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Task 11.

Work in pairs. Discuss the following.

What courts do you think would deal with:

10. careless driving?

11. a divorce case?

12. an assault causing actual bodily harm?

13. a shoplifting committed by a schoolboy?

14. a homicide?

Use the following expressions: 1.1 am certain that... 2. There is no doubt... 3.1 don't know exactly, but... 4.1 am (not) sure ... 5.1 cannot say for sure ... 6.1 agree with you ... 7.1 can't agree with you ...

JUDICIAL SYSTEM OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

In 1776 the United States of America became an independent nation and began to develop its judicial system on the basis of the English common-law system. Then colonial courts became state courts. The Constitution, adopted in 1787, established a separate judicial branch of government which operated independently alongside the executive and legislative branches. Congress of the US passed the Judiciary act in 1789 which created the federal court system.

The United States of America has what is commonly called a dual court system. The country's judiciary is divided into the national (federal) and the state (county) judiciary. They are independent of each other, except the US Supreme Court which reviews federal and state decisions under special circumstances. State / county courts hear offences against the laws or the Constitution of a particular state. Federal

courts deal with matters involving the laws and the Constitution of the USA as a whole, the US government, and citizens from different states, other countries and their citizens as one of the parties of the process. They also try maritime, bankruptcy cases and copyright violation cases. Both state and federal courts can handle both civil and criminal cases.

The lowest state courts are courts of limited jurisdiction which specialize in only one type of cases. For example, small-claims courts which involve small amount of money, probate or surrogate courts which deal with wills and inheritance disputes, courts of domestic relations, juvenile courts.

The lowest federal courts are also called district courts. They have original jurisdiction in nearly all cases. Juries are used and witnesses are called in these trials. Most judges are appointed for life terms by the President with the Senate's consent. A judge and a jury consisting of twelve jurors try criminal cases. In most cases the jury's responsibility is to hear the evidence, the speeches of prosecutors and defendants, the remarks of the judge and reach an unanimous decision whether the accused is guilty or innocent of some offence. Each state has from one to four district courts. Each court comprises from one to twenty four federal judges. The President appoints them for life, or until they choose to resign.

If people are unsatisfied with the decision of a lower court, they have the right to appeal to a higher court. The Court of Appeal or the Appellate Court of mostly three judges examines cases and determines if the law was correctly interpreted and applied. There are twelve of these courts in the USA. In most appeals, the courts' decisions are final, since few cases reach the State Supreme Court or the US Supreme Court.

The US Supreme Court is the highest tribunal and the final interpreter of the Constitution. It is situated in the Supreme Court Building of white marble in Washington. There are figures representing the ideas of law and liberty with the words "Equal Justice under Law" above the entrance of the building. The US Supreme Court comprises a Chief Justice and eight Associate Justices. It has jurisdiction over all other courts in the country. The President appoints and Congress approves them to the post. The US Supreme Court is in session from October to July. It decides if the laws, which the Congress passes, correspond to the Constitution, interprets the laws of the Congress, declares if the laws are constitutional, or not. The Supreme Court cannot alter the Constitution.

The administrative body of the US judicial system of twenty five judges is the Judicial Conference of the USA which was established by the Congress in 1922. It studies the procedures of the federal courts and recommends policy changes, examines their work and work of federal judges. The chief justice of the USA is a chairman of the Judicial Conference.

Thirty six states currently apply the death penalty as a deterrent to murder, but very rarely and there is a controversy between those wishing to abolish the death penalty and those wishing to retain it in the USA.