Understanding the law ВСЕ УПРАЖНЕНИЯ. The Royal Courts of Justice Vocabulary List
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Reading ComprehensionExercises I. Scanning.1. Look through the whole chapter and find the place explaining the meaning of the ‘Royal Courts of Justice’. 2. Find out how many courts there are in the RCJ and what courts they are. 3. Look for the place in the chapter indicating the kinds of other courts in Great Britain except the RCJ. 4. Find the place indicating the subjective nature of justice and illustrating how difficult it can be for the courts to provide justice. II. Skimming. 1. Look more closely through the first part of the chapter and decide what it is devoted to. a. examples of cases tried by the RCJ; b. description of the RCJ and their work; c. whether the RCJ do justice or injustice. 2. Look through the end of the chapter and decide which of the following statements renders the main idea of the given passage. a. Although the legal system is not altogether perfect, one must accept it. b. The legal system deserves criticism. c. The system of justice must be constantly reviewed, reformed and improved. Vocabulary WorkExercisesI. Suggest Russian equivalents of the following expressions and use them in your own sentences based on the text. 1. hear cases; 2. be involved in a case; 3. be convicted of a crime; 4. uphold laws; 5. enforce laws; 6. cause harm; 7. unsafe conviction; 8. call evidence in support of the case; 9. order a re-trial; 10. bring a claim against smb; 11. suffer injustice; 12. strong evidence; 13. threat to break a contract; 14. body of law(s); 15. find smb guilty of smth (doing smth). II. Suggest English equivalents of the following expressions and use them in your own sentences based on the text. 1. изложить свою версию дела; 2. подчиняться законам; 3. состояние правовой системы; 4. давать ложные показания; 5. потерпеть ущерб; 6. быть виновным в совершении преступления; 7. уладить спор; 8. отменить судимость; 9. отбывать пожизненное тюремное заключение; 10. оспаривать решение суда; 11. денежная компенсация; 12. достаточно безопасное и спокойное окружение; 13. быть освобожденным от отбывания наказания; 14. выиграть дело; 15. нарушать закон. III. Match the expressions on the left (A) with their proper translation on the right (B). A B 1. lose a case a. давать свидетельские показания, предъявлять улики 2. follow the law b. принять решение суда 3. commit a crime с. мягкий приговор 4. give evidence d. следовать закону 5. lenient sentence е. повторное судебное разбирательство 6. cruel treatment f. осуществить правосудие 7. accept the judgment g. представлять, передавать дела на рассмотрение суда 8. administer justice h. проиграть дело 9. re-trial i. жестокое обращение 10. present a case j. совершить преступление IV. Guess the concept of the following definitions. 1. The parties involved in a lawsuit; those involved in litigation; refers to all parties whether the claimants or defendants. 2. Criminal offence of making false statements under oath or affirmation. 3. Any violation of law for which a penalty is prescribed, including both felonies and misdemeanors. 4. The confinement of an individual to a particular place, usually in order to punish him for a crime; any deprivation of liberty or detention of a person contrary to his will causes in open court’ and related duties. He or she doesn’t prepare the case from the start. V. Give definitions of these words. Use the dictionary. Suggest the word-combinations in which these words can be used. 1. accuse (v); 2. harm (n); 3. claim (n); 4. re-trial (n); 5. witness (n). VI. Match the words on the left (A) with their definitions on the right (B) and give their Russian equivalents. A B
VII. Translate the sentences from English into Russian. 1. Members of the public or media who are present are expected to remain still and listen to the proceedings in silence. 2. We know that the courts cannot be expected to deal with these kinds of ‘injustice’. 3. Justice therefore faces its greatest danger when people in a position of authority and trust, whose evidence is likely to be believed, conspire together to give false evidence. 4. A seemingly endless procession of men and women come to the RCJ to have their cases heard. 5. A child who has been convicted of a street robbery is trying to have his conviction and sentence overturned. VIII. Complete the sentences with the words from the box. 1. served; 2. trying; 3. cases; 4. claiming; 5. punished; 6. provide; 7. staff; 8. appeals (n); 9. guilty; 10. trouble-free; 11. judgment; 12. presenting; 13. sentences (n); 14. criminal; 15. convicted; 16. laws; 17. legal; 18. safe (a); 19. wrongfully; 20. prison; 21. claim (n); 22. obeyed; 23. treated. _____________________________________________________________________________ 1. The judges who are _________ cases and the barristers who are _________ them are still wearing robes. 2. The court _________ - clerks and ushers - perform their duties very discreetly. 3. There are cases where ordinary people are _________ that they have been unfairly ________ by the state. 4. The Court heard an appeal by men who had already ________ long ________ of imprisonment for terrorist offences. 5. These people who allege that they were _________ arrested by the police are bringing a _________ against them. 6. The judges of the Court of Appeal hear _________ in criminal and civil _________, where the ________ of the first court trying the case has not been accepted. 7. ________ courts judge whether people are ________ of crime; if so, how they should be ________. 8. These men have been wrongfully ________ and have spent years in ________ before being released. 9. Any society has a duty to provide its citizens with _______ which, if ________, will provide them with a reasonably ________ and _________ environment. 10. The ________ system does not and cannot always ________ justice, whatever that may mean. IX. Fill in the gaps with the appropriate prepositions from the box. _____________________________________________________________________________ of (5); on; in (6); throughout; by; from (4); to (4); for (2); against; at; through; at; with; despite. _____________________________________________________________________________ 1. The judges are hearing an appeal _____ a man convicted _____ murder. 2. ____ all the difficulties _____ doing justice, it is possible to give citizens, who have been harmed ____ the fault of others, and those who are accused ____ causing that harm, the feeling that we are concerned ____ their misfortunes. 3. These are called the rules of natural justice: an open hearing, an impartial court, giving each side an equal chance to state its case and to call evidence ____ support ____ it before coming ____ a reasoned decision. 4. May I respectfully draw the court’s attention ____ the fact that these men’s convictions were unsafe and the scientific evidence given ____ their trial was unreliable. 5. A woman is freed ____ a sentence ____ life imprisonment ____ killing her husband. 6. Family courts consider the welfare of children, who have the simple need to be protected ____cruel treatment, or ____ the effects ____ the breakup of their parents’ marriage. 7. A judge is hearing the claim ____ a widow who is asking ____ compensation ____ her late husband’s employers, following his death ____ a factory accident. 8. The parents of the Siamese twins object ____ the operation ____ religious and moral grounds. 9. The courts ____ the RCJ are only a small fraction of the many courts elsewhere ____ London and ____ the country, serving the needs of the communities ____ their areas. 10. There is always a healthy pressure ____ many different groups and individuals to advance and improve the laws and to adapt them ____ the needs of society. X. Translate the sentences from Russian into English using the active vocabulary. 1. Эти свидетельские показания вряд ли подтверждаются обстоятельствами дела. 2. Утверждают, что судебное решение либо должно быть исправлено, либо следует назначить повторное рассмотрение дела. 3. Несмотря на все свои недостатки, система юстиции в Великобритании в целом считается очень справедливой. 4. Юрисконсульт считает, что это дело нельзя передавать на рассмотрение суда, главным образом, потому что в нем недостаточно относящихся к делу доказательств. 5. Также необходимо понимать, что правовая система не всегда может осуществлять правосудие. Grammar Revision Exercises Translate the sentences from English into Russian paying attention to the meaning and function of the word ‘for’.
1. Some of these decisions may be so important that they will affect the lives of us all,for they will be adding to the great body of law that has to be followed by all the courts in the land. 2. A father is fighting for a court order that his local hospital authority should provide expensive medical treatment for his sick child. 3. A singer has been in court for weeks, fighting to be released from his contract with a record company. 4. Over a period of almost one thousand years they have built up a remarkable body of laws, and a legal system that, for all its faults, is generally admired and has been copied in many other countries. 5. Our legal system does not and cannot always provide justice, for any system operated by human beings must be fallible. 6. The cavernous Hall is impressive for its size and intricate mosaic tiled floor. 7. There may be an appearance of calm, but for all their courtroom courtesies the lawyers are likely to be fighting as fearlessly for those whom they represent as the stone cat and dog above the judge’s entrance, representing battling litigants in court. 8. The very methods of reaching decisions have also been criticized, for some people claim that we seem to be more concerned with procedures than with getting at the truth itself. 9. We now have very different ideas of fairness and justice from the ideas of our ancestors, for they lived in different ages and experienced different problems. Speaking Exercises I. Say whether the following statements are true or false. Explain why. 1. Barristers addressing the judges don’t use quaint old-world courtesies at all. 2. The British legal system is based on case law. 3. The word ‘Royal’ in the name of the RCJ has nothing to do with the Crown. 4. Everyone has the same idea of what justice is. 5. Judges and juries do make mistakes. II. Answer these questions about the text. 1. When and by whom was the building of the ‘RCJ’ opened? 2. What is the RCJ building like? 3. What do wigs and gowns still worn by judges symbolize? 4. Apart from the judges, who else wears robes? 5. What is the accepted manner in which barristers address the judges? What phrases are commonly used in barristers’ speech? 6. What court officials work for the RCJ? How do they perform their duties? 7. What kind of atmosphere is there in the RCJ? Does it correspond to the nature of the cases the courts are concerned with? 8. What sort of decisions may the RCJ judges have to make? 9. What are the three main areas of the courts’ work? 10. Give a few examples of the cases tried by the criminal Division of the Court of Appeal, the Civil Division, and by the High Court. 11. How are the three main areas of the courts’ work distributed between the Court of Appeal and the High Court? 12. Why do people come to court? 13. How can justice be defined? Is it an objective or a subjective notion? 14. Give examples of the cases in which justice done to people can be questioned. 15. Why are the Royal Courts of Justice called ‘Royal’? 16. How many divisions does the High Court comprise? What are they? 17. What other courts except the RCJ are there elsewhere in London and throughout the country? What are their functions? 18. What is ethics and how can it help in the cases where it is difficult to do indisputable justice? 19. What is the aim of providing any society with laws? 20. What are the courts necessary for? 21. What do the laws that we have represent? 22. What are the rules of natural justice? 23. Should we expect a legal system to be ideal (infallible) and always providing justice? 24. How can a legal system go wrong? 25. On what grounds have the methods of reaching legal decisions been criticized? 26. How does perjury put justice at risk? 27. Why is there confidence in the society that the British legal system can be generally regarded as a good and fair one? 28. What is the objective of the Law Commission? 29. What are you going to read about in the rest of the book? III. Draw up the plan for rendering the text and then summarize it. IV. Discuss these issues. 1. Would it be ethically right to separate the conjoined Siamese twins? 2. What is your attitude to euthanasia (causing death painlessly, so as to end suffering from incurable, painful diseases)? 3. Interpret the words of Lord Jessel, the Master of the Rolls: ‘I am not conscious of “many shortcomings” and if I were, I should not be fit to sit on the bench’. What attitude does the author express toward this quotation and why? 4. What arguments can you give in support of the claim that the laws and the system of justice are forever in need of review and reform? |