The court system of England and Wales

The most common type of law court in England and Wales is the magistrates' court. There are 700 magistrates' courts and about 30,000 magistrates.

More serious criminal cases then go to the Crown Court which has 90 branches in different towns and cities. Civil cases (for example, divorce or bankruptcy cases) are dealt with in County courts.

Appeals are heard by higher courts. For example, appeals from magistrates' courts are heard in the Crown Court, unless they are appeals on points of law. The highest court of appeal in England and Wales is the House of Lords. Scotland has its own High Court in Edinburgh which hears all appeals from Scottish courts. Certain cases may be referred to the European Court of Justice in Luxembourg. In addition individuals have made the British Government change its practices in a number of areas as a result of petitions to the European Court of Human Rights.

The legal system also includes juvenile courts which deal with offenders under seventeen and coroners' courts which investigate violent, sudden or unnatural deaths. There are administrative tribunals which make quick, cheap and fair decisions with much less formality. Tribunals deal with professional standards, disputes between individuals and disputes between individuals and government departments (for example, over taxation).

12. Find in the text English equivalents for the following expressions:

- загальне право

- рішення суду

- кримінальний кодекс

- цивільний кодекс

- Королівський Суд

- цивільна справа

- суди графств

- Європейський суд у справах людини

- правова система

- суд у справах неповнолітніх

- кримінальна справа.

13. Answer the following question.

1. Who is responsible for making laws in Britain?

2. What is the difference between criminal and civil law?

3. What is the most common type of law court in England and Wales?

4. Name three other types of British courts.

14. Try to present information on judicial organizations in UK.

Unit 9

1. Transcribe and memorise the following words:

Alongside, burglary, murder, tier, jurisdiction, agency, circuit, feature, procedure, claim, violate.

2. Read and translate the text.

The court system of the usa

The American court system is complex, mainly because of the federal system of government in the USA. Each state runs its own separate system of courts. In addition, there is a separate system of federal courts, which operates alongside the state courts.

The structure of state courts varies from state to state. Usually there are minor trial courts for less serious cases, major trial courts for more serious cases, intermediate appellate courts and courts of last resort. The state's minor trial courts have various names: justice courts, small-claims courts, traffic courts, police courts, municipal courts, mayors' courts. The judges in these courts arc usually quite professional, but some states still have Justices of Peace - men and women who have never gone to law school and never taken the bar exam. The next level of the pyramid is made up of state's courts of general jurisdiction, which are the basic trial courts. These courts hear civil cases involving larger amounts of money than in minor trial courts. They also handle cases of serious crime, such as burglary, rape and murder. The judges are always lawyers. In states with small population the loser of the trial court can appeal directly to the state's top court usually called the Supreme Court. In other words, these states have "two-tier" court systems. The states with big or middle-sized populations have a "three-tier" system. Most appeals go to the middle level, and there they end. Federal courts are also organized in three tiers: district courts, courts of appeals and the Supreme Court. All federal judges are appointed for life. A case which falls within federal jurisdiction is heard first in one of the ninety-four district courts. Every state has at least one, in the larger states there are more than one district court. Each case is tried by a single judge, sitting alone. All cases resolved in the district courts and all decisions of federal administrative agencies can be appealed to one of the thirteen federal circuit courts. There are no jurors, witnesses, cross-examinations and other features of the trial courts here. The judges sit in panels made up of three judges each, examining rulings made and procedures followed in the trial courts. For most cases the circuit courts are the end of the line, but in some cases an appeal may be made to the highest court in the land: the U.S. Supreme Court. This court hears cases in which someone claims that a lower court ruling is unjust or in which someone claims that Constitutional law has been violated. The U.S. Supreme Court has only nine justices, headed by Chief Justice. The decisions of this Court are final and become legally binding.