Unit 2. Continental systems

Continental systems are sometimes known as codified legal systems. They have resulted from attempts by governments to produce a set of codes to govern every legal aspect of a citizen's life. Thus it was necessary for the legislators to speculate quite comprehensively about human behaviour rather than simply looking at previous cases. In codifying their legal systems, many countries have looked to the examples of Revolutionary and Napoleonic France, whose legislators wanted to break with previous case law, which had often produced corrupt and biased judgments, and to apply new egalitarian social theories to the law. Nineteenth century Europe also saw the decline of several multi-ethnic empires and the rise of nationalism. The lawmakers of new nations sometimes wanted to show that the legal rights of their citizens originated in the state, not in local customs, and thus it was the state that was to make law, not the courts. In order to separate the roles of the legislature and judiciary, it was necessary to make laws that were clear and comprehensive. The lawmakers were often influenced by the model of the canon law of the Roman Catholic Church, but the most important models were the codes produced in the seventh century under the direction of the Roman Emperor Justinian. His aim had been to eliminate the confusion of centuries of inconsistent lawmaking by formulating a comprehensive system that would entirely replace existing law. Versions of Roman law had long influenced many parts of Europe, including the case law traditions of Scotland, but had little impact on English law.

It is important not to exaggerate the differences between these two traditions of law. For one thing, many case law systems, such as California's, have areas of law that have been comprehensively codified. For another, many countries can be said to have belonged to the Roman tradition long before codifying their laws, and large uncodified - perhaps uncodifiable - areas of the law still remain. French public law has never been codified, and French courts have produced a great deal of case law in interpreting codes that become out of date because of social change. The clear distinction between legislature and judiciary has weakened in many countries, where courts are able to challenge the constitutional legality of a law made by parliament.

Despite this, it is also important not to exaggerate similarities among systems within the Continental tradition. For example, while adopting some French ideas, such as separation of the legislature and judiciary, the late nineteenth century codifiers of German law aimed at conserving customs and traditions peculiar to German history. Canon law had a stronger influence in countries with a less secular ideology than France, such as Spain.

1. Consult a dictionary, transcribe the following words and practice their pronunciation:

corrupt

similarities

ethnic

social

judiciary

inconsistent

biased

to govern

empire

theory

entirely

the Catholic Church

judgement

legislator

egalitarian

legislature

comprehensive

2. Explain the meaning of, or paraphrase the following:

to result from;

to produce a set of codes;

to govern every legal aspect of a citizen's life;

to separate the roles;

to speculate about;

to break with;

corrupt and biased judgements;

to apply new egalitarian social theories to the law;

the decline of several multi-ethnic empires;

the rise of nationalism;

to be influenced by;

to adopt ideas.

3. a) Suggest your own version of translating the following:

1. Codified legal systems have resulted from attempts by governments to produce a set of codes to govern every legal aspect of a citizen's life.

2. The legislators wanted to break with previous case law, which had often produced corrupt and biased judgements.

3. They wanted to apply new egalitarian social theories to the law.

4. Nineteenth century Europe saw the decline of several multi-ethnic empires.

5. The lawmakers wanted to show that the legal rights of their citizens originated in the state, not in local customs.

6. It was necessary to make laws that were clear and comprehensive.

7. His aim had been to eliminate the confusion of inconsistent lawmaking by formulating a comprehensive system that would entirely replace existing law.

8. Versions of Roman law had long influenced many parts of Europe, but had little impact on English law.

9. Some states in the USA have areas of law that have been comprehensively codified.

10. Many countries can be said to have belonged to the Roman tradition.

3.11. Courts have produced a great deal of case law in interpreting codes that become out of date because of social change.

3.12. The clear distinction between legislature and judiciary has weakened in my countries.

3.13. The courts are able to challenge the constitutional legality of a law made parliament.

3.14. Codifiers of German law aimed at conserving customs and traditions peculiar to German history.

b) Name the underlined grammar phenomenon in each sentence.

4. Pronounce correctly the following word combinations. Use them in sentences of your own:

to exaggerate facts; to eliminate the confusion; to formulate a comprehensive stem; to have little impact on English law; peculiar to Ukrainian history.

5. Ask questions about the text. Answer them using: as far as I know; his aim was to: in order to: it is important (not) to: for one thins.., for another; despite this; while adopting some ideas..; they aimed at..; to conserve customs and traditions.. .

6. Write out all the legal terms from the following text and explain their meaning (or translate them into Ukrainian).

According to classical Marxism, legal systems in capitalist and pre-capitalist nations were created to reinforce and justify property relations. Legal relations should not be thought of as in any way independent from political relations, which are based on ownership of property. In other words, the law is on the side of those with economic power. Marx theorized that with the coming of socialism, the state, and thus a state-produced system of law, would become irrelevant to social relations and would disappear.

However, socialist countries in the twentieth century have produced very strong centralized state institutions and complex legal systems alongside them. The leaders of the Soviet Revolution, and hence the governments of many nations that came under Soviet influence, tried to apply socialist ideology to a Continental civil law tradition. Socialist lawmakers criticised both common law and previous Roman civil law systems for masking their own capitalist ideology in apparently neutral, unbiased institutions. In China, law courts are still primarily regarded as political instruments, used both to control theft and violence and to deal with political opponents. Attempts lave been made to codify Chinese law comprehensively, but so far there has been little progress. Even before the rejection of their socialist traditions, the Soviet republics had started to allow an increase in civil law cases, and a long process of revising existing civil and criminal codes had begun. As separatist movements grew in many parts of the Soviet Union, there was also development in Constitutional law, with some republics questioning the legality of their obligations to the central government.

7. Entitle the text. Retell it, make a written translation of the first paragraph.

8. Match each person on the left with the correct definition on the right.

LAWBREAKERS

(a) an arsonist	attacks and robs people, often in the street;
(b) a shoplifter	sets fire to property illegally;
(c) a mugger	is anyone who breaks the law
(d) an offender	breaks into houses to steal;
(e) a vandal	steals from shops;
(f) a burglar	kills someone;
(g) a murderer	deliberately causes damage to property;
(h) a kidnapper	steals things from people's pockets;
(i) a pickpocket	gets secret information;
(j) an accomplice	buys and sells drugs illegally;
(k) a drug dealer	takes away people by force, demanding money for their return;
(1) a spy	helps a criminal in a criminal act;
(m) a terrorist	uses violence for political reasons;
(a) an assassin (b) a hooligan	causes damage or disturbance in public places; hides on a ship or plane to get a free journey;
(c) a stowaway	takes control of a plane by force and makes the pilot change course;
(d) a thief	murders for political reasons or a reward;
(e) a hijacker	is someone who steals;
(f) a forger	makes counterfeit (false) money;
(g) a robber	is a member of a criminal group;
(h) a smuggler	steals money etc. by force from people;
(i) a traitor	marries illegally, being married already;
(j) a gangster	is a soldier who runs away from the army;
(k) a deserter	brings goods into a country illegally without paying tax;
(1) a bigamist	betrays his or her country to another state

.

9. Discussion.

Ukraine's law today.

10. Legal terms to be memorised:

legal aspect

legal right

legally// illegally

legislature; legislation;legislator; legislate

biased// unbiased;

lawmaker; lawmaking

to make a law

lawbreaker

to break a law

judicial; judiciary; judicially

judge; judgement; judgeship

judgement of court

corrupt; corruption; corrupted

code; codification; codified; codifier

a set of codes

civil code

criminal code/ penal code

labour code

codification of statutes

1l. Are you good at translating English proverbs into Ukrainian? Prove it. Make explanatory notes of each proverb in writing.

Law governs man, reason the law.

Abundance of law breaks no law.

Every land has its own law.

Custom rules the law.

So many countries so many customs.

The more law the more offenders.

There is one law for the rich and another for the poor.