SCIENCE OF THE LAW

Jurisprudence (Latin jurisprudentia, from jus, “law,” and prudentia, “knowledge”), knowledge of the law and its interpretation, or the science and philosophy of law. In ancient Rome the term was used in the former sense. Those who were so skilled in the law that they could decide a novel or doubtful case were called juris prudentes, whether or not they were judges, and the body of law built up by their interpretation was called juris prudentia. This development of law by interpretation is akin to what English-speaking peoples call “case” law - law arising from a body of decided cases; in France and Spain the term jurisprudence is still used in that sense.

The word jurisprudence is usually used to describe what was often called at an earlier period the philosophy of law and what Continental writers now call the theory or science of law. English or U.S. treatises on jurisprudence define the essential elements in our conception of law; the way in which law originates - in popular customs, judicial usage, and legislation - and the way in which it ceases to exist - by change of usage, abrogation, or repeal; its application with reference to persons, time, and place; and the way in which it is enforced. Jurisprudence formulates legal relations, rights, and duties. It may undertake to classify law and to construct a system in which every rule of law may find an appropriate place. It may also attempt to classify all the relations that the law recognizes or creates and which it regulates or orders, that is, the relations of state and government to individuals and groups, and of individuals and groups to each other. It may even analyze the fundamental conceptions of the family, of property, and of succession.

Answer the following questions:

1. What is the history of the term jurisprudence?

2. What is jurisprudence according English and US treatises?

3. What is the way in which law originates?

4. How does it cease to exist?

5. What does jurisprudence formulate, classify and analyze?

TASK 12. Study the information below, making sure you fully comprehend it. Answer the questions.

Criminal law - branch of law that defines crimes and fixes punishments for them. Criminal law includes rules and procedures for preventing and investigating crimes and prosecuting criminals, as well as the regulations governing the constitution of courts, the organization of police forces, and the administration of penal institutions. In general, the criminal law of most modern states classifies crimes as offenses against the safety of the state; offenses against the public welfare; offenses against property; and offenses threatening the lives or safety of persons. In the US criminal law has a number of unique features. In determining the criminal law, the federal government and each of the state governments are sovereign within the limits of their authority as defined by the US Constitution. In many particulars the criminal law varies from state to state. The federal government and a number of states have formulated codes of criminal law. In the US and Great Britain the most serious crime is treason. Treason – criminal offense involving the attempt, by open acts, to overthrow the government to which the offender owes allegiance, or to betray the state to a foreign power. Treason in English Law Two grades of treason existed in early English law: high treason, which was directed against the Crown, and petty treason, which consisted of a crime against a subject, such as a wife killing her husband, or a servant murdering his master. In early English statutes the most serious offenses were compassing or imagining the death of the sovereign, adhering to the sovereign's enemies and giving them aid and comfort, and levying war against the sovereign. Statutes were changed from time to time between the reign of Edward III and that of Elizabeth I. After the Restoration the Stuart judges used “constructive treason” to discourage resistance to the Crown. They extended the offenses to include words as well as deeds. In 1663, a writer was convicted of treason for writing an article suggesting that the king was accountable to the people. Treason in US History Article III, Section 3, of the U.S. Constitution follows the English law: “Treason against the United States shall consist only in levying war against them, or in adhering to their enemies, giving them aid and comfort. No person shall be convicted of treason unless on the testimony of two witnesses to the same overt act, or on confession in open court.” At the end of the 17th century colonial law followed the English law of treason. During the French and Indian War some colonies considered trading with the enemy treasonous. Massachusetts in 1706 declared “correspondence” with the enemy to be treason. During the 1680s, Virginia attempted to punish the destruction of young tobacco plants, in order to control prices, as treason. In colonial days the penalty for conviction of treason followed the English law, providing for attainder, forfeiture, or loss of property, and the loss of all rights of inheritance. The sentence included the practice of hanging and quartering. Often, however, the colonial governor received a reversal of the judgment from the Crown. During the American Revolution, charges of treason were brought against American supporters of the British government. Congress authorized the death penalty for American soldiers who supported King George III. Several men were hanged for enlisting soldiers in the king's army and for various other violations, such as furnishing supplies to the British. Many convicted traitors were pardoned. In 1790, Congress fixed the penalty for treason as death by hanging. The accused was to enjoy certain procedural rights: a copy of the indictment; a list of jurors and witnesses at least three days before trial; representation by counsel; compulsory process for witnesses on behalf of the accused; and preemptory challenge of 35 members of the jury panel. The first Americans convicted and executed for treason in peacetime were the engineer Julius Rosenberg (1918–53) and his wife Ethel Rosenberg (1915–53). The Rosenbergs, both members of the Communist party, were found guilty in 1951 of transmitting atomic military secrets to a Soviet spy, in a controversial trial. After several appeals to the U.S. Supreme Court and a refusal of clemency by President Eisenhower, the Rosenbergs were executed at Sing Sing Prison in Ossining, N.Y. The Rosenberg trial The trial of Ethel and Julius Rosenberg begins in New York Southern District federal court. Judge Irving R. Kaufman presides over the espionage prosecution of the couple accused of selling nuclear secrets to the Russians. David Greenglass was a machinist at Los Alamos, where America developed the atomic bomb. Julius Rosenberg, his brother-in-law, was a member of the American Communist Party and was fired from his government job during the Red Scare. According to Greenglass, Rosenberg asked him to pass highly confidential instructions on making atomic weapons to the Soviet Union. These materials were transferred to the Russians by Harry Gold, an acquaintance of Greenglass. The Soviets exploded their first atomic bomb (and effectively started the Cold War) in September 1949 based on information, including that from Greenglass, they had obtained from spies. The only direct evidence of the Rosenberg's involvement was the confession of Greenglass. The left-wing community believed that the Rosenbergs were prosecuted because of their membership in the Communist Party. Their case became the cause célèbre of leftists throughout the nation. The trial lasted nearly a month, finally ending on April 4 with convictions for all the defendants. The Rosenbergs were sentenced to death row on April 6. Sobell received a thirty-year sentence. Greenglass got fifteen years for his cooperation. Reportedly, the Rosenbergs were offered a deal in which their death sentences would be commuted in return for an admission of their guilt. They refused and were executed.

Answer the questions:

1. What is criminal law? What does it include?

2. What kinds of offences are criminal?

3. What are the unique features of the US criminal law?

4. What is treason?

5. What grades of treason in early English law do you know?

6. What were the most serious offenses in early English statutes?

7. What kinds of actions were treasonous in the US in the 17^th century? 8) What were the penalties for these actions?

8. What were the rights of a person accused of treason in the 18^th century?

9. What do you know about the Rosenberg trial?

TASK 13. Find the appropriate definitions:

attainder	the loss of property or money because of a breach of a legal obligation
traitor	to change to the contrary
reversing	one who betrays another's trust or is false to an obligation or duty
petty	a challenge of a juror made as of right without assigning any cause
forfeiture	extinction of the civil rights and capacities of a person upon sentence of death or outlawry usually after a conviction of treason
pardon	the excusing of an offense without exacting a penalty
peremptory challenge	having secondary rank or importance