English Law

In England and Wales fraud is a generic term used to describe a number of offences in which the overriding component is that of deception. Each of the criminal offences have a further common element of dishonesty, although in some there is no requirement that the dishonest person is intent on gaining himself, it is sufficient that he has an intent to cause to loss to another.

The criminal offences of fraud are to be found, principally, in the Theft Act 1968, the Theft Act 1978 and the Theft (Amendment) Act 1996 which created the new offence of Obtaining a Money Transfer by Deception. More specific offences may be found in other statutes such as Impersonation of a Police Officer as defined in Sec. 90 of the Police Act 1996; or Using a Forged Instrument within the terms of the Forgery & Counterfeiting Act 1981 (previously an offence known under the somewhat prosaic term of "Uttering").

Criminal offences of fraud at English Law:

• Obtaining Property by Deception

• Obtaining Services by Deception

• Obtaining a Pecuniary Advantage by Deception

• False Accounting

• False Statements by Company Directors

• Suppression of Documents

• Retaining a Wrongful Credit

Commentary

1. Fraud - n a/ an act of cheating / intentional deception deliberately practiced in order to secure unfair or unlawful gain. A piece of trickery; a trick; ( Syn. cheat, swindle, victimization, hoax, humbug);

b/ a person who makes deceitful pretenses/ who assumes a false pose (Syn. fake, imposter/impostor, faker, phony, con artist);

c/ v to defraud ( to cheat, to fake, to swindle, to con, to rogue).

2. Tort – is a civil wrong, for which the person who suffers harm can obtain damages in a civil court, e.g. a breach of contract (цивільне правопорушення делікт).

Reading check exercises

1. Consult a dictionary and practice the pronunciation of the following words. Pay attention to the stress.

Hoaxes, fraudulent, varying, jurisdiction, area, archaeology, overreaching, rigid, failure, disregard, inaccuracy, alleged, negligence, inaccuracy, scrutinized, experienced, cancellation, restoration, forgery, insurance, violation, wrong, requirement, prosaic, to stymie, bogue.

2. Answer the following questions.

1. What is a fraud in the broad sense ?

2. What is a fraud in criminal law?

3. What kind of fraud is called "theft by deception?"

4. How many acts containing criminal fraud do you know? What are they?

5. What is a tort?

6. What are criminal offences of fraud at English Law?

3. Explain what is meant by:

a deception made for personal gain; many hoaxes are fraudulent; varying between different jurisdictions; to permeate into many areas; actual fraud; constructive fraud, reckless disregard of possible inaccuracy; the restoration of the parties; long firms; securities fraud; generic term; overriding component; suppression of documents.

4. Retell the text.

Vocabulary and grammar work

1. Fill in the blanks with the proper words:

money exchange, beforehand, fraud, measures, to prove, bogue, deception, to stymie, fraudulent, law, condition, demonstrate, worthless, missreptesentation

1. Fraud is not easily proven in a court of_________.

2. Laws concerning _______may vary from state to state, but in general several different ________ must be met.

3. One of the most important things __________is a deliberate ___________ of the facts.

4. Did the seller know __________ that the product was defective or the investment was _________?

5.Some employees of a large company may sell a product or offer a service without personal knowledge of a ___________.

6.The account representative who sold a __________ insurance policy on behalf of an unscrupulous employer may not have known the policy was __________ at the time of the sale.

7. In order to prove fraud, the accuser must ______________ that the accused had prior knowledge and voluntarily misrepresented the facts.

8. The element of fraud which tends __________ successful prosecution is the obligation to investigate.

9. It falls on potential investors or customers to fully investigate a proposal before any ___________ hands.

10. Failure to take appropriate ____________ at the time of the proposal can seriously weaken a fraud case in court later.