work as marriage settlements and wills.

All barristers in our country are incorporated either in the national bar. Members of the bar work at legal advisory offices, which function in every town administrative district.

Our department trains specialists for working in court, Office of Public Prosecutor, Notary, other juridical bodies and also in legal service of national economy.

Task 3. Give the corresponding equivalents to the following words and word combinations.

A. to outline the profession; to have a vague idea; to be engaged in; to define as a standard of conduct; to provide the court system; the respective sides; to reach a solution; namely a lawyer; national economy; to entrust the control on the legality of orders; to represent the interest of the plaintiff or the defendant; to draw up different agreements; to conclude contracts with other enterprises; to inform on the current legislation; civil-law countries; to deal with such office work as marriage settlements and wills; to be incorporated in the national or regional (territorial) bar.

B. студент другого курсу; бути обмеженим та керуватися законом; керувати відносини приватної особи до центрального уряду; відносини між приватними особами; масштаб (рамки) права; виступати захисником в суді; представляти інтереси відповідача; народне господарство; брати участь в укладанні договорів; укладати контракти з придприємствами; чинне законодавство; видавати накази; давати поради по різноманітним правовим проблемам; контроль за законністю наказів та інструкцій; адвокати; працювати в юридичній консультації; прокуратура; нотаріальна контора.

Task 4. Match the words with their definitions

1. legality		a. a barrister or other legal adviser; a body of them in a case
2. plaintiff		b. the wealth and resources of a country
3. counsel		c. a person sued in a court of law d
4. national economy		d. a person who brings a case against another in court
5. notary		e. lawfulness
6. defendant		f. barristers collectively
7.the Bar		g. a person authorized to perform certain formalities

Task 5. Answer the questions.

1. What faculty do you study at? 2. What subjects are you studying this semester? (did you study last semester?) 3. What is your favourite subject? 4. What subject do you consider to be the most difficult (the simplest) one? Why? 5. What is the definition of law? 6. When does a person appeal to the court? 7. How can professional skills of a lawyer be applied? 8. What do lawyers do in national economy? 9. Where can graduates from the Faculty of Law work? 10. What kind of law would you like to specialize in? Where do you want to work after the graduation?

Law. Kinds of law.

Task 6. Read and translate the text.

WHAT IS LAW?

The question "What is law?" has troubled people for many years. A whole field of study known as juris­prudence (the study of law and legal philosophy) is de­voted to answering this question. Many definitions of law exist. For our purposes, however, law can be de­fined as the rules and regulations made and enforced by the government that regulate the conduct of peo­ple within a society.

As a child, you learned about rules first at home and later at school. At home, your parents made and enforced rules concerning issues like chores and bed­times. Rules made and enforced by the government are called laws. The government makes laws that af­fect almost every aspect of daily life.

One thing is certain: every society that has ever existed has recognized the need for laws. These laws may have been unwritten, but even pre-industrial societies had rules to regulate people's conduct. Na­tive American societies, for example, were governed by unwritten laws. When Europeans first arrived on the North American continent, each of the native American nations (or tribes, as they are commonly called today) maintained order through a system of unwritten rules. Because many non-native American government officials and others did not see or under­stand these traditional mechanisms, many non-native Americans held the erroneous view that the societies were lawless. Today, some native American groups are still governed, at least in part, by traditional unwrit­ten law. Without laws, there would be confusion and disor­der. This does not mean that all laws are fail or even good, but imagine how people might take advantage of one another without a set of rules.

a) Find the equivalents for the following words and expressions in the text.

існувати, втілювати у життя; юриспруденція; визначення права; всередині суспільства; закони впливають на кожен аспект повсякденного життя; визнати необхідність законів; доіндустріальне суспільство; керуватися неписаними законами; поведінка людей; підтримувати порядок; помилкова думка; плутанина та безлад; набір правил.

b) Answer the questions.

1. Why has the question "What is law '" troubled people for many years?

2. What is jurisprudence?

3. What definition of law is given in the text?

4. Why does any existing society need laws?

5. Have laws always been written?

6. What would happen if people lived without laws?

с) Say in a few words what the text is about.

Task 7. Problem-solving:

Make a list of all your daily activities (for example, waking up, eating, going to university). Next to each item, list any laws that affect that activity. What is the pur­pose of each law that you identified? Would you change any of these laws? Why?

Task 8.

a) Read and translate the text.

THE NEED FOR LAW

Mr. Jones, having murdered his wife, was burying her in the garden one night, when his neighbour, hearing the noise, asked him what he was doing.

“Just burying the cat,” said Mr. Jones.

“Funny sort of time to bury a cat,” said the neighbour.

“Funny sort of cat”, said Mr. Jones.

Now it is obvious to everyone that, in a community such as the one in which we live, some kind of law is necessary to try to prevent people like Mr. Jones from killing their wives. When the world was at a very primitive stage, there was no such law, and, if a man chose to kill his wife or if a woman succeeded in killing her husband, that was their own business and no one interfered officially.

But, for a very long time now, members of every community have made laws for themselves in self-protection. Otherwise it would have meant that the stronger man could have done what he liked with the weaker, and bad men could have joined together and terrorized the whole neighbourhood.

If it were not for the law, you could not go out in broad daylight without the fear of being kidnapped, robbed or murdered. There are far, far more good people in the world than bad, but there are enough of the bad to make law necessary in the interests of everyone.

There is no difficulty in understanding this but it is just as important to understand that law is not necessary just because there are bad people in the world. If wc were all as good as we ought to be, laws would still be necessary. If we never told lies, never took anything that didn't belong to us, never ommitted to do anything that we ought to do and never did anything that we ought not to do, we should still require a set of rules of behaviour, in other words laws, to enable us to live in any kind of satisfactory state.

How is one good man in a motor-car to pass another good man also in a motor-car coming in the opposite direction, unless there is some rule of the road? People sometimes hover in front of one another when they are walking on the pavement before they can pass, and they may even collide. Not much harm is done then, but, if two good men in motor­cars going in opposite directions hover in front of one another, not knowing which side to pass, the result will probably be that there will be two good men less in the world.

So, you can see that there must be laws, however good we may be. Unfortunately, however, we are not always good and some of us are bad, or at any rate have our bad moments, and so the law has to provide for all kinds of possibilities. Suppose you went to a greengrocer and bought some potatoes and found on your return home that they were mouldy or even that some of them were stones, what could you do if there were no laws on the subject? In the absence of law you could only rely upon the law of the jungle. You could go back to the shop, demand proper potatoes and hit the shopkeeper on the nose if he refused to give them to you. You might then look round the shop to try to find some decent potatoes. While you were doing this, shopkeeper might hit you on the back of the neck with a pound weight. Altogether not a very satisfactory morning's shopping.

Or you might pay your money to go to see a film at a cinema. You might go inside, sit down and wait. When the cinema was full, there might be flashed on the screen: "You've had it, Chums" And that might be the whole of the entertainment. If there were no law, the manager could safely remain on the premises and, as you went out, smile at you and say: "Hope you've enjoyed the show, sir." That is to say, he could do this safely if he were bigger than you or had a well-armed bodyguard.

Every country tries, therefore, to provide laws which will help its people to live safely and as comfortably as possible. This is not at all an easy thing to do, and no country has been successful in producing laws which are entirely satisfactory. But we are far better off with the imperfect laws which we have, than if we had none at all.

b) Answer the questions.

Rules, laws, regulations - What is your personal understanding of these words? Is there any difference between them?

c) Work in groups. Make a list of arguments for and against the following statements.

1. Laws haven't changed since primeval times.

2. However hard people try, laws are always insufficient.

3. Laws are not for ordinary people, they are for lawyers.

Task 9. Read and translate the text.

KINDS OF LAWS

Laws fall into two major groups: criminal and civil. Criminal laws regulate public conduct and set out duties owed to society. A criminal case is a legal action brought by the government against a person charged with committing a crime. Criminal laws have penal­ties, and offenders are imprisoned, fined, placed un­der supervision, or punished in some other way. Crim­inal offenses are divided into felonies and misdemean­ors. The penalty for a felony is a term of more than one year in prison. For a misdemeanor, the penalty is a prison term of one year or less. Felonies are more serious crimes such as murder or robbery. Misde­meanors are less serious crimes such as simple assault or minor theft.

Civil laws regulate relations between individuals or groups of individuals. A civil action (lawsuit) can be brought by a person who feels wronged or injured by another person. Courts may award the injured per­son money for the loss, or they may order the person who committed the wrong to make amends in some other way. An example of a civil action is a lawsuit for recovery of damages suffered in an automobile accident. Civil laws regulate many everyday situations such as marriage, divorce, contracts, real estate, in­surance, consumer protection, and negligence.

Sometimes one action can violate both civil and criminal law. For example, if Joe beats up Bob, he may have to pay Bob's medical bills under civil law and may be charged with the crime of assault under criminal law.

а) Find the equivalents for the following words and expressions in the text:

громадська поведінка; обов’язки перед суспільством; кримінальне право; цивільне право; звинуватити у скоєнні злочина; правопорушник; оштрафувати; помістити під нагляд; ув’язнення на термін до одного року; карний злочин; провина, що карається судом; вбивство; грабіж; напад; крадіжка; цивільна справа; суд може присудити відшкодування за збиток; захист прав споживачів; халатність;судова тяжба (процес).

b) Answer the questions:

1. What two groups of laws do you know?

2. What is a criminal case?

3. How are criminal offenses divided?

4. What crimes are more serious?

5. What is the penalty for a felony or a misdemeanor?

6. Make a list of all the crimes mentioned in the text.

7. What do civil laws regulate?

8. Give your own examples of how one action can violate both civil and criminal laws.

c) Say in a few words what the text is about.

Task 10. Match the words on the left with the correct definitions on the right:

1. jurisprudence a. law dealing with private rights of citizens, not

with crime

2. criminal law b. punishment for wrongdoing

3. civil law c. the branch of law dealing with crimes and their

Punishment

4. felony d. recognized and permitted by the law

5. misdemeanor e. accuse

6. murder f. violent and sudden attack

7. penalty g. the study of law and legal philosophy

8. assault h. major serious crime, e.g. murder, armed robbery,

Arson

9. responsibility i. legal offence less serious than a felony

Task 11. Translate the following sentences into English.

1. Існує багато визначень поняття „право”.

2. Будь-яке суспільство, яке коли –небудь існувало, визнавало необхідність законів.

3. В багатьох племенах порядок підтримується системою традиційних неписаних законів.

4. Життя будь-якого суспільства неможливе без законів.

5. Цивільне право регулює взаємовідносини між окремими людьми та групами людей.

6. Правопорушника було оштрафовано на 300 доларів.

7. Що це за злочин: крадіжка або пограбування?

8. Потерпілому відшкодували збитки.

Task 12. Find the definition for each term.

authority court govern rule judge legal action law enforcement agency lawyers legal system legislation the judiciary tribunal

1 a body that is appointed to make a judgement or inquiry

2 a country’s body of judges

3 an act or acts passed by law-making body

4 behaviour recognized by a community as binding or enforceable by authority

5 legal proceedings

6 an official body that has authority to try criminals, resolve disputes, or make other legal decisions

7 an organization responsible for enforcing the law, especially the police

8 a senior official in a court of law

9 the body or system of rules recognized by a community that are enforceable by established process

10 the control resulting from following a community’s system of rules

11 members of the legal profession

12 to rule a society and control the behaviour of its members

Task 13. Complete the following text about basic legal concepts using the following words and phrases. Use each term once.

authority court govern judges legal system rule lawyers

law enforcement agency legal action legislation the judiciary tribunal

Why do we have laws and (1) …… ? At one level, laws can be seen as a type of which is meant to behaviour between people. We can find these rules in nearly all social organizations, such as families and sports clubs. Law, the body of official rules and regulations, generally found in constitutions and (2) ……. , is used to govern a society and to control the behaviour of its members. In modern societies, a body with (3) …… , such as a (4) …… or the legislature, makes the law; and a (5) …… , such as the police, makes sure it is observed.

In addition to enforcement, a body of expert (6) …… is needed to apply the law. This is the role of (7)……, the body of (8) …… in a particular country. Of course, legal systems vary between countries, as well as the basis for bringing a case before a court or (9) …… . One thing, however, seems to be true all over the world - starting a (10) …… is both expensive and time-consuming.

Task 14. Law has its origins in the early developments of civilized society, and through time there have been major influences on the laws that we follow today.

a) Match these sources of law with the descriptions below.

Common law Roman law Napoleonic Code The Ten Commandments

……. , which evolved in the 8th century BC, was still largely a blend of custom and interpretation by magistrates of the will of the gods.

…… evolved from the tribal and local laws in England. It began with common customs, but over time it involved the courts in law­making that was responsive to changes in society. In this way the Anglo-Norman rulers created a system of centralized courts that operated under a single set of laws that replaced the rules laid down by earlier societies.

…… formed the basis of all Israelite legislation. They can also be found in the laws of other ancient peoples.

…… refers to the entire body of French law, contained in five codes dealing with civil, commercial, and criminal law.

b) Are the following sentences about the sources of law true or false?

1. The Ten Commandments are based on moral standards of behaviour.

2. In common law, judges resolve disputes by referring to statutory principles arrived at in advance.

3. Roman law is based on the principle of deciding cases by reference to previous judicial decisions, rather than to written statutes drafted by legislative bodies.

4. The Napoleonic Code was introduced into a number of European countries, notably Belgium, where it is still in force. It also became the model for the civil codes of Quebec Province in Canada, the Netherlands, Italy, Spain, some Latin American republics, and the state of Louisiana.

Task 15.

a) One way of classifying and understanding the law is by subject matter. Lawyers often divide the law and the legal system into two: criminal law and civil law. Classify the following terms into the appropriate column below. Two terms can appear in both columns.

compensation contract crime damages family law