Английский язык. Профессиональная лексика для юриста. Учебное пособие

k)money awarded by a court in compensation for loss or injury

l)the area of the law concerned with non-criminal matters, rights and remedies

m)a person against whom a civil action is brought in court

n)a person who starts an action against someone in the civil courts

Exercise 5. Match the English phrases with their Russian equivalents.

Exercise 6. Find in the text the English equivalents for the following words and expressions. If necessary, make some changes to the original phrase.

1.Использовать в более широком смысле.

2.Противопоставить общему праву.

3.В основе лежит решение суда.

4.Следует разграничивать частное и публичное право.

11

5.Следует помнить.

6.Разница базируется на принципиальных отличиях.

7.«Пирог», который надо поделить.

8.В исключительных случаях.

9.В отличие от этого.

10.В соответствии с нормами договорного права.

11.Особенно важен.

12.Большое значение придаётся личной свободе.

Language Development

Exercise 1. Mark the statements which are true and prove your idea, making use of the text.

1.The legal term “civil law” expresses three notions.

2.Civil law is contrasted with Roman law.

3.Civil law is opposed to criminal law.

4.English Law does not know the division into private and public.

5.In the UK there is such a body of civil law which is similar to Belarus and Russia.

6.If there is a victim, the injured person gets compensation, which is paid by the Queen.

7.In a civil case under contract law, there is a possibility of punitive damages.

8.Punitive damages are particularly important in torts where the actual monetary injury to plaintiff(s) may be small.

9.Legal theory considers the possibility of paying damages as much more serious than incarceration.

10.Civil defendants have more rights and protections than criminal defendants.

Exercise 2. Complete the following sentences.

1.The legal term “civil law” is used in its broader sense to refer to …

2.Civil law is the branch of law seeking …

3.In general terms, private law is …

4.The main categories of civil law correspond to …

5.The main function of civil law is …

6.The objectives of civil law are …

7.In criminal law, a guilty defendant is punished by …

8.So-called punitive damages are never awarded …

12

9.Torts involving dignitary harm and civil rights are dealt with …

10.Due to the fact that high value is placed on personal freedom …

Exercise 3. Speak on the essence of civil law, using the following plan. Pay attention to the way certain verbs are used.

Two notions expressed by the legal term “civil law”: to use in a broader sense, to refer to sth, to be based on/upon sth, to be contrasted with sth, to be opposed to sth, to seek sth, to resolve disputes, to provide a legal remedy, to solve problems.

Civil law in Continental law and Common law: to distinguish sth from sth, to involve sth, to be familiar to sb, to divide sth into sth, to correspond to sth.

The difference between civil and criminal law: to differ from sth, to allocate sth to sb, to invoke sth, to reimburses sb for losses, to award damages to sb, to show disregard for the rights, deter sb from sth, to consider sth as sth, to place high value on sth.

TEXT B. Civil Legislation

Read the text and get ready to discuss it.

Civil legislation defines the legal status of participants in civil circulation, grounds for the rise and order for the exercise of property right and other real rights, the rights to the results of intellectual activity, regulates relations between persons engaged in entrepreneurial activities, or the activity with their participation, contractual and other obligations, as well as other proprietary and related personal non-property relations.

Relations connected with the exercise and defense of inalienable rights and freedoms of the person and other intangible benefits (personal non-property relations, not connected with the proprietary ones), are regulated by civil legislation, as far as otherwise does not follow from the essence of these relations.

Participants in relations regulated by civil legislation are citizens of the Republic of Belarus (thereinafter referred to as citizens), legal persons of the Republic of Belarus (thereinafter referred to as legal persons), the Republic of Belarus, administrative territorial units of the Republic of Belarus (thereinafter referred to as administrative territorial units).

All citizens are equally recognized as having capacity to enjoy civil rights and bear duties (the citizen’s legal capacity).The citizen’s legal capacity arises with birth and ends with death.

13

In accordance with the legislation, citizens may possess property by right of ownership; inherit and bequeath property; to be engaged in entrepreneurial and any other activity not prohibited by the legislation; create legal persons independently or jointly with other citizens and legal persons; conduct any lawful transactions and assume obligations; choose the place of residence; hold copyright on works of science, literature and art, inventions and other products of intellectual activity protected by the law; have other property and personal non-property rights.

Civil legislation proceeds from recognizing the equality of participants in relations regulated thereby, i.e. the subjects of civil law participate in civil relations as equals, are equal before the law, can not enjoy any advantages and privileges contradicting the law, and have the right, without being discriminated, to equal protection of the rights and legal interests.

Participants of civil legal relations acquire and exercise their civil rights willfully and to their benefit. They are free to set their rights and responsibilities on a contractual basis and to stipulate new contract terms and conditions unless these are contrary to legislation.

Civil rights and duties shall arise from the grounds provided for by the legislation, and also from the actions of citizens and legal persons which, though not stipulated by the law and such acts, give rise to civil rights and duties by virtue of general principles and tenor of civil legislation. In accordance therewith civil rights and duties shall arise:

1)from contracts and other transactions provided for by the legislation, and also from contracts and other transactions which although not provided for by the legislation, are not contrary thereto;

2)from acts of state agencies and local administration and selfgovernment bodies stipulated by the law as grounds for the rise of civil rights and duties;

3)from a court ruling which has established civil rights and duties;

4)as a result of creating and acquiring property on the grounds not prohibited by the legislation;

5)as a result of creating works of science, literature, art, inventions, and other products of intellectual activity;

6)on account of damage inflicted on some other person;

7)on account of unjust enrichment;

8)on account of other actions of citizens and legal persons;

9)on account of events to which the law relates the ensuing of civil and legal consequences.

14

Citizens and legal persons have the right to protection of violated or disputed civil rights in the court of law (in the economic court) and by other ways provided by the legislation. Self-protec- tion of civil rights is permissible as well. Nevertheless, self-protec- tion methods must be adequate to the breach and never surpass the scope of actions required to prevent it.

The defense of civil rights shall be exercised by means of: recognizing the right;

restoring the status quo as it existed before the breach of the right;

preventing actions that violate the right or create a threat of its violation;

recognizing avoidable transaction as invalid and applying consequences of its invalidity, applying consequences of invalidity of the null transaction;

recognizing an act of the state agency or local self-government body as invalid;

self-protection of the right;

adjudging to the execution of the duty; compensating for losses;

enforcing a penalty; undoing moral damage;

terminating or changing the legal relation;

non-application by the court of law of the conflicting act issued by a state agency or local self-government body;

other means provided for by the law.

Exercise 1. Read an extract from the Civil Code of Belarus in Russian and reorder its English translation.

15

ственного органа или органа местного управления

и самоуправления;

13)иными способами, предусмотренными законодательством.

Exercise 2. Read an extract from the Civil Code of Belarus and translate the Russian fragments into English.

Grounds for the emergence of civil rights and obligations

Civil rights and obligations arise from the grounds provided for by the law, as well as from actions of a) граждан и юридических лиц which, though not stipulated by the law and such acts, give rise to civil rights and duties by virtue of general principles and tenor of civil legislation.

16

Accordingly, civil rights and obligations arise:

1)from b) договоров и иных сделок provided for by the law, as well as c) договоров и иных сделок that, not being provided for by the law, do not d) противоречат it;

2)from acts by state agencies and local self-government bodies e) предусмотренных by the law as grounds for the rise of civil rights and duties;

3)from a f) судебного решения that has established civil rights and duties;

4)as the result of g) создания и приобретения имущества on grounds permitted by the law;

5)as the result of creating works of science, literature, art, inventions and h) иных результатов интеллектуальной деятельности;

6)on account of i) вреда inflicted on some other person;

7)on account of j) неосновательного обогащения;

8)on account of other actions by citizens and legal persons;

9)on account of events to which the law relates the ensuing of k) гражданско-правовых последствий.

Exercise 3. Translate into English.

1)Собственность может быть государственной и частной. Субъектами права государственной собственности являются Республика Беларусь и административно-территориальные единицы. Субъектами права частной собственности являются физические и негосударственные юридические лица.

2)Собственник вправе по своему усмотрению совершать в отношении принадлежащего ему имущества любые действия, не противоречащие законодательству, общественной пользе

ибезопасности, не наносящие вреда окружающей среде, историко-культурным ценностям и не ущемляющие прав

изащищаемых законом интересов других лиц, в том числе отчуждать свое имущество в собственность другим лицам, передавать им, оставаясь собственником, права владения, пользования и распоряжения имуществом, отдавать имущество в залог и обременять его другими способами, а также распоряжаться им иным образом.

3)Право собственности на имущество, которое имеет собственника, может быть приобретено другим лицом на основании договора купли-продажи, мены, дарения или иной сделки об отчуждении этого имущества.

17

4)Собственник может передать свое имущество в доверительное управление другому лицу (доверительному управляющему). Передача имущества в доверительное управление не влечет перехода права собственности к доверительному управляющему, который обязан осуществлять управление имуществом в интересах собственника или указанного им третьего лица.

5)В случаях, предусмотренных законодательными актами, имущество может быть безвозмездно изъято у собственника в виде санкции за совершение преступления или иного правонарушения (конфискация). При этом конфискация имущества в административном порядке допускается лишь с соблюдением условий и порядка, предусмотренных законом.

Exercise 4. Read the job advertisement for an attorney.

Vacancy

Civil Law attorney (65,000 per year)

A medium-sized city law fi rm is seeking an attorney with civil law experience. Primary responsibility is handling tort law cases. Most cases involve clients suing for monetary damages because of personal injuries. The attorney will assist clients in filing for injunctions when needed. They will also be required to prove liability and establish the negligence of the defendants. Our clients generally require compensation for medical costs, loss of earnings and punitive damages. The attorney may also be involved in other cases, including probate and divorce cases.

Benson and Cutler Law Firm

For further information

Please contact

a)Discuss the meaning of the words in bold type with the tutor.

b)Choose the correct answer.

1. Which area of law will the attorney mainly specialize in?

18

2. Which of the following is NOT part of the job?

3. What can be said about most of the clients at Benson and Cutler?

Exercise 5. Role-play a job interview with a candidate using Active Vocabulary of the instant unit. The interviewer is supposed to provide further information on the duties and other issues involved. The interviewee’s aim is to get the employer interested.

TEXT C. Tort

Read and translate the text in writing. Make up the summary.

Among the main categories of civil law there are torts, trusts and contracts.

A tort is a wrong arising from a violation of a private duty. When a wrong has been done that has caused harm to someone, the law generally allows the injured person to recover monetary damages from the wrong-doer. Originally the person who brings suit for a tort is the person whose property has been damaged or who has sustained personal injury. In some torts, not only the immediate victim has the right to sue but also persons standing in certain relationships to the victim. Thus, under certain circumstances, one spouse can sue for an injury to the other spouse, or a parent can sue for an injury to the child.

But the mere fact that a person is hurt or harmed in some way does not mean that such a person can sue and recover damages from the person causing the harm. There must exist a recognized basis for liability.

The consequences of an act may be said to be intended when the person acting contemplates that they will necessarily or probably follow from it, whether that consequence be desired for its own sake or not. It is said that a man is presumed to intend the probable consequences of his acts, but failure to anticipate probable consequences is really negligence rather than intention.

The most common torts result from negligence rather than intent. Negligence is the failure to exercise the care that an ordinary prudent person would use under similar circumstances in dealing

19

with other people. A broad variety of tort claims, such as personal injury claims in automobile accidents, are based on a general theory of negligence. It would be impossible to enumerate the occasions on which a duty to take care arises, nor has the law exhaustively defined them. But we may notice the duty of persons who use vehicles upon highway to prevent them from being a source of danger to those upon the highway.

There are two chief categories of torts: intentional torts and torts resulting from negligence. The core element in an intentional tort is an intent, or purpose to cause harm to another. Intentional torts are divided into torts against person and torts against property. Torts against individuals are assault, battery, false imprisonment, malicious prosecution, intentional infliction of emotional distress. Torts against property are trespass to land, trespass to chattels, and conversion.

Torts involving negligence are malpractice and emotional distress. Some torts are not classified as intentional or negligent. These include defamation and product liability. The tort of defamation consists of publishing a statement that injures the reputation of a person or organization. If the statement is spoken, the tort is known as slander. Defamation is known as libel when the statement is expressed visually, through words or images. Under the tort of product liability, when a product causes injury due to a fault in design or manufacture, or a failure to warn or instruct about a danger, the manufacturer may be liable to the injured user. This tort can be based on negligence.

Basically, every person committing a tort is liable for damages for the harm caused thereby. However, certain persons and entities are not subject to tort liability. This is called immunity from liability. Governments are generally immune from tort liabilities. And very young children are immune from tort liability as well.

Points for discussion

1.The legal term “civil law”.

2.Civil rights and obligations.

3.Civil litigation.

4.The main category of Civil Law is tort.

Revision Translation

Возмещение морального вреда

В англо-американском прецедентном праве широко используется практика возмещения морального вреда. Если срав-

20