Text c english law

The United Kingdom does not have a single legal system. The law in Scotland was influenced by Roman law and is different from the law of England, Wales and Northern Ireland.

The English legal system is centralised through a court structure, which is common to the whole country. It is hierarchical, with the higher courts having more authority than the lower ones. There are some important characteristics of English law:

English law is based on the common law tradition. This is a system of judge made law which has continuously developed over the years through the decisions of judges in the cases brought before them. These judicial precedents are an important source of law in the English legal system. Common law systems are different from the civil law systems of Western Europe and Latin America. In these countries the law has been codified or systematically collected to form a consistent body of legal rules*.

English judges have an important role in developing case law* and stating the meaning of Acts of Parliament.

The judges are independent of the government and the people appearing before them. This allows them to make impartial decisions.

Court procedure is accusatorial*. This means that judges do not investigate the cases. They reach a decision based only on the evidence presented to them by the parties to the dispute. This is called the adversarial* system of justice. It can be compared to the inquisitorial* procedure of some other European systems where it is the function of the judges to investigate the case and to collect evidence

consistent body of legal rules – змістовний збірник нормативних актів

case law – прецедентне право

accusatorial / adversarial – обвинувальний

inquisitorial – слідчий

Exercise 7 Find the sentences with Passive forms in text C, identify their tense forms, translate them. For references see the grammar supplement.

Writing task A: answer the questions in writing. Translate them.

1 Which legal systems does the U.K. have?

2 What is English law based on?

3 What are the differences between common law and civil law systems?

4 What is a source of law in the English legal system?

5 What is the role of English judges?

6 What allows the judges to make impartial decisions?

7 What is the adversarial system of justice?

8 What is the inquisitorial system of justice?

9 What court procedure do we have in Ukraine?

Speaking task A: use the answers to the questions as a plan to speak about English law.

Exercise 8 Fill in the blanks using the words from the box and translate the sentences.

law lawyer Roman common Code jurisprudence

1 The ________________ is one whose principal occupation is related to the making and administration of the law.

2 The Continent bases its ___________________ upon the university-made civil law.

3 The jurisprudence of England and the USA is based upon the judge-made _____________________ law.

4 The practice of the civil ______________________ on the Continent consists of several co-ordinate professions.

5 The ______________________ civil law originated in codes imposed by the emperors of ancient Rome.

6 Napoleon ______________________ is still the model for the legal codes of the modern European states today.

Exercise 9 Read the text about different kinds of laws of the USA.