Английский язык. Профессиональная лексика для юриста. Учебное пособие

Unit IV

FAMILY LAW

Subject of study:

A.What is Family Law?

B.Marriage and its Types

C.Parents and Children

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TEXT A. What is Family Law?

Read and translate the text. Do the exercises given below.

Family life and the relationship between mothers, fathers, sons and daughters is one of the defining points of humanity. An individual is shaped and moulded by the experiences they have as a part of a family. This is why it is all the more tragic when families separate through bitterness or abusive treatment, and why it is all the more important to have laws in place to protect the people who need it most.

The word family is one which is difficult to define precisely. In one sense it means all blood relatives who are descended from a common ancestor; in another – a group of individuals related by blood, marriage or adoption who live together under common household authority and who have reciprocal duties to each other. The interpretation of the word family in a law context depends upon the area of the law concerned. These areas include marriage, separation and divorce; adoption, custody and support of children; domestic partnership and related matters, such as law of probate, rights of succession, wills, deprivation of parental rights, domestic violence and some others.

Family law is the body of legislation that deals with issues relating to families and other domestic relationships. Family law regulates the legal aspects of relationships between married couples, unmarried cohabitants, and, increasingly, same-sex partners who live together. The main areas of family life that family law covers are: the nature of the relationship between a couple, whether they are married, joined in a civil union or a domestic partnership. The issues that can arise throughout the period of the relationship such as adoption, surrogacy, child abuse, spousal abuse or legitimacy issues arising out of the termination of the relationship such as annulment, property settlements, divorce and the further issues of parental responsibility that can follow issues regarding children such as child maintenance or schooling arrangements.

In the past, family law was closely connected with the law of property and succession, and, judging from the records available, it must have originated principally in the economic and property questions created by the transfer of a female from her father’s family to the power and guardianship of her husband. Even with regard to the relationship between parent and child, legal concepts such as guardianship, custody, and legitimacy were associated with family

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power structures and family economic interests. Family law also traditionally has to do with matters of personal status for example, the question of whether a person is to be considered married or single, legitimate or illegitimate – though the incidents and importance of these distinctions often derive from the law of property.

Family law shares an interest in certain social issues with other areas of law including criminal law. For example, one issue that has received considerable attention since the late 20th century is the very difficult problem of violence within the family, which may take the form of physical violence by one adult member on another or by an adult on a child or some other violent or abusive conduct within a family circle. In serious cases the only real solution may be to terminate cohabitation or to remove an abused child from the family unit into some form of public or foster custody.

Vocabulary Practice

Exercise 1. Read the words and guess their meaning. Mind the stress.

Exercise 2. Write derivatives and translation to the given words.

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Exercise 3. Match the English and Russian equivalents.

Exercise 4. Match the words (1-11) with their proper definitions (a–k).

7.surrogacy g) when a child is born to unmarried parents

8.dissolve h) the relationship between members of the

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Exercise 5. Match the words from column A with the suitable words from column B.

14.considerable

15.parental

Exercise 6. Read the text and fill in the blanks with suitable words or word combinations in the correct form from the box below.

The Family

Most American families consist of a mother, a father, and three or four children living at home. There may be relatives and 1.____

in the same community, but American families usually maintain close 2.____. This 3.____ is known as the 4.____. Although the nu-

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clear 5.____ is economically independent of the rest of the family, members of the whole family group often maintain 6.____.

Marriage in the United States is viewed as a matter of individual responsibility and decision. Most American men 7.____ by the time they are 25, and the husband is usually two or three years older than his wife.

Marriage is preceded by 8.____, that is, young men and women going out together. Although serious dating with a commitment to marriage is the familiar type of 9.____ in many cultures, there is a 10.____ attached to the 11.____. American dating system, which usually begins in the early teens. For instance, it is perfectly respectable for friends to arrange a 12.____, that is, a date between two young people who have not met before. By the late teens a pattern of 13.____ dating develops, which is often followed by marriage or by a 14.____, which is, in effect, a public statement of the intention to marry.

After their marriage the young couple is free to decide where to live and when to start a family. 15.____ information is easily available, and the practice of limiting the size of families has general approval. The birth rate has been 16.____ steadily in recent years.

If the couple finds that their marriage was a 17.____, they are free to 18.____ or 19.____. The divorce rate has almost doubled in the past fifty years, and current statistics indicate that one of every three marriages will end in divorce. Many people 20.____ these figures and blame them on the 21.____. A number of sociologists, on the other hand, say that this increase in divorces does not indicate less happy, balanced families. Instead, they point to changes in the laws that have made a 22.____ easier to get and to changes in attitudes that have made divorce more 23.____ than it had been years ago. It’s also a 24.____ that since the prevailing majority of divorcees 25.____, divorce marks a temporary, rather than a permanent 26.____.

Exercise 7. Use the words given in brackets to form a word that fits in the space according to the meaning.

The Problem of Cohabitation

Cohabitation by (define) is “two unmarried people of the (oppose) sex living together”. It has been called by a (vary) of terms, such as “living together”, “shacking up”, or “living in sin”. The numbers of (cohabit) have risen steadily from an average rate of nearly 100,000 per year since 1960 to over 4 million couples.

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Today in America, cohabitation has (place) marriages as the (prevail) form of male-to-female unions and has become a subtle form of (court). In many universities, it is being taught as an (accept) alternative (arrange) and as a good strategy as a test run or trial before marriage.

There is, (fortune – neg.), an ever-growing (collect) of research data that sheds a highly (favour – neg.) light on live-in (relate). Marriage is one shoe you cannot try before you buy it. Cohabitation is a heavy (contribute) to the (integrate – neg.) of most marriages even before they begin! Recent studies have shown that marriage (commit) that are preceded by living together have more than a 50 per cent higher (disrupt) – divorce or (separate) – rates than those without cohabitation. Cohabitation is the (vision – neg.), front end cancer of marriage!

In other words, the traditional (family) form of a mother and father raising children under the same roof is being (grade) replaced by alternative family and (parent) patterns. Over the past 15 years, the fastest growing family practices have been out-of- wedlock (bear), followed by stepfamilies, and then split households. Although marriage is (norm) important for civilized society, from all (indicate), the USA are (retrieve – neg.) becoming a mixed “live-in”, “divorce” and a “non-marriage” culture, all at the same time.

Language Development

Exercise 1. Answer the following questions on the text.

1.What is a family?

2.What does it symbolize to an individual, to society at large?

3.On what depends the interpretation of the word family?

4.Why do many sociologists consider that the family unit is in crisis today?

5.What for did the family exist in the past?

6.What new opportunities gave women legal changes?

7.Are there any significant developments as far as the roles of men and women in the family are concerned? How is it reflected on women’s desire to combine the mother role with a career?

8.Cohabitation as an alternative lifestyle has become a common living arrangement. What are the partners guided by?

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9.Do you agree that a healthy society is dependent on a stable family life?

10.What is your vision of a strong, balanced family?

Exercise 2. Read the article devoted to family violence and discuss its main points.

It is impossible to calculate how much of the crime and imprisonment in this country is caused, directly or indirectly, by family violence.

About 80 per cent of women in prison have been victims of child abuse, sexual abuse, or domestic violence.

When do women take action?

The turning point may come when a woman can no longer hide the scars and bruises. Or when her own financial resources improve, when the kids grow up – or when she begins to fear for their safety. Sometimes, neighbours hear screaming and call police – or a doctor challenges a woman’s made up story about how she got those broken ribs.

To tell the truth cops hate domestic calls – in part because they are so unpredictable. A neighbour may simply report a disturbance and cops have no idea what they will find on the scene. The parties may have cooled down and be sitting in stony silence. Or one may be holding the other hostage, or the kids. Sometimes, warring spouses even turn on cops – which is why, many police forces send them in pairs and tell them to maintain eye contact with each other at all times. But many cops still don’t see such calls as real police work.

Many cities have started training programs to make police take domestic-violence calls more sensitively – and seriously.

Women are scared and want the violence to stop. Ten days later when they get the subpoena to appear in court, the situation has changed. The idea of putting someone you live with in jail becomes impossible. Pressing charges is just the first stop. The victim is faced with a range of potential legal remedies: orders of protection, criminal prosecution, family-court prosecution, divorce, a childcustody agreement. Each step is complex and time-consuming, requiring frequent court appearances by the victim – and the abuser.

But those in the field say the question is whether the justice system can’t solve a highly complex social problem. We need to rethink what we’re doing. Prosecution isn’t a panacea. We put it on when there is an emergency and we keep it on as long as necessary. But the question is, then what?

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