Unit 4.
Task 1. Read the text and write down Russian equivalents for the words and expressions in bold type:
TheMAGNA CARTA.
At the heart of the English system are two principles of government- limited government and representative government. Тhеidea that government was not all-powerful first appeared in the Magna Carta*, or Great Charter, that King John** signed in 1215 under the threat of civil war. Earlier kings of England hadissued charters, making promises to their barons. But these were granted bу, not exacted from the king and were very generally phrased. Later the tensionbetween the Kings and the nobility increased. Since 1199 John’s barons had to bеpromised their rights. It is, therefore, not surprising that Stephen Langton, archbishop of Canterbury, directed baronial unrest into a demand for аsolemn grant of libertiesbуthe king. Тhеdocument known as the Articles of the Barons was at last agreed upon and became the text from which the final version of the charter was drafted and sealed bуJune on June 15, 1215.
The Magna Carta established the principle of limited government, in which the power of the monarch, or government, was limited, not absolute. This document provided for protection against unjust punishment and the loss of life, liberty, and property except according to law. It stipulated that nоcitizen could bеpunished or kept in prison without аfair trial. Under the Magna Carta, the king agreed that certain taxes could not bеleviedwithout popular consent.
Although the Magna Carta was originally intended to protect aristocracy and not the ordinary citizens, it came in time to bеregarded as аcornerstone of British liberties. It is one of the oldest written constitutional papers.
Task 2. Answer the following questions:
1. What were the two basic principles of the English system of government at the beginning of the 13th century? How do you understand these principles?
2. What provisions did the Magna Carta contain?
3. Who enjoyed the rights granted bуthe Magna Carta?
Task 3.Are these statements true or false:
1) The idea of Government firstly appeared in England in13 th century.
2) The threat of the Civil War influenced the idea of Government in early centuries.
3) Barons in England had all the liberties that the King promised.
4) The Magna Carta established the principle of representative government.
5)According the Magna Carta the power of the King and barons were limited.
Task 3. The word « GOVERNMENT» has the following meanings in Russian:
1) государственнаявласть
executive government - исполнительнаявласть
judicial government - судебнаявласть
legislativegovernment- законодательная власть
2) управление, руководство
To carry out the government of а state - осуществлять управление государством
3) форма правления, государственное устройство, политический строй
democratic /republican / federal / parliarnentary government - демократическая /республиканская / федеральная / парламентская форма правления
constitutional government- конституционная форма правления
а system of government- система правления
4) правительство, правительственный аппарат
Llberal/ Labour/ Conservative Government- либеральное /лейбористское /консервативное правительство
Match the following English expressions with their Russian equivalents:
1) arbitrary government
2) authoritariangovernment
3) colonial form of government
4) government investigation
5) government of the day
6) government offices
7) government official
8) government party
9) government(a1) department
10) government(a1) regu1ation
11) government's term of office
12) Her Majesty's Government
13) local government
14) military government
15) mixed government
16) organs of government
17) parliamentary government
19) provisiona1 government
20) representative government
18) presidential government
21) to disso1ve the government
а) действующее правительство
b) местное самоуправление
с) военная администрация
d) смешанная форма правления
е) парламентское правление
f) правительство Её Величества
g) правящая партия
h) правительственные учреждения
i) представительная форма правления
j) временное правительство
k) распустить /расформировать правительство
1) органы государственного управления
m) автократия
n) президентская власть
о) авторитарная форма правления
p) правительственное ведомство
q)правительственное расследование
r) колониальная форма государственного устройства
s) постановление правительства
t) правительственный чиновник
u) срок полномочийправитель
Unit 5.
THE FOUNDATION OF BRITISH LAW:
HABEAS CORPUS ACT
“Let the body be brought …”
In Britain, the United States and many other English- speaking countries, the law of Habeas Corpus guarantees that nobody can be held in prison without trial. Habeas Corpus became a law because of a wild party held in 1621 at the London home of a notoriously rowdy lady, Alice Robinson. When a constable appeared and asked her and her guests to quiet down, Mrs. Robinson allegedly swore at him so violently that he arrested her, and a local justice of the peace committed her to jail.
When she was finally brought to trial, Mrs. Robinson’s story of her treatment in prison caused an outcry. She had been put on a punishment diet of bread and caused an outcry. She had been put on a punishment diet of bread and water, forced to sleep on the bare earth, stripped, and given fifty lashes. Such treatment was barbaric even by the harsh standards of the time; what made it worse was that Mrs. Robinson was pregnant.
Public anger was so great she was acquitted, the constable who had arrested her without a warrant was himself sent to prison, and the justice of the peace, was severely reprimanded. And the case, along with other similar cases, led to the passing of the Habeas Corpus Act in Britain in 1679. The law is still on the British statute books, and a version of it is used in the United States, where the law is regarded as such an important guarantee of liberty that Article 1 of the U.S.
Constitution declares that “Habeas Corpus shall not be suspended except in cases of rebellion or invasion”.
Habeas Corpus is part of a Latin phrase- Habeas corpus ad subjiciendum- that means “Let the body be brought before the judge.” In effect, a writ of Habeas Corpus is an order in the name of the people (or, in Britain, of the sovereign) to produce an imprisoned person in court at once.
Task1. Find in the text the English equivalents for the following words and expressions:
1. Мировой судья
2. Ордер на арест
3. Варварское отношение
4. Восстание, мятеж, бунт
5. Вторжение, нападение, нашествие
6. Недовольство общественности
7. Печально известный, пользующийся дурной славой
8. Заключить в тюрьму
9. Вызвать гневный протест
10. Привести к принятию закона
11. Получить строгий выговор
12. Предстать перед судом
13. Быть оправданным
14. Быть приостановленным
15. От имени народа/ монарха
Unit5.
The foundation of british law: the petition of right and the bill of rights. The bill of rights.
The Bill of Rights (1689) is one of the basic instruments of the British constitution, the result of the long 17th- century struggle between the Stuart kings and the English people and Parliament. The Bill of Rights provided the foundation on which the government rested after the Revolution of 1688. The Revolution settlement made monarchy clearly conditional on the will of Parliament and provided a freedom from arbitrary government of which most Englishmen were notably proud during the 18th century.
The main purpose of the act was to declare illegal various practices of James II. Among such practices proscribed were the royal prerogative of dispensing with the law in serpentine cases, the complete suspension of laws without the consent of Parliament, and the levying of taxes and the maintenance of a standing army in peacetime without specific parliamentary authorization.
A number of clauses eliminated royal interference in parliamentary mattes, stressing that lections must be free and that members of parliament must have complete freedom of speech. The act also dealt with the proximate succession to the throne, provided the heirs were Protestants. It is the constitutional paper of great importance, which prevented the sovereign from abusing his authority.
Task1. The word « AUTHORITY» has the following meanings in Russian:
1)власть
Supremeauthority- верховная власть
2)полномочие, право, права, компетенция
Toactonsmb.’sauthority- действовать на основании полученных полномочий
3)pl. власти, начальство, администрация
Localauthorities- местные власти; органы местного самоуправления
4)авторитет, вес, влияние
Tohaveauthoritywith smb. – пользоваться авторитетом у кого-либо
5)авторитет, крупныйспециалист
Heisanauthorityonlaw- он является авторитетом в области права
6)авторитетный источник
Toquoteone’sauthorities- ссылаться на авторитетные источники
Unit 7.
THE MADAME TUSSAUD.
Vocabulary:
Horror ужас
Waxwork восковая фигура
Rogues злой
Evil вредный
Tostalksmb подкрадываться к кому- либо
Prey добыча
Tomutilate калечить
Villain злодей
Guillotine гильотина
Gallows виселица
Garrote гаррота
Gruesome ужасный
Means of execution средство исполнения
Means of communication средство связи
Means of transport транспортные средства
Means of payment платежные средства
Means of employment средства обеспечения
Meansofinstruments орудие и средства производства
Byallmeans любыми средствами
Bullet пуля
Acid кислота
Tobequeath завещать
Bride невеста
Bridegroom жених
Notorious пользующийся дурной славой
Replica точная копия
To conceal скрывать
Contemporary современный
Cell камера
Rowuponrow бесконечный ряд
Sinister зловещий
Smirk самодовольная улыбка
Cruelty жестокость
Cunning хитрый
To give forth объявлять
Emanation излучение
Woe несчастье
Desolation горе
Madame Tussaud’s is the best known and most visited waxwork exhibition in the world. In the Chamber of Horrors which is a part of Madame Tussaud’s every exhibit deals with the subject it crime and punishment- it is a rogues gallery of dangerous and evil criminals.
In a dark, dank Victorian street, Jack the Ripper stalked his prey, the torn and twisted body of one of his victims, Catherine Eddowes, lies mutilated in a pool of blood. Jack the Ripper was never brought to justice but other were, villains and murderers who met their ends by guillotine, gallows or garrote.
Madame Tussaud first arrived in England in 1802 from Germany, where she was born in 1761. She brought with her gruesome souvenirs of the French Revolution, the instruments of death and death masks of their victims. The death masks of Louis 16 and Marie Antoinette are still on display next to the very guillotine blade that beheaded the French queen.
More recent means of execution include the firing squad and the electric chair American murderer Gary Gilmore is seen facing a hail of bullets. Bruno Hauptman electrocuted in New Jersry, USA in 1936 can be seen here too.
Acid- bath murderer John George Haigh who killed at least nine people and disposed of the bodies in an acid bath, stands in the clothes he wore before his execution. Many prisoners or their relatives bequeathed or sold the clothes or some items which belonged to the murderers to dress their portraits at Madame Tussaud.
And the “Brides in the Bath” George Joseph Smith Leans over a victim in the actual bathtub in which he drowned his well- insured brides. Notorious mass- murderer John Christie is at work in a replica of the tiny West London kitchen were he concealed the bodies of three of the seven women he killed.
Contemporary criminals in Britain no longer face the death penalty- instead they must spend years behind bars. The exhibition shows a bleak modern prison block with contemporary murderers which are standing before their cells.
Guy Thorne’s 1912 description of the murderers in the Chamber of Horrors is still true today: “Row upon row of faces which differ in very way one from another and yet are dreadfully alike. For these great sinister dolls, so unreal and so real, have all a likeness. The smirk of cruelty and cunning seems toile upon their waxen masks. Colder than life, far colder than death they will give forth emanations which will strike the heart with woe and desolation”.
Task1. Answer the following questions:
1) What is the names of the exhibition described?
2) How did Madam Tussaud start her career?
3) What are the crimes of:
Jack the Ripper,
Gary Gilmore
John George Heigh
John Christy?
4) Is the death penalty still in law in the UK ?
5)How are the contemporary Criminals shown at the exibinion?
Unit 9.