Modal Verbs

Ex. 6. Read and translate the following sentences paying attention to the modal verbs and their equivalents:

1. In order to understand English Constitutional law you should study numerous documents, various statutes, judicial decisions and others.

2. You needn't look for the Constitution of Great Britain in one document; it is not codified as a whole in any particular document.

3. The English Constitution is flexible because Parliament can “make or unmake” any law by the same procedure and with the same ease.

4. Sometimes it may be said that under the English Constitution the remedy precedes the right.

5. To administer justice the Judges have to enjoy little arbitrary power because the law which they administer is defined by statutes and by judicial precedents.

6. Theory and practice are divergent and it can be seen from a number of illustrations.

7. The judges ought to act according to the law.

8. In theory certain public departments are to be controlled by boards (e.g., the Board of Trade), but the real head is a single Minister of the Crown (e.g., the President of the Board of Trade).

Ex.7. Insert the proper modal verb: can(not), may, must (not), should (not), ought (to), be (to), have (to), need(not), shall, will or the equivalents.

1. Being a lawyer he has always been sure that things … be done according to juridical formulas which he has learned at university, and now he … not examine the case himself. He … not change anything.

2. Neither the President nor Congress … change the decisions of the Supreme Court.

3. The President, the head of the Executive Branch, … carry out the government programmes adopted by Congress.

4. After the Civil War the Democratic and the Republican parties … deal with difficult social, economic and human rights issues.

5. The Fourteenth Constitutional Amendment (1868) says, “ No State … make or enforce any law which … abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States, not … any State deprive any person of life, liberty or property, without due process of law ...”

6. To become laws bills … be approved by both Houses of Congress, but any bill passed by Congress… be vetoed by the President.

7. The Cabinet … always have the last word, the number of ministers … vary.

8. No document in American history … be compared with the Declaration of Independence adopted on July 4, 1776.

9. In the Declaration of Independence people … find the key ideas about how the Americans of that generation thought free people … live.

10. All government and governmental groups, federal, state and local … operate within the guidelines of the Constitution.

11. The monarch … to give a Bill a royal assent, which is now just a formality.

12. I wonder how many readings a Bill … receive to become an Act?

13. If you get into trouble with the police, you … ask a solicitor to help you prepare your defence.

14. If the defence … to be heard in a Magistrate court, you … ask a solicitor to appear for you and argue your case.

15. If the case goes to a higher Court, the solicitor still advises you, but you … get a barrister to appear for you.

16. The trouble is that I … not make up my mind what to do in this situation.

17. There is no common opinion about the question if we … to abolish death penalty.

18. In order to be enforced an Act of Parliament … be published in Statute form.

19. The law of the country … be analysed as a set of rules.

20. Law … appear as the highest achievement of civilisation.

21. Laws prescribe how people … to behave.

22. Law … be defined as a set of rules which form the pattern of behaviour of a given society.

23. Statute law … be used to abolish common law rules.

24. When there is no existing precedent and an Act of Parliament makes no provision for the case in question, the judge … , if necessary, create a new law.

25. … you explain when I … start business of my own?

26. Barristers … only be consulted indirectly through a solicitor.

27. Before a junior counsel … achieve a status of QC, he … be able to point to at last 10 years successful practice as a barrister.

28. Many people believe that the distinction between barristers and solicitors … be eliminated.

29. Where ... one get legal education in this country?

30. After graduating from university one … work as an investigator or notary, a procurator or a judge after some years of experience.

31. To make a good lawyer one … be present at the trials, and questioning.

32. The Lords …not reject bills passed by the Commons, but … only delay the passage of a bill.

33. To become an Act of Parliament a bill … be passed in the House of Commons, adopted in the House Lords, and finally … be signed by the Queen.

34. A would be barrister … first register as a student member of one of four Inns of Court.

35. Judges are usually chosen from the most senior barristers, and once appointed they … not continue to practice as barristers.

36. When a person has passed all the necessary exams, he … apply to the Law Society to be admitted, then he … start business of his own.

37. Whatever the Queen does … be done on the advice of the Prime Minister who is politically responsible for the Royal act.

38. The Queen … give Royal assent before a bill which has passed all its stages in both Houses of Parliament becomes legal.

39. In theory the Queen … refuse the royal assent to a bill passed by Parliament, but no monarch has actually done so since the year of 1708.

40. There is a principle of English law that the monarch … do nothing that is legally wrong, that is Queen Elizabeth is above the law.

Ex. 8. Read and translate the sentences paying attention to the pronoun one.

1. The government of the USA is composed of three branches: the executive one, the legislative one, and the judicial one.

2. The district courts are the lowest ones in the Federal court system.

3. The constitutional system of each particular state is the one which is similar to that of the entire nation.

4. One can say that lobbyists in the American legislation are very often more influential than the Congressmen.

5. Each voter in the US is in front of the choice between the candidates of two opposite parties: the republican one and the democratic one, whose political platforms are practically alike.

6. One should say that politics in the USA as in many other countries is “a commercial enterprise as any other one”.

7. In some countries the more money one can pay, the better lawyer one can have.

8. The USA is divided into 50 states; each one has its own constitution.