Discussion

1. Give your reasons why torts are often easier to prove than crimes.

2. Name and briefly describe torts that most affect businesses. Give examples.

3. Agree or disagree with the statement “The king can do no wrong”. Exemplify your answer.

4. Life shows us that instead of righting personal injuries in a court of law, wronged individuals often seek revenge with their own hands. The resulting violence endangers, and may even destroy, the peace and stability that mark civilization. Give your pros and cons.

5. Argue for or against the following statement “Instead of suing the city authorities, people who fall into holes in the street should accept responsibility for their own carelessness”.

6. Intrafamilial immunity, which once prevented all parent/child suits for tortious conduct, now applies only to negligence. A child can now sue his or her parents for intentional torts such as assault and battery. Express your opinion.

7. Describe the principal torts of your country in recent years and speak on their main reasons.

8. Prepare a short presentation on Tort Law in your jurisdiction.

UNIT 8

Enforcing the law

LIST OF WORDS

obey the law	admission of evidence
law of procedure	to uphold a verdict
investigate	breach of the peace
investigation	indictment
deter	an arrest warrant
pass	conclusive facts
ignorance of the law	to develop enough evidence
search	arraignment
impose a fine	to question a witness
detect	to take the stand
law-abiding	a plea bargain
falsify	to plead guilty
unbiased	the accused’s plea
abolish	to drop the charge(s)
rectify	hearsay evidence
retribution	the trier of fact
misconduct	to return a verdict
deprivation of liberty	mandatory sentence
trial	to suspend the sentencing procedure
conviction	probation
pretrial stage	to serve the term
questioning of witnesses	admonition of rights
search	community service
seizure	imprisonment
warrant	suspended sentence
to obtain evidence	lifetime = a life sentence
prosecuting attorney	parole (n, v)
pretrial hearing	to be given parole
preliminary hearing	detention
to bring charges against a person	corporal punishment
reach a verdict	capital punishment = death penalty
sentencing

Ex. 1. Match the following words with their definitions and learn them.

suspend, parole, search, rectify, allegation, assault, obey, retribution, unbiased, deter, detention, investigate

1. To do what one is told to do, or act in accordance with.

2. To prevent from acting, especially by the threat of something unpleasant.

3. A physical attack on a person.

4. To free someone before his prison sentence is due to end, on condition that he or she behaves well.

5. A statement, which may or may not be true, that someone has done something wrong.

6. To delay something or stop it from being in effect for a while.

7. The arrest or imprisonment of someone.

8. It is done or produced fairly and without showing prejudice or favoritism.

9. An attempt to find something by looking somewhere.

10. To examine all details in order to find out what happened or what is happening.

11. To change something which is wrong, undesirable so that it is correct or as you with it to be.

12. Punishment which cannot be avoided and which some people believe comes from non-human sources.

Ex. 2. Use your knowledge of root words and word families to decide what the following words probably mean. Give a simple definition for each word.

Example: foregoing (adj) Answer: (FORE + GO + ING) Prefix FORE-often means before in time or position, e. g. foreword = a preface or introductory note at the beginning of a book; forejudge = to judge before (e.g. before hearing the full facts); –ING = typical adjectival form.

Probable meaning: foregoing = which goes before, previous.

1) wrongfully (adv); 2) prerequisite (noun); 3) inviolability (noun); 4) receiving (adj); 5) irreparable (adj); 6) ensure (verb).

To show that you understand the words given above, choose the best word to complete the following sentences. Use each word once only, and make any necessary changes (e. g. plural forms).

a) The Race Relations Act 1976 was passed to ______ fair treatment for people of all races.

b) A good knowledge of French and English is often a ______ for an international lawyer.

c) A ______ order is a court order which places the property of a debtor in the control of a special trustee in bankruptcy cases.

d) It was alleged that the newspaper article caused ______ damage to the company’s good name and professional reputation.

e) The Universal Declaration of Human Rights was made to guarantee the ______ of fundamental rights.

f) The plaintiff claimed damages against his employer because he had been ______ dismissed.

Ex. 3. Fill in the gaps with prepositions.

In 1991, the Osaka High Court ordered the review of a Hong Kong man’s case ¹⁾ ___ finding that the police had used a biased interpreter. In 1991, the Japanese Civil Liberties Union believes there have been numerous cases ²⁾ ___ police violence ³⁾ ___ foreign suspects, many ⁴⁾ ___ whom are not told of their rights in a language which they can understand. ⁵⁾ ___ the Birmingham Six case, British police officers obtained confessions ⁶⁾ ___ men suspected of bombing a pub ⁷⁾ ___ beating them up. In the United States, illegally obtained evidence is not valid ⁸⁾ ___ court, but in Britain the court decides whether it is fair to accept such evidence ⁹⁾ ___ a case-by-case basis. A confession obtained ¹⁰⁾ ___ force would not be allowed, but one obtained ¹¹⁾ ___ trickery might.

Ex. 4. Fill in the gaps with the missing words given below. Make necessary changes.

punishment, sentence, wave, execution, convict, legally, innocent, prison, research

In 1987, two academics published a study showing that 23 ¹⁾ ______ people had been executed in the United States. This ²⁾ ______ has shown that capital ³⁾ ______ is used inconsistently. For example, in South Africa, black murderers are far more likely to be ⁴⁾ ______ to death than whites. During a crime ⁵⁾ ______ in China in the 1980s, cities were given a quota of ⁶⁾ ______ to meet; in a city where there weren't very many murders, people ⁷⁾ ______ of lesser crimes were more likely to be executed. In addition, while in some countries young people are not sent to ⁸⁾ ______ but to special juvenile detention centres, in Nigeria, Iran, Iraq, Bangladesh, Barbados and the United States children under 18 have been ⁹⁾ ______ put to death.

Read the text. Make notes of is main points. Be ready to discuss them.

TEXT 1