Federal laws constitute the second category of legal sources. They regulate issues included into executive authority of the Russian Federation and its components. The Constitution protects priority and direct effect of federal laws throughout the territory of Russia. In case of a conflict between federal law and another act issued in Russia, the law will prevail. Meanwhile, the Constitution guarantees the priority of the act of a constituent component if such act regulates issues outside the Russian Federation’s scope of authority. Often, Russian laws are adopted in the form of a Code of Law. A Code is a complete collection of rules in an entire subject area such as: civil law, criminal law, labour law, etc.
Universally acknowledged principles and standards of international law and international treaties of the Russian Federation are a part of Russia’s legal system. Should an international treaty of the Russian Federation establish rules other than those established by a domestic law, the rules of the international treaty will prevail.
Decrees and directives of the President establish a separate category of legal acts and do not belong to subordinate legislation. Due to an absence of required laws, the President can pass decrees regarding all questions without any limits if a valid federal law does not regulate this issue, except of cases when the Constitution directly says that the question requires the adoption of a federal law.
An additional group of delegate legislation is comprised by normative acts of federal executive authorities. These acts are related to laws through Directives of the Government. They develop, add, and concretize existing legal norms. There are different forms of such acts: regulations, orders and instructions, varying by its content and the procedure of adoption
Following the traditional civil law approach, judicial practice is restricted to applying and interpreting the law, and the precedent cannot serve as a legal source. According to Russian legal doctrine, judges are supposed to use only written law contained in codes, statutes, or regulations in deciding a case; however, a decision to vacate a particular legal act proves to be a source of law, and the Constitutional Court indicated that its previous decisions shall be followed as stare decisis. Even though attorneys use prior judicial decisions in their arguments, judges should not refer to prior cases in their decisions. Court judgments in individual cases are not precedents for future decisions.
2..
1.continental legal system
2.written law
3.principle of superiority of law
4.Ministries and other federal executive agencies
5.constitutional amendments
6.executive authority of the Russian Federation
7.to regulate issues
8.to adopt laws
9.international treaties
10.valid federal law
11.group of delegate legislation
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1.______________ is an official rule or order.
2.______________ is the whole system of rules that citizens of a country must obey.
3._____________ is an official command or decision, especially one made by the ruler
of the country.
4.______________ is a written change or improvement to the law or document.
5.______________ is an occasion when everyone in a country votes in order to make a
decision about a particular issue.
6.______________ is set of written rules or laws.
7.______________ is a formal agreement between two or more countries.
8.______________ is a judicial decision that may be used as a standard in subsequent
similar cases.
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6..
1.What are the sources of American legal system?
2.What is common law based on?
3.What do vertical dimensions of American sources of law include?
4.What do horizontal dimensions of American sources of law include?
TEXT
THE AMERICAN SOURCES OF LAW
Constitutional Law is based on a formal document that defines broad powers. Federal constitutional law originates from the U.S. Constitution. State constitutional law originates from the individual state constitutions.
Statutes and Ordinances are legislation passed on the federal, state, or local levels.
Common Law is based on the concept of precedence - on how the courts have interpreted the law. Under common law, the facts of a particular case are determined and compared to previous cases having similar facts in order to reach a decision by analogy. Common law applies mostly at the state level. It originated in the 13th century when royal judges in England began recording their decisions and the reasoning behind the decisions.
Administrative Law - federal, state, and local level. Administrative law is made by administrative agencies that define the intent of the legislative body that passed the law.
The sources of law have both vertical and horizontal dimensions. Vertical dimensions include federal authority, state authority, and concurrent authority. Federalism refers to this form of government, in which there is national and local authority. Federal authority covers laws related to patents, pensions and profit sharing, and labour issues. State authority covers business association, contracts, and trade secrets. Concurrent authority covers security law, tax law, and employment law. Note that employment law refers to non-union relationships; labour law refers to union relationships.
The horizontal dimension is related to the separation of power between the executive branch, which creates administrative law, the legislative branch, which creates statutes, and the judicial branch, which creates common law. The judicial system in the U.S. has a pyramid structure.
7..
1.Federal constitutional law originates from the U.S. Constitution.
2.Common Law is based on how the courts have interpreted the law.
3.Common law applies mostly at the national level.
4.Federalism refers to the American Constitution according to which there is national and local authority.
5.Federal authority covers laws related to business association, contracts, and trade secrets.
6.The horizontal dimension is related to the separation of powers between the executive branch, the legislative branch, and the judicial branch.
8.( +- & - $ #' :
1.a statute
2.an ordinance
3.a constitution
4.common law
5.precedent
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The United States of America
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After having the general outline about the speech, we need to build up five basic elements. Eye contact is the number-one way to reduce our nervousness because it helps to gather our thoughts, think clearly and remember what to say. And, eye contact expresses how the connection
between the presenter and the audience is, so activating the powerful eye contact is very necessary. It’s better to avoid jumping the eyes, instead of performing like that, we should contact with a small group first, and then slowly move to another side. Step two is the voice projection; this makes people clearly hear us and any persuasiveness we are talking to. Number three is voice intonation or inflection; to keep the audience interested, it should not be a managed tone voice. The fourth process is the clarity of the message. This shows how clearly we are getting across our points. And, number five is the enthusiasm. This means how passion we are and how much we enjoy the talking topic.
The most important thing in presentation is to allow our audience to receive the information simply and easily. Good presenters always pay attention to their audiences. To carry out this, first, we should understand the audience’s mood. The atmosphere our audience carries bases on their thought, their positive or negative points of view, so if we want to have impact on them, we must lead a good life because we can’t be a liar every day. The second important thing is to learn how to “read” the audience; sometimes they are very “cool”, sometimes they are very “cold”. If they are “cold”, they may drop something or react incredibly boring; in fact, unless we give them a certain kind of respect and empathy, we can’t bring them back and follow us. That is the reason why understanding about audience’s feeling is really a great thing.
Finally, we should remember to take a deep breath and relax. Only when we are confident, the audience can concentrate on our speech intensely and fully.
In short, making an effective presentation is a skill, in another word, it is an art and a certificate as long as keep practicing. After all, practice makes perfect.
UNIT 6. TEST YOURSELF
1. ' .
The system of law in the Russian Federation is presented by norms, institutions and
____1____ which together make a single unity. The system reflects social relations regulated by specific norms and institutions of law. Branches of law are supposed to be one of the basic units in the whole ___2____. Each branch has its own ___3_____, which differentiate this very branch from the others, its subject and method and its own place in the system. For years Russian jurists have made attempts ____4_____ branches of law. Thus as well as in most other countries law in Russia is divided into public and private, substantive and procedural, ____5_____ and international. But there is one more ___6____ which is based on certain characteristics of Russian law. Traditionally Russian lawyers single out fundamental, specialized and composite or complex branches of law.
Fundamental branches regulate the most general and important relations in different spheres of____7_____. This category involves branches of ____8_____ such as civil law, criminal law, administrative law, as well as procedural law including civil, criminal and administrative procedural law. Constitutional law doesn’t belong to the group of ____9_____. It is traditionally considered to have the leading position among other branches, as the norms of constitutional law serve the basis for the norms of other branches. Constitutional law in Russia concerns the structure of legislative, executive and ___10____ power and principles of their work; the political system of the country; its federative structure; ___11____; electoral system; legal status of citizens including their rights, duties and liberties. The main source of constitutional law is the Constitution of the Russian Federation.
___________________________________________________________________________
judicial; classification; substantive law; to classify; fundamental branches; system of law; social life; forms of property; peculiarities; branches of law’ domestic
2. . (True or False)
1.The system of Russian law reflects social relations regulated by specific norms and institutions of law.
2.Branches of law are the main elements of the whole system of Russian law.
3.Classification of law in Russia was made long ago.
4, Russia has the same classification of law as in most other countries.
5.Fundamental branches regulate the most general and important relations in different spheres of life.
6.Civil law, criminal law, administrative law belong to fundamental branches.
7.Constitutional law belongs to the group of fundamental branches as well.
8.Constitutional law in Russia doesn’t concern the principles of work of the executive power.
3. , ! « '» -
.
1.It is traditionally considered to have the leading position among other branches.
2.It considers the problems of marriage and divorce, child custody and adoption.
3.Branches of law are supposed to be one of the basic units in the whole system of law.
4.They suppose that constitutional law doesn’t belong to the group of fundamental branches.
5.Their norms are presented in special codes, for example the Family Code.
6.The Labour Code is known to be the source of employment law.
4. / .
1.The State Tretyakov Gallery is renowned for __________
a)its collection of famous masterpieces by European artistic geniuses
b)its collection of famous Russian icons
c)) its collection of Egyptian sculptures
2.St. Basil Cathedral is located _________
a)near the Great Kremlin Palace
b)near the Cathedral of Christ the Savior
c)in Red Squire
3.The inauguration ceremony of the President of the Russian Federation takes place in _____
a)the Cathedral of Christ the Savior
b)the Great Kremlin Palace
c)the Winter Palace
4.The white-blue-red flag with three equal horizontal stripes returned as the national flag of the Russian Federation ________
a)in 1991
b)in 1993
c)in 2000
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5.The modern state emblem of the Russian Federation is _________
a)twoheaded eagle with three crowns
b)twoheaded eagle with two crowns
c)twoheaded eagle with three crowns and Saint George striking the Serpent in the centre
6.The national anthem of the Russian Federation is composed by ________
a)Sergey Mikhalkov
b)Michael Glinka
c)Alexander Alexandrov
7.The President of Russia is elected by general election for a term of ________
a)six years
b)five years
c)four years
8.The Russian Federation consists of _________
a)eighty-nine constituent components
b)eighty-seven constituent components
c)eighty-two constituent components
9.The legislature of the Russian Federation is represented by ________
a)the Federal Assembly
b)the State Duma
c)the Federation Council
10.Historically, Russia belongs to _________
a)the common law system
b)the continental legal system
c)the customary law system
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GLOSSARY
1. amend – ( )
amendment – , , , ,
constitutional ~ - make an ~ -
reject an ~ - $
2.conform – -!, -!, !
conform to the Constitution – $
conform to international standards – $ & conformation –
3.contradict – , , , $
~a fact – $ #
~law – $
~a statement – & $
~a witness – $
4. court –
~ of first instance – " ~ of arbitration – & "
~ of appellate jurisdiction – " , high ~ - "
higher ~ - ) " supreme ~ " trial ~ - "
appear in ~ - $
attend the ~ - $ , $ bring before the ~ - $ ( $ )
in open ~ -
5. executive – ;
~authority – $ $
~branch – $ $ ( $ )
~Director - @$ " > ( ) execute – $, $; $ execution – ; $
6.judicial – !,
~ branch – $ ~ review – "
~ system – ~ practice – judiciary – $
7.jurisdiction – #$ , , ! , -
exclusive ~ - $
207
general ~ - judicial ~ - $
supervisory ~ - territorial ~ - $ trial ~ - " within ~ -
8.justice – , , #$ ,
~ in court – $ ~ of peace – " $
course of ~ - civil ~ - & " criminal ~ - administer ~ - $ bring to ~ - $
9.legislation – , , ,
~ in force – " $ adopt ~ - $ ( $ " )
initiate ~ - $ , $ $" " introduce ~ -
pass ~ $ promulgate ~ $ propose ~ - &$ draft ~ - subordinate ~ - "
legislature – $ $, $ "
bicameral ~ - " $ |
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legislative - $ " |
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~ instrument – $" |
~ veto – , & $ |
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10. source -
~of law –
~of power – legal ~ -
MODULE 8
CRIMINAL TRIAL
UNIT I. INTRODUCTION TO A CRIMINAL TRIAL
Court cases involve a number of participants.
1. !, ( & #, . !",
( .
Why is criminal law prosecuted by the state rather than by individual citizens?
a)Victims of crime are usually unable to afford legal representation.
b)Crime is considered a wrong against us all and thus a matter of public law.
c)Crime is often due to government decisions or policy and the state must take responsibility for it.
d)It is a matter of organization and this is a subject of administrative law.
2. , .
A detective watched Mrs. Carroll a well-dressed woman who always went into a large store on Monday mornings. One Monday, there were fewer people in the shop than usual when the woman came in, so it was easier for the detective to watch her. The woman first bought a few small articles. After a little time, she chose one of the most expensive dresses in the shop and handed it to an assistant who wrapped it up for her as quickly as possible. Then the woman simply took the par-
209
cel and walked out of the shop without paying. When she was arrested, the detective found out that the shop assistant was her daughter Alice. The girl “gave” her mother a free dress once a week!
A.They don’t have to go to court because theft is only an act of dishonesty.
B.It will result in a minor criminal charge that can destroy their reputation in the community.
C.They will be accused of committing a crime and face a criminal trial.
3. , ( . * ! ! '
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a defence witness |
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a prosecutor witness |
Mrs. Carroll |
a victim |
Alice |
a defendant |
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a defendant |
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a suspect |
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a juror |
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Detective |
a judge |
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a prosecutor witness |
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) the prosecution and the defence
b)the judge and the jury
c)the criminal procedure and the civil procedure.
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