ENGLISH-IN-LAW. Textbook

very demanding – she could have played it with one hand tied behind her back.

be a dab hand (BrE, AuE) – to be very good at an activity:

I hear you’re a dab hand with the paintbrush (at painting).

dirty your hands (get your hands dirty — informal) – to become involved in bad activities that might spoil other people’s opinions of you: The royal family don’t usually dirty their hands with politics.

fall into someone’s hands / fall into the wrong hands – to be caught or controlled by someone (a dangerous person or an enemy): There were concerns that the weapons might fall into the hands of terrorists. Guard your secrets to be sure they don’t fall into the wrong hands.

(work) hand in glove (with someone/something) (BrE, AmE, AuE) – if one person or organization is working hand in glove with another, they are working together, often to do something dishonest: It was rumoured at the time that some of the gangs were working hand in glove with the police. Usage notes: sometimes used in the form go hand in glove – to be closely related: Researchers believe that mental well-being and physical strength go hand in glove.

give someone a hand – to help someone: If you have any trouble with your homework, I’ll be glad to give you a hand.

gain/get/have the upper hand (often + over) – if someone has the upper hand, they have a position of power and control over someone else, and if an emotion has the upper hand, it controls what you do: Government troops are gradually gaining the upper hand over the rebel forces. I shouldn’t have read the letter, but curiosity got the upper hand.

come/go cap in hand (BrE, AmE, AuE) (often + to) – to ask someone for money or help in a way which makes you feel ashamed: I had to go cap in hand to my parents again to ask for some money.

live (from) hand to mouth – to have just enough money to live on and nothing extra: Low wages mean a hand-to-mouth existence for many people.

have time on your hands – to have time when you have nothing to do: Now that her children are all at school, she has a lot of time on her hands.

overplay your hand (mainly AmE) – to try to get more advantages from a situation than you are likely to get: I’m going to

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ask for promotion but I think it might be overplaying my hand to ask to work fewer hours as well.

show your hand – to tell people your plans or ideas, especially if you were keeping them secret before: I’m a bit reluctant to show my hand at this stage in the proceedings.

wring your hands – to show that you are very sad or anxious about a situation but do nothing to improve it: It’s not enough for us to stand by and wring our hands – we’ve got to take action.

tip your hand (AmE) – to let other people know what you are planning to do: Some people think Smith will announce today that he’s quitting, but he certainly didn’t tip his hand at yesterday’s meeting.

TASK 14 Define what the following idioms could mean:

1.His manager had given him a free hand to make whatever changes he felt necessary.

2.Information dug up in the investigation forced the president’s hand, and he resigned much sooner than anyone expected.

3.What people want is a president with a firm hand on the tiller.

4.As a child I was always dressed in my sister’s hand-me-downs and I longed for something new to wear.

5.Crime usually goes hand in hand with poor economic conditions.

6.We don’t put our label on anything unless we have a hand in designing and producing it.

7.I do a bit of teaching now and then just to keep my hand in.

8.If you ever get/lay your hands on this house, I’d love to have a look.

9.Right now I’ve got my hands full with preparations for the conference.

10.Many people are ready to join hands to improve health care around the world.

11.So long as we rely on them for money, they have the whip hand.

12.If we allow terrorists to disrupt our lives to that extent we’re just playing into their hands.

13.People are more inclined to put their hands in their pockets to help children.

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14.With impressive sleight of hand he produced two pigeons out of his top hat.

15.Goodwin worked as a journalist, and he also tried his hand at writing fiction for a time.

16.You wait till I get my hands on her – I’ll kill her!

17.I do not see how anyone working with such corrupt and greedy people could have clean hands/keep his hands clean.

18.To enforce each new law the president uses persuasion first, and then force – the iron hand/fist in the velvet glove.

TASK 15 a) Retell the text:

Law is a necessary evil to resolve disputes.

It is certainly true that law plays a less important role in some societies than it does in England: in China and Japan, for example, law is seen as a last resort and disputes are resolved partly by reference to tradition and partly by a process of conciliation.

Even here, however, most scholars see law as a necessary evil: St Augustine (Algerian Christian philosopher, born 345) said it was a natural necessity to curb man’s sinful nature. Secular scholars also tend to agree on the need for law to respond to human nature.

But there can be another problem. If law-making and law enforcement do not work properly they can’t resolve disputes and law can become a dead letter that is neither obeyed nor enforced.

b) Agree or disagree with the following:

Law is a necessary evil.

Law can play different roles in society.

Sometimes disputes can be settlled out of court.

TASK 16 Read the following stories. Defend and prosecute these criminals in a mock trial:

While calling to confirm a narcotics deal, one restaurant employee accidentally pocket-dialled 911 and the police department received a call hearing every detail involving the drug deal.

A middle-aged man convicted of robbing a store decided to fire his lawyer and take charge of the case himself. And during the

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store manager’s testimony, he jumped up, accused this manager of lying, and said: “I should have blown your head off!” and added: “If I’d been the one that was there.” The jury took about twenty minutes to convict him and his accomplice guilty.

TASK 17 Comment on the following:

“Any law which violates the inalienable rights of man is essentially unjust and tyrannical; it is not a law at all.” (Maximilien Robespierre, 1758-94, one of the best-known and most influential figures of the French Revolution, in “Déclaration des droits de l’homme”, 24 April 1793)

“In England, justice is open to all – like the Ritz Hotel.” (James Mathew, 1830—1908, an Irish judge, in R.E. Megarry’s book “Miscellany-at-Law”, 1955)

“Bad laws are the worst sort of tyranny.” (Edmund Burke, 1729—1797, an Anglo-Irish statesman, author, orator, political theorist, and philosopher, in his Speech at Bristol previous to the Late Election, 1780)

TASK 2 Put the verbs in brackets into passive:

2.His works are so popular that they often (to refer to)

3.When the mother felt worse the doctor (to send for)................

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Text 19

HISTORY OF GOVERNMENT (PART B)

The final emergence of national governments is attributed to two principal causes. One comprises a number of underlying economic causes, including a great expansion in trade and the development of manufacturing. These conditions began to undermine the feudal system, which was based on isolated and self-suf- ficient economic units, and to make necessary the creation of large political units. The other cause was the Reformation, which succeededineliminatingtherestraininginfluenceoftheCatholicChurch on political development in a number of European countries.

The modern nation-state became a definite form of government in the 16th century. It was almost entirely dynastic and autocratic. The will of the reigning monarch, in theory and often in practice, was unlimited; the famous aphorism of King Louis XIV of France, “L’etat, c’est moi” (“I am the state”), was not an idle boast, but an expression of existing reality. In time, however, the demand of the bourgeoisie for constitutional and representative government made itself felt, and the unlimited powers of monarchs began to be challenged. In England, the Glorious Revolution in 1688 restricted such powers and established the pre-emi- nence of Parliament. This tendency culminated in two events of historic importance, the American Revolution, beginning in 1775, and the French Revolution, beginning in 1789. Historians generally date the rise of modern democratic government from these events. The history of government in the 19th century and in part of the 20th is notable for the broadening of the political base of government through extension of suffrage and other reforms. A tendency that became especially marked in the 20th century was

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the development and implementation of the concept that government, in addition to maintaining order and administering justice, must be an instrument for administering public and social services including, among many others, conservation of natural resources, scientific research, education, and social security. Between 1945 and 1951, the Labour party government of Great Britain extended the responsibilities of government to include nationalization of a number of basic industries in a need for stringent economic planning. Other massive developments of the 20th century were the appearance of the corporative state and of totalitarian governments in a number of countries, and the first so-called proletarian dictatorship in history, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. From the late 1940s until the end of the 1980s, most eastern European countries adjacent to or near the USSR had governments similar in many respects to that of the USSR.

TERMS AND NOTIONS:

Aphorism – 1. a tersely phrased statement of a truth or opinion; an adage. 2. a brief statement of a principle. The word comes from the French “aphorisme”, from Old French, from Late Latin “aphorismus”, from Greek “aphorismos”, from “aphorizein” (to delimit, define). The noun “aphorism” means a concise expression of doctrine or principle or any generally accepted truth conveyed in a pithy, memorable statement. Aphorisms have been especially used in dealing with subjects that were late in developing their own principles or methodology — for example, art, agriculture, medicine, jurisprudence, and politics.

The Labour party government of Great Britain 1945-1951 –

The Second World War saw a major shift in political attitudes within Britain, and led to a landslide victory for Clement Attlee in 1945. This government introduced sweeping reforms of industry and the creation of the welfare state. Attlee’s government nationalised major industries, founded the National Health Service, and developed the idea of welfare from cradle to grave paid for out of taxation and available to everyone free of charge. Much of the welfare state is still in force today. The Labour Party has also been a strong proponent of social reform. The death penalty was abolished and divorce was made easier. Unease from a perceived large number of immigrants from Commonwealth countries also led to four Race Relations Acts, all of which were passed under Labour governments.

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Nationalization – alteration or assumption of control or ownership of private property by the state. It is historically a more recent development than and differs in motive and degree from “expropriation” or “eminent domain,” which is the right of government to take property for particular public purposes (such as the construction of roads, reservoirs, or hospitals), normally accompanied by the payment of compensation. Nationalization has often accompanied the implementation of communist or socialist theories of government, as was the case in the transfer of industrial, banking, and insurance enterprises to the state in Russia after 1918 and the nationalization of the coal, electricity, gas, and transport industries in the United Kingdom and France between 1945 and 1950. More recently, a further impetus has been resentment of foreign control over industries upon which the state may be largely dependent, as in the nationalization of the oil industries in Mexico in 1938 and Iran in 1951, and in the nationalization of foreign businesses in Cuba in 1960. A third motive for recent nationalizations may be the belief in some developing countries that state control of various industrial operations is at least temporarily necessary because of the lack of a developed capital market or supply of entrepreneurs in the domestic private sector.

Corporative state — the theory and practice of organizing society into “corporations” subordinate to the state. According to corporatist theory, workers and employers would be organized into industrial and professional corporations serving as organs of political representation and controlling to a large extent the persons and activities within their jurisdiction. However, as the “corporate state” was put into effect in fascist Italy between World Wars I and II, it reflected the will of the country’s dictator, Benito Mussolini, rather than the adjusted interests of economic groups. It was adapted in modified form under other European dictatorships, among them Adolf Hitler’s National Socialist regime in Germany and the Spanish regime of Francisco Franco.

Totalitarian government — form of government that theoretically permits no individual freedom and that seeks to subordinate all aspects of the individual’s life to the authority of the government. Italian dictator Benito Mussolini coined the term totalitario in the early 1920s to describe the new fascist state

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of Italy, which he further described as: “All within the state, none outside the state, none against the state.” By the beginning of World War II, “totalitarian” had become synonymous with absolute and oppressive single-party government.

Bourgeoisie – the social order that is dominated by the socalled middle class. In social and political theory, the notion of the bourgeoisie was largely a construct of Karl Marx (1818—83) and of those who were influenced by him. In popular speech, the term connotes philistinism, materialism, and a striving concern for “respectability,” all of which were famously ridiculed by Molière (1622—73) and criticized by avant-garde playwrights since Henrik Ibsen (1828—1906).

Proletarian dictatorship – in Marxism, rule by the proletariat — the economic and social class consisting of industrial workers who derive income solely from their labour — during the transitional phase between the abolition of capitalism and the establishment of communism. During this transition, the proletariat is to suppress resistance to the socialist revolution by the bourgeoisie, destroy the social relations of production underlying the class system, and create a new, classless society.

the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics – former northern Eurasian empire (1917/22—1991) stretching from the Baltic and Black seas to the Pacific Ocean and, in its final years, consisting of 15 Soviet Socialist Republics — Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belorussia (now Belarus), Estonia, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kirgiziya (now Kyrgyzstan), Latvia, Lithuania, Moldavia (now Moldova), Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, and Uzbekistan. The capital was Moscow, then and now the capital of Russia.

TASK 1 a) Read the text. Look up the following words and word combinations in a dictionary:

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b) Complete sentences with the following words and phrases: addition, adjacent, administer justice, attributed, idle boast, social security, challenge, suffrage, restrict, scientific research, maintain order, nationalisation, responsibility (there is one word/word combination you don’t need):

1.Leading members of the Intelligent Design movement are coming to Shrewsbury on the anniversary of Charles Darwin’s birth to … some of the naturalist’s popular theories.

2.“It is your function to… … ,” attorney James Wymard told jurors before sentencing.

3.… … that will form the basis for Scottish Executive policies is backed with a £200m grant.

4.His claim to be a “wildlife warrior” was not an … … .

5.The Government will retain … for policy, including helping with the procurement of a contractor to deliver the scheme and determining people’s eligibility for it.

6.Four marshals will help … … and deter troublemakers at three locations.

7.It is ninety years since British women first won the right to vote but many young women remain disengaged with the political process at this anniversary of women’s …

8.The department’s main purpose is to provide … … coverage for the residents of Guernsey and Alderney and for migrant workers and their families.

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