TEXT 3B

WHAT IS A CONTRACT?

Contract is one other variety of business documents that makes the parties to it legally responsible for something or likely to be legally punished or forced to do something by law.

The notion of contract was clearly expressed in Ancient Rome that had a highly developed legal system. The Roman legal system evolved between the Vth century B.C. and the IInd century A.D. The collection of laws then outlined the most basic of legal principles concerning property, family law, and citizenship.

In England, already by the middle of the XIVth century, covenant- a formal agreement between two or more people- required the production of a sealed document. The law attached particular force to the written form of the agreement.

Legal English presents a more specialized definition of the term contract. A contract is an enforceable agreement that can be written, oral or implied by the actions or intentions of the parties.

Along with General Business English terms like delivery, payment, price, specification, ets. and formal words like stipulate, termination, integral, etc., contracts use specialized terminology which points to a particular professional area or industry.

Latin expressions are also used in binding documents, for example:

per annum - annually

per se- by or in itself

pro rata - in proportion to a total sum

addendum - a supplement

ad interim - for the intervening time,temporarily.

Exercise 12. Translate from Russian into English,(use words in bracket):

Контракт

Юридически закрепленное соглашение между двумя и более сторонами; соглашение о поставке определенной партии товаров или материалов по определенной цене к определенному времени.

(a formal written agreement, parties, to deliver, type of goods, particular time and price).

Exercise 12. Find in the text the words which definitions are given.

1. Answerable for an act performed or for its consequences_______________________________

2. To cause to suffer for crime or misconduct_________________________________

3. Smth. can be put into effect____________________

4. Purpose__________________________________

5. Unique or specific to a person or thing or category___________________________________

Exercise 13. Give synonyms to the following words(from the text):

agreement, conclusion, provide, fee, signed.

Exercise 14. Be ready to write a dictation with the terms to be memorized from the Unit 3.

UNIT 4