ENGLISH-IN-LAW. Textbook

TASK 15 a) Read the text:

Judges

Judges play a central role in English legal system. According to English unwritten constitution, judges, who are employed to hear legal cases, are expected to deliver their decisions (known as judgments) in a completely impartial manner. They are required to apply the law strictly without allowing any personal preferences to affect their decision making. They make their decisions based on the law and facts. They have a very sensitive but extremely important role.

There are a number of courts to which judges can be appointed. They are selected based on their experience, ability and good character. Judges are appointed by the Judicial Appointments Commission. To become a judge, you must have had a number of years’ work experience in the courts as a barrister or solicitor.

b) Use the active vocabulary of previous texts and a law dictionary to look up the following concepts. Use them in your own sentences to describe some recent cases:

to hear legal cases, to deliver decisions, judgments, to apply the law, facts, a barrister, a solicitor

c)Answer the following questions:

•What role do judges play in your legal system?

•How do you understand the statement: “Judges are expected to deliver their decisions in a completely impartial manner.”

•In what sense is the role of judges sensitive in: “They have a very sensitive but extremely important role.”?

•What do the concepts ‘ability’ and ‘good character’ imply in: “They are selected based on their experience, ability and good character.”?

•Are judges appointed or elected in your country? Which is the best way to select judges in your opinion?

•Would you like to be a judge? Say: why/why not.

TASK 16 Do you find legalising music sharing over the internet a good idea? Divide into groups and discuss a bill to make

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TASK 3 a) Study the collocations and find synonyms for to issue a law, to pass a law, to change a law, to enforce a law, to invalidate a law, to apply a law, to interpret a law, to toughen a law, to bring a law up to date, to break a law:

to publish a law, to introduce a law, to make a law, to adopt a law, to enact a law, to administer a law, to implement a law, to put a law in force, to avoid a law, to repeal a law, to revoke a law, to annul a law, to nullify a law, to void a law, to repeal a law, to invoke a law, to follow the law, to comply with a law, to abide by the law, to observe the law, to obey the law, to respect the law, to violate a law, to disobey the law, to contravene the law, to trespass the law, to alter a law, to amend a law, to comment a law, to rede a law, to tighten a law, to update a law.

b) Continue the list and find further collocations. Describe the current situation in your country with the help of these collocations. Do judges in your legal system interpret laws?

TASK 4 Study the following collocations. What other word combinations with the adjective ‘legal’ do you know? Consider if you can find and define any equivalents of these conceptions in your legal system:

legal abuse, legal act, legal action, legal body, legal aid, Legal Aid Board, legal authority, legal awareness, legal burden, legal case, legal circumstance, legal citation, legal claim, legal competence, legal contract, legal costs, legal custody, legal decision, legal detention, legal education, legal entity, legal estates, legal executives, legal evidence, legal fiction, legal fraud, legal investigation, legal marriage, legal medicine, legal power, legal procedure, legal rights, legal wrong

TASK 5 Use the text to complete the following sentences:

1.The witenagemot … as is the Althing … established in Iceland in 930.

2.… thus incorporated the executive (king), legislative, and judicial functions of the government.

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3.… also called by the Latin term parliamentum, was also applied to … and representatives of the commons … when called by the king for a colloquium … .

4.… in the 13th century during the reign of England’s Edward I.

5.…. were kept beginning in 1278.

6.The separation of the king’s council (today’s Cabinet) began … .

7.By the end of the reign of Henry V in 1422 … .

8.… Parliament began to develop as a purely legislative body.

TASK 6 a) Nowadays the noun assembly has several meanings, for example:

assembly 1) a group of persons gathered together for a common reason, as for a legislative, religious, educational, or social purpose

2)a legislative body

3)the lower house of the legislature in certain U.S. states

4)a regular meeting of all the teachers and students of a school

b)Give the definition of and discuss the following bodies and conceptions:

the General Assembly, constituent assembly, legislative assembly, national assembly, freedom of assembly, to impose conditions on public assemblies

c) Learn more about the following assemblies:

the London Assembly – a group of 25 people who are elected every four years, and who are responsible for checking the performance of the Mayor of London.

the House of Assembly – a legislative body or the lower house of a legislature (as in various British colonies, protectorates, and countries of the Commonwealth of Nations)

the Welsh Assembly – the parliament for Wales which was established in 1999 and has the power to make laws in Wales. The leader of the parliament is the First Secretary, and its 60 members are called AMs – Assembly Members. They are elected by a system of proportional representation.

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the Northern Ireland Assembly – a political assembly set up as part of the 1998 Good Friday peace agreement. The assembly has 108 members, six from each of the 18 constituencies in Northern Ireland. The assembly has an executive of up to 12 ministers, whose responsibilities include health, education, environment and finance.

TASK 7 a) Study the following information:

The synonym of the word “body” in some meanings is the word

“agency” and “service”:

b) Look up the following phrases in dictionary:

government agency, watchdog agency, law-enforcement agency, the Central Intelligence Agency, education agency, food inspection agency, child protection agency

c) service an administrative division (as of a government or [countable] business), a government branch or department of public employment and its employees, the official system/organization that provides something

needed by the public:

the health service, the postal service, the police service, Her Majesty’s Prison Service

d) civil service 1) the government departments that manage the affairs of the country, those branches of public service of the government that are not legislative, judicial, or military and in which employment is usually based on competitive examination

2) the entire body of persons employed by the civil branches of a government, the body of government officials who are employed in civil occupations that are neither political nor judicial. In most countries the term refers to employees selected and promoted on the basis of a merit and seniority system, which may include examinations

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e) More phrases to look up:

the consular service, the diplomatic service, a consumer information service, the emergency services (=police, hospital, and the fire service), the essential services (=the police, hospitals, fire service, and organizations that provide basic things such as water, gas, or electricity), Internal Revenue Service, National Health Service, secret service, security service

TASK 8 Use the following information to describe civil service:

In earlier times, when civil servants were part of the king’s household, they were literally the monarch’s personal servants. As the powers of monarchs and princes declined and as, in some countries, their sovereignty was denied them, appointment became a matter of personal choice by ministers and heads of departments. The influence senior civil servants may wield over policy and the need for them to work in close harmony with ministers induce all governments to insist on complete freedom of choice in appointments, even when, as in Great Britain, the freedom is rarely invoked. In some countries, notably the United States, senior advisers usually are replaced whenever a new administration takes office.

In Europe in the 19th century, appointment and promotion frequently depended on personal or political favour, but tenure was common in the lower and middle ranks once an appointment had been made. But this is not true nowadays.

The forerunners of civil servants, being members of the royal household, had duties but no rights. The first attempts to formalize methods of appointment and conditions of service were among the administrative innovations introduced in Prussia in the 18th century. Elsewhere attempts were frustrated by political and public objections. Increased formal regulation of conditions of service came about when civil servants organized themselves into professional groups, sometimes barely distinguishable from trade unions. The fact that civil servants are agents of the public power, providing services on which law, order, and public health depend, has raised the question whether they should be permitted to strike; if they cannot lawfully strike, they are deprived of the main weapon in pressing for improvements in their conditions of service. Thus,

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there have developed special arrangements for reviewing conditions of service periodically and for settling contentious issues. In particular, it has been necessary to have a properly recognized system for regulating conduct and discipline.

In the United Kingdom, traditional standards are supplemented or revised to accord with recommendations from periodic commissions of enquiry, which pay special attention to official conduct in relation to political activities and business dealings.

In France and Germany these codes of conduct have been based mainly upon the rules of administrative law and the jurisprudence of administrative courts, although certain civil service rights and duties are specified in constitutional law.

In other countries, particularly in the United States and India, conduct and discipline are regulated by administrative rules and codes promulgated by executive order after discussion and enquiry.

The standards placed upon a civil servant’s conduct are partly those to be expected of any loyal, competent, and obedient employee and partly those enjoined upon a public employee. Ideally, the civil servant should be above any suspicion of partiality and should not let personal sympathies, loyalties, or interests affect the performance of duties; for example, a civil servant is obliged to be circumspect in private financial dealings. As a general rule, a civil servant is not allowed to engage directly or indirectly in any trade or business and may engage in social or charitable organizations only if these have no connection with official duties. There are always strict limits on a civil servant’s right to lend or borrow money, and they are prohibited from accepting gifts.

TASK 9 Learn more about the UK legislation:

• Why are new laws needed?

One of Parliament’s main roles is debating and passing statute law (legislation). The Government introduces most plans for new laws, with many included in the Queen’s Speech at the opening of each session of Parliament, and changes to existing laws. However, new laws can originate from an MP or a Lord.

Emergency issues such as the threat of terrorism, pressure on the Government to update old laws and case law in the courts,

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interpreting, clarifying and re-applying established principles of statute law, all contribute to the need for new laws.

• Who is consulted about changes to the law?

Before draft laws, known as Bills, are introduced into Parliament, there is often consultation or discussion with interested parties such as professional bodies, voluntary organisations and pressure groups.

• White and Green Papers

Proposals for legislative changes may be contained in government White Papers. These may be preceded by consultation papers, sometimes called Green Papers, which set out government proposals that are still taking shape and seek comments from the public. There is no requirement for White or Green Papers to be introduced before a Bill is introduced into Parliament.

Green Papers

Green Papers are consultation documents produced by the Government. Often when a government department is considering introducing a new law, it will put together a discussion document called a Green Paper.

The aim of this document is to allow people both inside and outside Parliament to debate the subject and give the department feedback on its suggestions.

Copies of consultation documents such as Green Papers and White Papers which are produced by the Government are available on the related departmental websites.

White Papers

Documents produced by the Government setting out details of future policy on a particular subject. A White Paper will often be the basis for a Bill to be put before Parliament. The White Paper allows the Government an opportunity to gather feedback before it formally presents the policies as a Bill.

• Draft Bills and pre-legislative scrutiny

A Draft Bill is a Bill that is published to enable consultation and pre-legislative scrutiny before a Bill is formally introduced into either the House of Commons or House of Lords.

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A Draft Bill is considered, often by a departmental select committee in the Commons or by a joint committee of Lords and Members of the Commons. This allows MPs and Members of the Lords to have early influence on the Bill. This process is known as pre-legislative scrutiny.

• Do all Bills apply to the whole of the UK?

Some Bills apply to the whole of the UK.

However, Bills may apply to one or more constituent parts – for example, only to England and Wales. Law-making powers in some subjects rest with the Scottish Parliament, the Welsh Assembly and the Northern Ireland Assembly, rather than the UK Parliament.

• International and EU legislation

Sometimes new laws are also needed to ensure that the UK complies with international or EU legislation.

TASK 10 Study the history of law in the 13th century:

In the 13th century the development of law became a dominant concern,asisshownbythegreattreatise“OntheLawsandCustoms of England”, attributed to the royal judge Bracton but probably put together in the 1220s and ’30s under one of his predecessors on the King’s Bench. Soon after Edward’s return to England in 1274, a major inquiry into government in the localities took place that yielded the so-called Hundred Rolls, a heterogeneous group of records, and brought home the need for changes in the law.

In 1275 the First Statute of Westminster was issued. A succession of other statutes followed in later years, providing a kind of supplement to the common law. Some measures protected the king’s rights; others remedied the grievances of his subjects.

In the quo warranto proceedings set up under the Statute of Gloucester of 1278 the magnates were asked by what warrant they claimed rights of jurisdiction and other franchises. (The quo warranto inquiry was instituted by Edward I when he succeeded to the throne in 1272. He instituted proceedings whereby his royal justices investigated the claim of every lord who claimed to have a franchise of a hundred court—a court leet—inquiring ‘by what warrant’ the lord made such a claim. The lord had to prove that

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