Growth of the profession

I. Read and translate the text.

Today, the number of lawyers in the United States exceeds 675,000. This translates to one lawyer for every 364 people. Twenty-five years ago, there was one lawyer for every 700 people. The rate at which the legal profession is growing will probably continue to outpace rate of population growth through the end of the century.

Why is a career in law so popular? Market forces account for some of the allure. We know that in 1984 the average salary of experienced lawyers was 88,000 dollars. If we could include in this average the salaries of all lawyers, whatever their experience, the figure would probably be much lower, certainly well below the 108,000 dollars average salary of physicians. But lawyers' salaries are still substantially greater than those of many other professionals. Salaries for newly minted lawyers heading for elite New York law films exceeded 71,000 dollars in 1987; some firms offered additional clerkship experience in the federal courts and state supreme courts. The glamour of legal practice strengthens the attraction of its financial rewards.

There are other reasons for the popularity of the legal profession and the unquenchable demand for legal services. Materialism and individualism in American culture encourage dispute. Federalism gives separate legal systems for each state plus the national government. Advertising can now create demand for legal services too. Finally, the principles of separation of powers and of checks and balances make governing difficult and sometimes impossible. When political institutions act, they often are forced to compromise, deferring critical issues to the courts. Pluralist democracy operates when groups are able to press their interests on, and even challenge, the government. The expression of group demands in a culture that encourages lawsuits thrusts on the courts all number of disputes and interests. Is it any wonder that America needs all the lawyers it can train?

II. Find the English equivalents for the words below in the text:

- перевищувати;

- премія;

- адвокатська практика;

- рівень зростання населення;

- середня заробітна платня;

- досвідчені юристи;

- система заборон і противаг;

- залишити спірне питання на розгляд суду;

- створити попит на що-небудь.

III. Answer the questions:

1. Why is the number of lawyers in the US increasing?

2. What factors create demand for legal services?

Unit 12 criminal law criminal law

I. Read, translate and memorize the following words:

Omission , injure , injurious , treason, misdemeanor, license , failure, vengeance, discretion, perpetrate .

II. Read and translate the text.

The criminal law is concerned with crimes alone, not with illegal acts in general. Many attempts have been made to answer this question and to propose a general definition of crime which shall distinguish wrongs which are criminal from those which are merely "civil". The distinction between criminal and non-criminal is not peculiar¹ to England but is familiar in every civilized country.

As criminal law develops it studies more closely the men­tal condition of offenders, both for the punishing² and for the prevention of crimes.

A crime is a wrong which affects the public welfare, a wrong for which the state has prescribed a punishment or penalty. It is an act or omission prohibited by law because it is injurious to the public (as distinct from a private wrong).

Crimes may be classified as treason, felonies, and misdemeanors¹. Treason is the offence of a citizen in attempting to overthrow the government or in betraying a state into the hands of a foreign power. Felonies are those crimes, punishable by death or by imprisonment in a state prison, although a lesser punishment may be imposed by the court. Crimes not so serious in nature as felonies are misdemeanors.

Sometimes crimes are labeled as mala in se (crimes inherently or morally wrong) or mala prohibita² (crimes not inherently wrong, but crimes because they are prohibited by statute). Examples of crimes which are mala in se are murder, rape, arson, burglary, larceny, forgery, and the like³. Examples of crimes which are main prohibited are crimes which violate government requirements for licensing, failure of corporate directors or officers to follow requirements of the corporation law, failure to comply with government regulations or government requirements for the labeling of products⁴, printing or publishing copyrighted musical compositions without the consent of the owner, bookmaking and the use of gambling; apparatus, violations of the labor law, and so on.

It is generally agreed that⁵ the purpose of punishment for a crime is to deter the criminal and others from committing similar crimes. When a court imposes punishment for a breach of the law, the object is not vengeance but rather is to discourage the person⁶ who has broken the law from repeating his act.

A legislature may impose more than one penalty for the same offense; thus, a statute may provide for imprisonment in the state prison for a term of years and also for a fine which may be double the amount⁷ of money stolen or embezzled or double the value of the goods⁸ involved in the crime. The federal Constitution and most state constitutions prohibit cruel and unusual punishments.

Although the legislature may fix the limits of punishment, the trial court has the power to fix the actual punishment within statutory limits. In those states where the jury makes a recommendation for mercy in connection with its ver­dict, the recommendation is no part of the verdict; in fixing the punishment in the exercise of its discretion, the court may disregard the recommendation of the Jury.

It is normally for the function of police officers to prevent the commission of crime. But a private individual who sees another person actually perpetrating or about to perpetrate a felony may interfere and employ such force as is necessary to prevent the commission of the crime.