ENGLISH-IN-LAW. Textbook
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American Revolution — refers to the period during the last half of the 18th century in which the Thirteen Colonies gained independence from the British Empire to become the United States of America. In this period, the Colonies united against the British Empire and entered into the armed conflict known as the Revolutionary War (also, mostly in British usage, ‘American War of Independence’), between 1775 and 1783. This resulted in an American Declaration of Independence in 1776, and victory on the battlefield in October 1781.
French Revolution — (1789—1799) was a period of political and social upheaval in the political history of France and Europe as a whole, during which the French governmental structure, previously an absolute monarchy with feudal privileges for the aristocracy and Catholic clergy, underwent radical change to forms based on Enlightenment principles of nationalism, citizenship, and inalienable rights.
Herodotus – a Greek historian who lived in the 5th century BC (c. 484 BC—c. 425 BC) and is regarded as the ‘Father of History’ in Western culture. He was the first historian to collect his materials systematically and arrange them in a well-constructed and vivid narrative. He is almost exclusively known for writing The Histories, a record of his ‘inquiries’ into the origins of the Greco-Persian Wars and for many long digressions concerning the various places and peoples he encountered during wide-ranging travels around the lands of the Mediterranean and Black Sea.
Plato (428/427 BC-348/347 BC) — a Classical Greek philosopher, who together with his teacher, Socrates, and his student, Aristotle, helped to lay the philosophical foundations of Western culture. Plato was also a mathematician, writer of philosophical dialogues, and founder of the Academy in Athens, the first institution of higher learning in the western world. Plato was originally a student of Socrates, and was as much influenced by his thinking as by what he saw as his teacher’s unjust death.
Aristotle (384 BC—322 BC) — a Greek philosopher, a student of Plato and teacher of Alexander the Great. He wrote on many different subjects, including physics, metaphysics, poetry, theatre, music, logic, rhetoric, politics, government, ethics, biology and zoology.
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city-state — a region controlled exclusively by a city, usually having sovereignty. Among the most creative periods in human history is when the Greek city-states, and the city-states of Renaissance Italy organized themselves in small independent centres. Ancient Greek cities had their own governments, laws and armies. The city and the land it controlled around it made up the citystate.
TASK 1 a) Read the text. Look up the following words and word combinations in a dictionary:
to mean v |
evil adj |
collection n |
to apply (to smth.) v |
to imply v |
mob n |
consent n |
welfare n |
citizen n |
to rest (on smth.) v |
resident n |
to operate v |
society n |
to consider v |
to realise v |
the rest (of smth.) n |
sentiment n |
to hold power |
to rule v |
a great deal |
benefit n |
political order |
ancient adj |
as well as |
corruption n |
to be crucial (to smth.) |
virtuous adj |
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b) Complete sentences with the following words and phrases: apply, collection, consent, consider, great deal, imply, mean, mob, realise, ruled, sentiment, society, virtuous (there is one word/word combination you don’t need):
1.He also had a small … of key rings.
2.The fact that our decision making process is mechanical does not … it’s rational.
3.Scotland Yard says its officers did tell Commons officials that they could not search an MP’s office without … .
4.What does it … to be a resident?
5.But with a potential £20m Premiership prize at stake, there will be no room for public … inside a packed Millennium Stadium.
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6.What aspects of … and culture would you like to cover?
7.About 30 people reading a newspaper enter a shop in Leeds for the city’s first flash … .
8.The proceeding attracted a … …. of attention.
9.This new prohibition will also … to pubs which are showing the games on television.
10.Social mobility is good in societies where the prevailing values are … .
11.In 1903 the Sokoto caliphate, which … parts of what is now northern Nigeria, Niger and southern Cameroon, fell under British control.
12.The Ministry of Justice said in a statement he would … the inquiry’s findings seriously.
TASK 2 a) Check how well you know the text:
1.What meaning of the word ‘government’ do you know?
2.How does Lincoln define government?
3.How does Henry David Thoreau define government?
4.What was the situation like in America and France before revolutions?
5.How did Greek writers describe the nature and functions of government?
6.What types of government did the ancient Greek writers distinguish?
7.What demerits can be found in each type?
8.Define six types of government.
9.How did Aristotle define political order?
10.What types of government can be called unconstitutional?
11.What other collocations including the word ‘constitutional’ do you know?
b) Agree or disagree:
1.Nations can survive without a constitution in the modern world.
2.All modern governments are democratic.
3.“The idea of constitutionalism is crucial to understanding the kinds of government.”
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TASK 3 Match the words on the left with their definitions on the right:
1) to derive from |
a) to forego, to forerun, to antedate |
2) to pilot |
b) to decide, to deduce, to infer, to reason |
3) to imply |
c) to mean |
4) to realise |
d) to come from, to spring from |
5) to support |
e) to steer |
6) to conclude |
f) to provide, to fund |
7) to rest on |
g) to express, to enounce, to proclaim |
8) to enunciate |
h) to become aware of, to understand |
9) to precede |
i) to be based on, to build on |
10) consent |
j) opinion, view, attitude |
11) notion |
k) agreement, compliance, assent |
12) sentiment |
l) mainly, chiefly, principally |
13) benefactor |
m) advantage, favour, profit |
14) primarily |
n) protector, defender |
15) benefit |
o) idea, concept |
TASK 4 a) Study the meanings of the following words:
1) notion n [countable] an idea, belief or opinion (especially one
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that is false or not very clear) |
notion of: |
misguided notions of male superiority. We |
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haven’t the faintest notion of her where- |
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abouts. The traditional notion of marriage |
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goes back thousands of years. |
notion that: |
the notion that human beings are basi- |
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cally good. She had no notion what he |
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meant. |
accept/challenge/reject They reject the notion of group guilt. a notion:
2) concept n [countable] someone’s idea of how something is, or should be done: a revolutionary concept in industry. It’s very simple, once you grasp the concept.
concept of: |
It’s difficult to grasp the concept of infi- |
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nite space. |
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concept that: |
the concept that we are citizens of one |
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world. |
3) conception n |
a) [countable, uncountable] a general idea |
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about what something is like, or a general |
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understanding of something (look: concept) |
conception of: |
theconceptionofparliamentarydemocracy. |
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He’s got a really strange conception of |
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friendship. |
have no conception of: |
You’ve no conception of what conditions |
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are like. They have no conception of what |
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women really feel and want. |
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b) [uncountable] a process in which some- |
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one forms a plan or idea (look: conceive): |
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The conception of the book took five |
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minutes, but writing it took a year. |
4) conceptual adj |
dealing with ideas, or based on them: the |
(formal) |
conceptual framework of the play. |
conceptual art |
art in which the main aim of the artist is |
[uncountable] technical |
to show an idea, rather than to represent |
(often — concept art) |
actual things or people. |
5) conceive v |
a) [intransitive and transitive] formal to |
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imagine a particular situation or to think |
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about something in a particular way |
(cannot) conceive of |
Many people can’t conceive of a dinner |
(doing) smth.: |
without meat or fish. |
conceive that: |
He could not conceive that anything really |
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serious could be worrying his friend. |
conceive what/why/ |
I can hardly conceive what it must be like |
how: |
here in winter. |
conceive of smth./smb. |
Language may be conceived of as a pro- |
as smth.: |
cess which arises from social interaction. |
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b) [transitive] to think of a new idea, plan, |
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etc. and develop it in your mind: Scientists |
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first conceived the idea of the atomic bomb |
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in the 1930’s. |
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6) ill-conceived |
not planned well and not having an aim |
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that is likely to be achieved: The policy |
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was ill-conceived and wrong-headed. |
b) Use the words notion, concept, conception, conceptual, conceive, ill-conceived to complete the sentences:
1.I don’t share his … of our joint venture.
2.I was especially struck by the … of time as a feature of interaction between the various elements of the universe.
3.Bertie seems to misunderstand the … of this book.
4.We are too tied up with traditional mono-ethnic thought, that we are unable to … of Esperanto’s different, democratic, pluricultural approach.
5.I reject the … that no reforms are needed in the field.
6.His first expedition, however, was … and too hastily organised.
7.It is hard to … of any more serious offences against the dignity and the lives of human beings than this one.
8.We have already discussed Aristotle’s … of government.
9.The proposals may sound popular but it is no excuse for them being … or legally and morally wrong.
10.But coming across this invention made me wonder about other … which never went from design to execution, and technologies which were built but never sold.
11.We’ve no … of his plans.
12.I cannot … of what on earth you thought you were doing.
13.They rejected our plan because it was … . Next time we’ll consider all possible details.
14.Paul doesn’t actually understand what legal … is.
15.A driverless car which is controlled by computer and uses lasers toavoidobstaclesisbeingdemonstratedinaNorthamptonshire town. The town tries out Cybercar … .
16.We had a vague … of what we’re going to do.
TASK 5 Make up your own sentences with the nouns ‘concept’, ‘conception’ and ‘notion’ to speak on legal theory and legal systems.
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TASK 6 a) Study the following information:
government 1) also Government [usually singular also + plural verb BrE]
the group of people who govern a country or state:
Neither party had the majority necessary to form a government (=become the government after an election).
2)[uncountable] a form or system of government, the political system by which a country or community is administered and regulated:
Most people in the country support the return to democratic government.
3)[uncountable] the process or way of governing:
They discussed the importance of good government in developing countries.
4)[uncountable] AmE the degree to which the government controls economic and social activities:
The protest march was really about big government (=when the government controls many activities).
b)Complete the following sentences:
1.The government of our country has tightened restrictions on … .
2.The Government are planning further cuts in … .
3.A meeting with government officials … .
4.The restructuring of government departments … .
5.Government spending on … totals about $60 billion a year.
6.… are unlikely under the present government of that country.
7.The country now has a … government for the first time.
8.What would the … do if they were in government (=governing the country)?
9.A … (=government made up of members of several political parties) will now be established.
TASK 7 Make up sentences with the following phrases to describe different types of government:
under a government, in government, to form a government, a coalition government, a local government, a central government, a city government, a big government, a democratic government, a totalitarian government.
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TASK 8 Study some popular metaphors relating to the executive and the legislature:
9 figurehead: a leader whose powers are entirely symbolic, such as a constitutional monarch.
9 Government in the sunshine: a government which keeps all its records and documents open and easily accessible by the public.
9 puppet government: a government that is manipulated by a foreign power for its own interests.
9 straw man: a person set up to serve as a cover for a usually questionable transaction.
9 star chamber: a secretive council or other group within a government that possesses the actual power, regardless of the government’s overt form.
9rider: an attachment to some document, such as a legislative bill or an insurance policy, that amends or supplements the document.
9 a trigger law: a law that will automatically ‘spring’ into effect once some other variable occurs.
9sacred cow: an institution which few dare question, because it is so revered.
9lame duck: a politician (in the USA) who has lost an election, or who is serving his last term in an office where the law limits the number of times he may succeed himself, and is simply waiting for his term to expire.
TASK 9 a) Find participles in the text and translate the sentences.
b)Choose the correct form:
1.This greatest work was the last painting doing / done by the artist.
2.It seems to be a very interesting / interested story.
3.When we met he was a completely broking / broken man.
4.I can see several people standing / having stood at the bank.
5.She stood for a moment confusing / confused and frightening / frightened.
6.The defeating / defeated team slowly left the field.
7.Everyone finds the circus exciting / excited.
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8.The circus tent is always filled with exciting / excited children.
9.I usually find hockey very boring / bored.
10.You will be disappointing / disappointed if you fail the exam.
TASK 10 Use the verbs in brackets in the appropriate form:
1.I stood inside the shop (not know) what to buy.
2.James hesitated for a moment (not understand) what was going on.
3.(tell all the information) he knew the witness left the box.
4.We stood at the hotel (wait for a taxi).
5.When (be asked) to take part in this research he agreed at once.
6.A new road will soon be built (connect) the city with the railway station.
7.I decided to go to bed earlier (be very tired).
8.(strictly speak) the problem is not so easy as it seems to be.
9.(come back home last evening) he had a nasty accident.
10.We came back tired and angry (wait for the train all day long).
TASK 11 Put the verbs in brackets into Past Participle. Translate the sentences:
1.He proposed a breach of law, which if (discover) would bring them into the city court.
2.He answered through the (lock) door.
3.The housekeeper had come out of the room (attract) by the violent ringing of the bell.
4.As if (turn) with inner conflict and indecision, she cried.
5.I hate people who cry over (spill) milk.
6.Though (astonish) by her interest in the details of the accident I went on with my story.
7.He will certainly come if (ask).
8.She screamed as if badly (hurt).
9.If (leave) to myself I should inevitably have lost my way.
10.When (put) to vote the resolution was carried unanimously.
TASK 12 a) Retell the text:
Is the role of law to protect the subjects from an encroaching modern state?
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Margaret Thatcher (British prime minister, born 1925) advocated the ‘rolling back of the state’ where individuals were responsible for their actions and welfare.
EP Thompson (English Marxist historian, born 1924) was critical of what has in fact been the increasing role of the law in the lives of individual subjects in a way that has undermined civil liberties while following its own concept of public interest.
Subsequent to Thompson’s writing there have been a number of high profile cases of civil liberties being ridden over to support the state’s interest, for example the Matrix Churchill trial.
b) Agree or disagree with the following:
Individuals are responsible for their actions and welfare. Government can undermine civil liberties in public interest.
The main role of law is to protect the subjects from state’s encroachment.
Government can represent a danger for ordinary people.
c) Use the internet and other resources to find what the Matrix Churchill trial is.
TASK 13 Discuss the following:
Thomas Jefferson said “the execution of laws is more important than the making of them”. Do you agree or disagree with this statement? Think about the role of law-making and executive bodies. Divide into groups to discuss the importance of both legislative and executive bodies. Give arguments and examples to prove your point of view.
TASK 14 Comment on the following:
“Two things fill the mind with ever new and increasing wonder and awe, the more often and the more seriously reflection concentrates upon them: the starry heaven above me and the moral law within me.” (Immanuel Kant, 1724—1804, a German philosopher from Königsberg (Kaliningrad), in ‘Critique of Practical Reason’, 1788)
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