UNIT 1. LAW AND SOCIETY

Useful Words and Expressions for Speech Practice

legal – правовой law – право (в объективном смысле), общее право; закон civil law – гражданское право criminal law – уголовное право a criminal case – уголовное дело a civil case – гражданское дело common law – общее право (Англии), обычное право; некодифицированное право; неписаный закон case law – прецедентное право judicial – судебный, законный authority – власть, полномочия to decide a case – принять решение по делу

to apply the law – применять закон justice – 1) справедливость; 2) правосудие, юстиция (to bring smb to justice - отдать кого-либо под суд); 3) судья (Justice of the Peace – мировой судья); 4) член Верховного суда (в Англии) to administer / to dispense justice - отправлять правосудие judicature – отправление правосудия (Supreme Court of Judicature – Верховный суд Англии); суд; судейская корпорация to investigate – расследовать evidence – улики, свидетельские показания testimony - свидетельские показания

TASK 1. Study the text below, making sure you fully comprehend it. Where appropriate, consult English-Russian dictionaries and/or other reference & source books on law.

Law, body of official rules and regulations, generally found in constitutions, legislation, judicial opinions, and the like, that is used to govern a society and to control the behavior of its members. The nature and functions of law have varied throughout history. In modern societies, some authorized body such as a legislature or a court makes the law. It is backed by the coercive power of the state, which enforces the law by means of appropriate penalties or remedies.

Formal legal rules and actions are usually distinguished from other means of social control and guides for behavior such as mores, morality, public opinion, and custom or tradition. Of course, a lawmaker may respond to public opinion or other pressures, and a formal law may prohibit what is morally unacceptable.

Law serves a variety of functions. Laws against crimes, for example, help to maintain a peaceful, orderly, relatively stable society. Courts contribute to social stability by resolving disputes in a civilized fashion. Property and contract laws facilitate business activities and private planning. Laws limiting the powers of government help to provide some degree of freedom that would not otherwise be possible. Law has also been used as a mechanism for social change; for instance, at various times laws have been passed to inhibit social discrimination and to improve the quality of individual life in matters of health, education, and welfare.

Some experts believe the popular view of law overemphasizes its formal, coercive aspects. They point out that if a custom or norm is assured of judicial backing, it is, for practical purposes, law. On the other hand, a statute that is neither obeyed nor enforced is empty law. Social attitudes toward the formal law are a significant part of the law in process. The role of law in China and Japan, for example, is somewhat different from its role in Western nations. Respect for the processes of law is low, at least outside matters of business and industry. Tradition looms much larger in everyday life. Resort to legal resolution of a dispute is truly a last resort, with conciliation being the mechanism that is preferred for social control.

Law is not completely a matter of human enactment; it also includes natural law. The best-known version of this view, that God's law is supreme, has had considerable influence in the United States and other Western societies. The civil rights movement, for example, was at least partially inspired by the belief in natural law. Such a belief seems implicit in the view that law should serve to promote human dignity, as for instance by the enforcement of equal rights for all.

Answer the following questions:

1. What is law?

2. Who makes law in modern societies?

3. Is there any distinction between law and morality?

4. What are the functions of law?

5. How do you understand the phrases from the text: law for practical purposes and empty law?

6. What is the role of law in eastern countries?

7. What is the influence of natural law in modern life?

TASK 2. Find in the text above the English equivalents for the following words and expressions:

свод официальных правил, сила принуждения, следить за исполнением закона посредством соответствующих наказаний и средств правовой защиты, нравы, законодатель может реагировать на общественное мнение, морально неприемлемый, придавать чрезмерное значение формальному и принудительному аспекту, гарантировать судебную поддержку, обращение к правовому разрешению спора.

TASK 3. (a)Match the English expressions with their Russian equivalents in the table:

Law – 1) право; 2) закон: 3) судебная процедура; 4) юстиция

1) inheritance law	a) административное право
2) housing law	b) прецедентное право
3) executive law	c) договорное право
4) environmental law	d) общее право
5) employment law	e) конституционное право
6) contract law	f) авторское право
7) copyright law	g) трудовое право
8) constitutional law	h) правовые нормы по охране окружающей среды
9) common law	i) правовые нормы, регулирующие деятельность исполнительной власти
10) case law	j) жилищное право
11) administrative law	k) наследственное право

(b) Match the legal terms on the left with their definitions on the right:

1) Constitutional law deals with	a) relations between governments as well as between private citizens of one country and those of another.
2) International law regulates	b) the budget, taxation, state credits, and other spheres of financial activity.
3) Public law concerns	c) the relationships between individuals or bodies within the country. This field of law is connected with relations in the economic sphere of life, with relations involving property, its distribution and exchange.
4) Financial law regulates	d) disputes between citizens and the state, or between one state and another.
5) Civil law regulates	e) the relationships between the state and individual people and bodies. It defines the general principles of criminal responsibility, individual types of crimes and punishment applied to criminals.
6) Criminal law regulates	f) social structure, organization of state power and the legal status of citizens. Its principal source is the country’s Constitution.

TASK 4. (a)Match the English expressions with their Russian equivalents in the table:

1) to create law	a) применять закон
2) to apply law	b) нарушать закон
3) to violate / break law	c) осуществлять закон, проводить закон в жизнь
4) to enforce law	d) создавать закон
5) to amend law	e) придерживаться закона
6) to observe law	f) законопослушные граждане
7) to keep within law	g) соблюдать закон
8) law-abiding citizens	h) вносить поправки в закон
9) law and order	i) правонарушитель
10) law-breaker	j) правопорядок

(b)By whom (a judge, a lawyer, a policeman, etc.) can the following actions be performed?

to investigate, to sentence, to plead guilty, to search, to apprehend, to detain, to seize, to convict, to defend in court, to imprison, to lock up, to take into custody

DEBATE: LAW AND MORALITY

· What do you think about the connection between law and morality?

· Does law really work in our society?