ENGLISH-IN-LAW. Textbook

Text 12

COMMON LAW AND STATUTE LAW

The law in England developed over the centuries from the combined decisions of judges, the decisions based on rules already established. Known popularly as the common law, it was embodied in reports of decided cases that originated in the early Middle Ages. The broad acceptance of the common law in England was largely due to the dominant position of the royal courts, especially the King’s Court established at Westminster (now part of London). The royal judges went out to the provincial towns and interpreted the law of Westminster in both civil and criminal cases. Hence common law came to apply everywhere in England. This early centralization of the court system removed the necessity of importing into England any foreign system, such as Roman law.

Statute law differs from common law in that it is legislation, or codes of law made by legislative bodies such as parliaments, congresses, and legislatures. In England, for example, statutes are passed by Parliament. In the United States laws are passed by the Congress in Washington, D.C. Each state in the United States has its own legislature that makes statute laws, and there are many local lawmaking bodies such as city councils and town councils as well. Statute law grew up because conditions arose to which common law did not apply.

The chief difference between common law and statute law is that common law is based on what has happened, on precedents, while statute law is passed to meet present circumstances and future possibilities. The complexity of modern society in every industrialized nation has bred an enormous amount of statute

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law that affects the private and public life of every individual — there are laws on compulsory education, taxation, regulation of businesses, protection of the environment, and many more.

In recent years, governments under the common-law system have increasingly adopted statute laws and regulations. In this situation, the difference between common law and statute law has become much less distinct than it once was.

TERMS AND NOTIONS:

Common law, also called Anglo-American law – the body of customary law based upon judicial decisions and embodied in reports of decided cases, which has been administered by the common-law courts of England since the Middle Ages. Common law stands in contrast to the rules developed by the separate courts of equity, to statute law, and to the legal system derived from civil law now widespread in Western Europe and elsewhere.

Statute law – a law passed by a parliament, council, etc. and formally written down.

Precedent – an official action or decision that has happened in the past and that is seen as an example or a rule to be followed in a similar situation later.

Regulation – 1. an official rule made by a government or some other authority. 2. controlling something by means of rules.

TASK 1 a) ACTIVE VOCABULARY. Read the text. Consult a dictionary to find the meanings of the following words and word combinations:

combined adj., combine v. rule n.

embody v. report n. originate v.

dominant adj., dominate v. interpret v.

hence adv.

legislation n., legislative adj. statute n.

arise v.

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precedent n. complexity n. affect v. taxation n. distinct adj.

b) Use the correct word in the appropriate grammar form from the list above.

1.The system of charging taxes is …

2.The difference between common law and statute law has become less …

3.The … of law are clearly explained.

4.The cost of transport is a major expense for an industry. … factory location is an important consideration.

5.Several important legal questions … in the contract negotiations.

6.Japan became … in the mass market during the 1980s.

7.Every enactment has to … … and the courts are the recognized interpreters of the law.

8.Voters demanded more control over decisions that directly … them.

9.… is enacted law.

10.The … effects of the war and the drought resulted in famine.

11.How did the plan …?

12.The … are less strict in the local county courts.

13.Education issues … the election campaign.

14.These principles … … in the Declaration of Human Rights.

TASK 2 Match the words from the box with their definitions:

affect v., rule n., distinct adj., embody v., complexity n., report n., precedent n., originate v., legislation n., dominant adj.

1.to express or represent an idea or a quality.

2.a statement of what may, must or must not be done in a particular situation.

3.to have influence on smb./smth.

4.to happen or appear for the first time in a particular place or situation.

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5.aspokenorwrittendescriptionofsmth.containinginformation that smb. needs to have.

6.an official action or decision that has happened in the past

7.more important, powerful or noticeable than other things.

8.a law or a set of laws passed by a parliament.

9.clearly different or of a different kind.

10.the state of being difficult to understand.

TASK 3 a) Use a dictionary and look up the meanings of the following words:

rule v., rule n., ruling n., adj., ruler n., overrule v.

b) Fill in the gaps with one of the words above. Use the words in the appropriate grammar form. Translate the sentences:

1.The judge … that the woman should have custody of the children.

2.Everybody heard about the recent Supreme Court …

3.It is not a crime though it is a breach of stock market …

4.The House of Lords … the decision of the Court of Appeal.

5.Queen Victoria … England for 64 years.

6.A … class clearly existed.

TASK 4 Match the words on the left with their synonyms on the right:

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TASK 5 Make up sentences with the following words to describe one of the existing royal dynasties:

rule n., combined, embody, dominant, interpret, arise, complexity, affect v., distinct

TASK 6 Change the structure of the sentences without changing the sense (find synonymous words and constructions):

1.The law in England developed over the centuries from the combined decisions of judges.

2.The common law was embodied in reports of decided cases that originated in the early Middle Ages.

3.The broad acceptance of the common law in England was largely due to the dominant position of the royal courts, especially the King’s Court established at Westminster.

4.Hence common law came to apply everywhere in England.

5.The complexity of modern society in every industrialized nation has bred an enormous amount of statute law that affects the private and public life of every individual.

TASK 7 Consult a dictionary and give as many derivatives of the following words as possible: combined, rule, embody, originate, dominant, interpret, legislation, taxation, distinct

TASK 8 a) Study the following information:

There are a number of participles in English. We will study the

Present Participle (with the suffix -ing) and the Past Participle

(regular verbs form it with the suffix -ed, irregular verbs must be looked up in the dictionaries).

The Present Participle says what a person or thing is doing. (the minister heading the delegation = the minister who heads the delegation).

The Past Participle shows that a person or thing has been affected or caused by an action. (the delegation headed by the minister = the delegation which is headed by the minister)

b) Find all the participles in the text. Explain their usage.

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TASK 9 Put the verbs in brackets in the proper grammar form:

1.American political system is deeply rooted in the principles … (develop) in the course of British political history.

2.When Englishmen left their homeland to establish colonies in the New World, they brought with them charters ... (guarantee) that they and their heirs would “have and enjoy all liberties and immunities of free and natural subjects”.

3.The present system of American government evolved from the first thirteen colonies … (found) along the eastern coast of North America.

4.The newly elected lawmakers passed laws … (aid) farmers and … (curb) idleness, improper dress and drunkenness.

5.Representative government was an … (establish) tradition in America well before the colonists declared their independence from Great Britain in 1776.

6.Forty one men, … (represent) all the Pilgrim families, drew up “The Mayflower Compact” in the tiny cabin of their ship.

7.Although they were British subjects the first American colonists enjoyed a degree of freedom … (deny) to most people in the world.

8.Each English colony had its own government … (consist) of a governor, a legislature, and a court system.

9.An Indian legend, … (pass along) from generation to generation, credits Hiawatha, a famous Indian Chief, with giving the speech that laid the foundation for unity. … (follow) Hiawatha’s speech the leaders discussed and adopted the idea of a confederation.

TASK 10 Answer the following questions:

1.What forms and constitutes the common law?

2.Why was the common law prevalent in England?

3.Why was there no need for other legal systems?

4.What is statute law?

5.What makes the principal distinction between statute law and common law?

6.Why did statute law appear?

7.What changes caused the obsolescence of the difference between statute law and common law?

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TASK 11 To comment on the following quotatio use the following phrases:

“In my opinion/in my view ...”, “As far as I am concerned …”, “I would like to stress/emphasize that …”, “It should be noted that …”, “It’s worth bearing in mind that …”, “In other words …”, “I am certain/uncertain that …”

“Law is valuable not because it is law, but because there is right in it.” (Henry Ward Beecher, 1813-1887, an American Congregational clergyman, reformer, and author)

TASK 12 Use the information in the text to compare common law and statute law. Discuss their advantages and disadvantages.

TASK 13 a) Retell the text:

Statute law refers to law that has been created by Parliament in the form of legislation. Although there has been a significant increase in statute law in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, the courts still have an important role to play in creating and operating law generally and in determining the operation of legislation in particular. This is despite the fact that there is no express democratic authority for the court to be law-makers.

b)Agree or disagree with the following:

•The courts should take part in creating and operating law.

•Courts in every country should have such powers.

•Enforcement of legislation should be determined by courts only.

•“There is no express democratic authority for the court to be law-makers.”

TASK 14 Work with a partner. Role-play a professor from the country with common law system and a student from the country where common law is not established. What questions would you ask the lecturer?

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Text 13

THE AMERICAN SYSTEM OF LAW

Law in the United States has become a complex blend of common and statute law. When the first English colonists came to America in the 17th century, they brought English customs with them, but there was little expertise in law. Colonial charters, or agreements with England, gave the colonists the Englishmen’s traditional rights that had developed as part of the common law. An example is the right to trial before a jury of one’s peers, or equals. But there were few men trained in the law, few judges, and no schools of law. Local jurisdictions passed their own statutes to meet specific situations.

By the early 18th century, there were lawyers practicing in the colonies. They used English law books and followed English procedures and precedents. In 1701 the colony of Rhode Island accepted English law in full, subject to local legislation. The Carolinas soon followed suit, and eventually most of the colonies had their own mixture of English common law and local statute. Legal battles before the American Revolution were fought on common-law principles. After the revolution many Americans wanted to divorce themselves from English practices, but other European legal systems were too different and written in unfamiliar languages. The ‘Commentaries’ of William Blackstone had been printed in the colonies in 1771 and had come into wide use. Thus, despite the objections of many citizens, English common law remained the heart of the American legal system. The work of Blackstone was reinforced by judges in the United

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States. As chief justice of the Supreme Court, John Marshall had a powerful influence in shaping the development of constitutional law through his legal decisions. In the 1830s two important judges, James Kent of New York and Joseph Story of Massachusetts, produced significant commentaries on common law, stressing the need for legal certainty.

Along with the development of the common-law tradition in the United States, there has also arisen an enormous body of statute law on the federal, state, and local levels. This body of law has been made to work well with the common-law tradition by means of the American judiciary. In 1803 in one of the most famous decisions in the area of constitutional law — Marbury vs. Madison — Chief Justice John Marshall ruled that federal courts are the final authority in determining the conformity of all laws with the federal Constitution. In addition, the Sixth Article of the Constitution makes the Constitution the supreme law of the land, “anything in the constitution or laws of any state to the contrary notwithstanding.” Later, in 1868, the 14th Amendment guaranteed to every citizen of the United States the equal protection of the laws.

TERMS AND NOTIONS:

Jurisdiction – 1. the authority that an official organization has to make legal decisions about smb./smth. 2. an area or a country in which a particular system of laws has authority.

Constitutional law –lawsrelatedtoorbasedontheConstitution of a country.

Blackstone, William (1723—1780) – a prominent English lawyer, the author of “Commentaries”, in which he explored English common law as the basis for English legal decisions (as opposed to traditional Roman law). This remains a basic text for English and American law scholars. The Founding Fathers were familiar with Blackstone’s work and used it as a foundation for the US Constitution.

Marbury v. Madison – the first decision of the Supreme Court of the USA (1803) to declare an act of Congress unconstitutional, thus establishing the doctrine of judicial review.

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