English_for_Lawyers_2011

Unit 3. Fundamental Changes in Civil Procedure in the UK. Section 2. Basic Principles...

Pre-action protocols were introduced3 after the reform in 1999 to speed up the early parts of the litigation process. Pre-action protocols encourage greater contact between the parties at the earliest possible opportunity in order to encourage better and earlier exchange of information with a view to4 fair and early settlement of claims. Pre-action protocols can be enforced5 by the court and are also seen as an aspect of the courts’ new responsibility of case-management under the Civil Procedure Rules.

II.DEVELOPMENT

1.React to the following statements: agree or disagree. Support your answers by information or facts from the text.

1.Civil Procedure Rules is the Rules of the Supreme Court.

2.The reform was proposed by the Lord Chancellor in 1996.

3.As a result of this reform civil procedure in the UK became purely inquisitorial.

4.The main objective of the reform was to raise prestige of judges and to make their role more important.

2.Find in the text the information to answer the following questions:

1.Who is “the father” of the reforms in civil judiciary?

2.What is the main idea of the reform mentioned in the text?

3.What fundamental change did Lord Woolf’s proposals envisage?

4.What changes of the civil procedure were introduced after the reform in 1999?

3.Scan the text to find the words which mean: a. регулювати;

b. доступ до правосуддя; c. попередній;

d. передбачати; e. відповідний;

f. альтернативне вирішення спорів.

4.To summarize the text, complete the sentences:

1.Civil Procedure Rules is … .

2.It is a result of … .

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3.The main idea of the reform is … .

4.The proposals for the reform are based on the following principles:…

5.The fundamental change is that the reform led to … .

6.The main results of the radical changes … .

III. PRACTICE AND EXPERIENCE

1.INTERVIEW. Work in pairs.

Choose the role you’d like to play: One person is the interviewer (a journalist/a lawyer/a law student or some other person of your choice) and the other – the interviewee – Lord Woolf.

1The interviewer. Prepare 10 questions to ask your groupmate, who takes the role of the interviewee about the civil procedure reform in the UK.

2The interviewee. Think about the possible questions his/her character might be asked and prepares answers.

Present the interview to your groupmates in the class.

IV. WRITING

1. Use the facts and language you have learnt from the texts of this Unit and from the previous ones to compare the main points of civil procedure in the USA and the UK in written form.

The following phrases will help you to describe similarities and contrasts: as compared with, like, unlike, both, both … and, neither of, the same is true of.

V. OVER TO YOU

1.You are offered some facts about the history of the civil procedure reforms in the UK. Using the prompts, information from the texts of the Unit and some additional information, make up the descriptive article to be published in some Ukrainian law magazine.

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Unit 3. Fundamental Changes in Civil Procedure in the UK. Section 2. Basic Principles...

History of the Reform

In 1994, the Lord Chancellor instructed the Master of the Rolls, Lord Woolf, to report on options to consolidate the existing rules of civil procedure.

In June 1996 Lord Woolf presented his "Access to Justice Report 1996" ["Access to Justice Final Report", by The Right Honourable the Lord Woolf, Master of the Rolls, July 1996, "Final Report to the Lord Chancellor on the civil justice system in England and Wales"] in which he "...identified a number of principles which the civil justice system should meet in order to ensure access to justice. The system should:

(a) be "just" in the results it delivers; (b) be "fair" in the way it treats litigants; (c) offer appropriate procedures at a reasonable "cost"; (d) deal with cases with reasonable "speed"; (e) be "understandable" to those who use it;

(f) be "responsive" to the needs of those who use it; (g) provide as much "certainty" as the nature of particular cases allows; and (h) be "effective": adequately resourced and organised." Lord Woolf listed two of the requirements of case management as: "...fixing timetables for the parties to take particular steps in the case; and limiting disclosure and expert evidence".

The second thread of the report was to control the cost of litigation, both in time and money, by focussing on key issues rather than every possible issue and limiting the amount of work that has to be done on the case.

The report was accompanied by draft rules of practice designed to implement Lord Woolf's proposals. These rules: granted wide management powers to the court proposed that cases be allocated to one of three tracks depending on their nature, limiting or requiring specific actions; and introduced the concept of proportionality to the costs regime.

Implemented as a result of reforms suggested by Lord Woolf and his committee, one of the revelations of the rules is the Overriding Objective embodiedinPart1oftheRules,whichstates:(1)TheseRulesareanewprocedural code with the overriding objective of enabling the court to deal with cases justly.

(2) Dealing with a case justly includes, so far as is practicable – (a) ensuring that the parties are on an equal footing; (b) saving expense; (c) dealing with the case in ways which are proportionate – (i) to the amount of money involved; (ii) to the importance of the case; (iii) to the complexity of the issues; and (iv) to the financial position of each party; (d) ensuring that it is dealt with expeditiously and fairly; and (e) allotting to it an appropriate share of the court’s resources, while taking into account the need to allot resources to other cases. 1.2 The court must seek to give effect to the overriding objective when it – (a) exercises any power given to it by the Rules; or (b) interprets any rule.

The rules are written not just for lawyers but are intended to be intelligible for a litigant in person.

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Unit 4. Notary System

Section 1. Notary Bodies of Ukraine

I. WARMING-UP

1. Answer the following questions:

1.What kind of legal profession is not directly connected with judicial proceedings?

2.What problems does a notary deal with?

3.What is the notary responsible for as a public official?

4.Have you ever been to a notary? What was the reason?

2.Match the following English words and expressions with their Ukrainian equivalents:

3.Practise reading of the given words. Pay attention to the pronunciation of the sound.

authority authorized authenticity authenticate oath of allegiance

TEXT 1

Read the text to understand what information on notary bodies of Ukraine is of primary importance or new for you.

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Unit 4. Notary System. Section 1. Notary Bodies of Ukraine

NOTARY BODIES OF UKRAINE

Notes: draughtsman (=draftsman) автор документа, законопроекту shorthand (writer) стенографіст

draught (draft ) of will проект заповіту conveyance передача (майна)

The origin of the term “notarius” traces back to the Roman law, where it meant a draughtsman, a shorthand writer, who took notes of the proceedings in the Senate or a court, prepared draughts of wills, conveyances, etc.

The role of the notary in civil law countries is much greater than in common law countries. The most typical areas of practice for civil law notaries are in property conveyance and registration, contract drafting, commercial transactions, successions and other estate related matters. They usually have no authority to appear before courts on behalf of their clients; their role is limited to drafting, authenticating, and archiving certain types of important transactional documents.

The notary service board (notariate) in Ukraine is the system of notary bodies and officials whose functions are to certify rights and facts of legal significance and to perform other notarial acts provided for by the law in order to give them legal authenticity.

Notarial acts in Ukraine are committed by the public notaries, working in the state notary offices and the record offices (archives), and private notaries. The documents drawn up by the public and private notaries have identical legal force. The only difference between them is that fees for services charged by public notaries are regulated and set by the state. Fees paid to private notaries are not regulated and are set by private notaries themselves.

The notarial acts may also be exercised by the authorized public officials of the executive committees in the local councils, consulates or diplomatic representative offices of Ukraine.

Notaries are not allowed by law to work in courts, police, and prosecutor’s office and represent people in courts or any other government offices.

Notaries of Ukraine are empowered to discharge their professional duties in strict conformity with the law and the oath of allegiance, to provide legal aid to citizens, enterprises, public organizations in realization of their

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rights and in the defence of their legal interests, to explain their rights and duties, to warn them about the consequences of their notarial acts.

The public notaries are authorized to perform the following notarial

acts:

1)to attest contracts, wills, transactions, deeds, marriage contracts, powers of attorney, etc;

2)to verify copies of documents, to authenticate signatures, translations of documents;

3)to certify hereditary rights, deeds of purchase-and-sale, conveyance of property, gifts;

4)to certify the fact that a citizen is alive;

5)to certify the fact that a citizen stays in a certain place;

6)to certify the identity of a citizen and the person on the photo;

7)to perform certain official acts, especially in commercial matters, such as protesting notes and bills;

8)to prepare marine protests.

Every notarized document (agreement, contract, certificate) is issued on numerated, special paper form, protected by security features and is registered in the notary book which is kept after completion in regional record office for good.

II.COMPREHENSION

1.A. Give the definitions for the following terms and expressions or explain in other words:

1.oath of allegiance

2.record notary office

3.will

4.power of attorney

5.succession

B. Answer the following questions using the information from

the text:

1.What is the origin of the word “notarius”?

2.What are the main functions of a civil law notary?

3.What are the main tasks of the Notary Service Board of Ukraine?

4.Who can perform notarial acts in Ukraine?

5.Is there any difference between public and private notaries?

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6.What activity is not allowed to a notary?

7.What notarial acts is a public notary authorized to perform?

8.What documents does a notary verify?

9.What facts does a notary certify?

10.Would you like to become a notary? Give your own reasons.

2.Complete the following sentences according to the information

from the text:

1.The role of a civil law notary is …

2.The civil law notary has authority to …

3.The Notariate in Ukraine is the system …

4.Notarial acts are performed by …

5.Notaries of Ukraine are …

6.Public notaries are empowered to …

7.The documents prepared by a notary are …

3.Scan the text to find legal terms which correspond to the following explanations:

1)an official act of a notary;

2)a written legal declaration of the manner in which smb. would have his/her property disposed of after his/her death;

3)a contract involving the sale of goods or a similar contract of transfer;

4)a voluntary transfer or grant of property;

5)a written document that is signed, sealed and delivered.

III. VOCABULARY STUDY

1.Find synonyms in the following group of words. Try to explain the difference in their meaning, give your own examples.

Will, to verify, deed, to empower, to exercise, to certify, to use, transaction, testament, court, to perform, to employ, to authorize, trial, to attest, contract, document, agreement, to authenticate.

2.In each of the following sets of four, one word or expression is the odd one out: different from the others. Find the word that is different, explain your choice.

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1.judge – prosecutor – notary – defence lawyer;

2.attest – verify – supervise – certify;

3.state notary’s office – record office – diplomatic representative office – prosecutor’s office;

4.conveyance of property – hereditary right – purchase-and-sale – civil offence;

5.fingerprint – signature – seal – stamp;

6.power of attorney – transaction – indictment – marriage contract;

7.deed – activity – document – certificate.

3.Choose the right preposition in brackets according to the contents of the sentences (with, up, of, at, in).

1.The notaries and other public officials who perform notarial acts ensure that the certified deed is exercised … strict conformity … the law.

2.Power … attorney should be notarially certified.

3.Notariate is the system of notary bodies that perform notarial acts directed … certifying indisputable rights and facts.

4.The documents drawn … by a notary are considered to be authentic.

4. Complete the sentences with the words of the active vocabulary.

1.A… is something that you present to somebody.

2.A … is the drafting of the documents necessary for the transfer of real property.

3.Notaries prepare…

4.… are opened and liquidated by the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine.

5.… are performed in the apartment of the state notary’s office, the record notary’s office, the apartment which is the workplace of the private notary or the apartment of the local executive committee.

6.… which have corrections or written in pencil are not adopted for accomplishing notarial actions.

5.Substitute the words in italics with the words from the active vocabulary.

1.In many countries, only lawyers have the legal authority to do drafting of wills, trusts, and any other documents that ensure the efficient disposition of a person’s property after death.

2.The notaries perform testaments of the competent citizens drawn up in strict conformity with the law.

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3.While certifying notarial acts the notaries check if the contents of a certified deed correspond to the legislation.

4.The notary has certified the document giving me the right to drive my father’s car.

5.The public notary certifying the right of inheritance checks the fact of the death first.

6.If a private notary is going to stop accomplishing his duties for a term more than a week he is obliged to inform the Ministry of Justice.

6.There are some words in the text the pronunciation of which

depends upon the part of speech they denote. Read the following sentences and decide in each case if the word in italics is a verb or a noun. Then decide which stress pattern it has.

Remember! The first syllable is stressed if the word is a noun, the second syllable is stressed if the word is a verb.

1.It’s important to record everything the prisoner says during interrogation.

We keep a record of sales from day to day on the computer.

2.I don’t dispute your claim to the estate.

I believe there is a dispute between my client and yours. 3. I am sure they will convict him.

You must have known he was a convict.

4.The two parties will conduct negotiations next week. She divorced him because of his unreasonable conduct.

5.The main suspect in murder is the husband.

We suspect that the robbery was carried out by someone inside the company.

7.Translate the articles of the Law on the Notary Service Board of Ukraine.

Стаття 4. Права нотаріуса Нотаріус має право:

витребувати від підприємств, установ і організацій відомості та документи, необхідні для вчинення нотаріальних дій;

складати проекти угод і заяв, виготовляти копії документів та виписки з них, а також давати роз'яснення з питань вчинення нотаріальних дій і консультації правового характеру. Чинним законодавством нотаріусу можуть бути надані й інші права.

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Стаття 22. Печатка державного нотаріуса Державний нотаріус має печатку із зображенням Державного

герба України, найменуванням державної нотаріальної контори і відповідним номером.

Стаття 26. Печатка приватного нотаріуса Приватний нотаріус має печатку із зазначенням посади, свого

прізвища, імені та по батькові і округу діяльності.

IV. GRAMMAR FOCUS

1.Point out sentences with Participles II in the text, explain their usage and translate them.

2.Match two parts of the sentences and translate them. Pay attention to the use of Participle II:

V. SPEAKING

1. Read a conversation between a notary and a client. Tell about the matter as if you were a client.

Notary: Good afternoon. Can I help you?

Client: I am going to apply for admission to some educational establishments abroad. I’d like to certify translations of my University diploma.

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