Practice Consumer Law

Law and Values

UNIT 2.

Law and Values

Read and translate the text.

Laws generally reflect and promote a society’s values. Our legal system is influenced by our society’s traditional ideas of right and wrong. For example, laws against murder reflect the moral belief that killing another person is wrong. Most people would condemn murder regardless of what the law said. However, not everything that is immoral is also illegal. For example, lying to a friend may be immoral but is seldom illegal.

We expect our legal system to achieve many goals. These include (1) protecting basic human rights, (2) promoting fairness, (3) helping resolve conflicts, (4) promoting order and stability, (5) protecting the environment, (6) representing the will of the majority, and (7) protecting the rights of minorities.

Many of society’s most difficult problems involve conflicts among these goals. For example, in trying to make up for past discrimination, some laws give preference to minorities over whites or to women over men. Laws must balance rights with responsibilities, the will of the majority with the rights of the minority, the need for order with the need for basic freedom. Reasonable people sometimes disagree over how the law can protect the rights of some without violating the rights of others.

Laws can be based on moral, economic, political, or social values. As values change, so can laws. Moral values deal with fundamental questions of right and wrong. For example, laws against killing promote society’s primary moral value–the protection of life. However, as already noted, some things that are considered immoral may not violate the law. In limited circumstances, such as in self–defense or during a time of war, even an intentional killing may be legal.

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Practice in Consumer Law

Economic values deal with the accumulation, preservation, use, and distribution of wealth. Many laws promote economic values by encouraging certain economic decisions and discouraging others. The law encourages home ownership by giving tax benefits to people who borrow money to pay for a home, for example. Laws against shoplifting protect property and discourage stealing by providing a criminal penalty.

Political values reflect the relationship between government and individuals. Laws making it easier to vote promote citizen participation in the political process, a basic American political value.

Social values concern issues that are important to society. For example, it is an American social value that all students are provided with free public education through high school. Consequently, all states have laws providing such education. Like other values, social values can change. In the past, for example, society believed that school sports were not as important for girls as for boys. This value has changed. Today, laws require schools to provide females with sports opportunities similar to those offered to males.

Many laws combine moral, economic, political, and social values. For example, laws against theft deal with the moral issue of stealing, the economic issue of protection of property, the political issue of how government punishes those who violate criminal statutes, and the social issue of respecting the property of others. What values are placed in conflict by laws protecting the environment?

Find the equivalents of the following words and expressions in the text.

Отражать и обеспечивать ценности общества, осуждать убийство, незаконный, защищать права человека, разрешить конфликт, обеспечить порядок и стабильность, защищать ок- ружающую среду, большинство/меньшинство, давать пред- почтение, сбалансировать права и обязанности, нарушать права, защита жизни, при определенных обстоятельствах, са- мооборона, льготы по налогообложению, участие, бесплатное государственное образование.

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Law and Values

Answer the questions:

1.What do laws reflect and promote?

2.What influences the legal system? How?

3.Think of your own examples of something that is immoral, but not illegal. Now try to find examples of something illegal but not immoral in our society.

4.What goals do we expect the legal system to achieve?

5.Why can laws change when values do?

6.What do economic values deal with?

7.How can laws promote economic values?

8.How does the law encourage people to buy homes?

9.What is the difference between political and social values?

10.Make a short summary of the text. Do you agree with all the ideas given there?

Match the words on the left with the correct definition on the right:

Human	a person who rents property.
rights
Majority	impose a penalty on (an offender) of for (an of-
	fence).
Self–defense	the number greater than half of any total.
Shoplifting	the right to defend oneself with whatever force
	is reasonably
	necessary against an actual or reasonably per-
	ceived threat of
	personal harm.
Punish	stealing.
Tenant	basic privileges a person has as a human being.
Self–defense	the number greater than half of any total.
Taxes	a form of larceny in which items are taken from
	a store without
	payment or the intention to pay.
Theft	sum of money paid by citizens (according to in-
	come, value of purchases, etc.) to the govern-
	ment for public purposes
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Practice in Consumer Law

Read and translate the dialogue:

Narrator: The solicitor describes a violent crime he has had to defend.

Solicitor: I can think of man who used to live, in a caravan, and his marriage broke up, and shortly after the break–up of marriage he had serious mental illness…

Interviewer: I see…

Solicitor: And he began drinking and he seemed to be unable to keep any job for very long and one particular night he committed a crime, fair degree of seriousness he went into a bus station. For no apparent reason he hit an elderly man, on the face, as he entered the bus station. Two children then came into his notice and he chased these two children on to a bus. He beat two children. When another elderly man who was also sitting on the bus, which was waiting to depart…

Interviewer: Did he try to interfere?

Solicitor: Yes, he tried to prevent him from beating the children, he beat the elderly man and then, departing from the bus station, he assaulted another woman on his way out.

Interviewer: I see…

Solicitor: No apparent reason at all we had extensive medical and psychiatric reports, a social report by the probation service, because this man had been in trouble before. And when it really boiled down to it, he was just anti–social.

Answer the questions:

1.After what event in his life did the man become a criminal?

2.Why couldn’t the man keep any job for very long?

3.How serious was the crime that this man committed?

4.Where did the crime occur?

5.Where was the elderly man sitting when the criminal beat him? Why did the criminal beat him?

6.What information did the solicitor obtain about his defendant (before starting to work on the case)?

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Law and Values

Retell the dialogue in indirect speech.

Read and retell the text:

The Baby Milk Boycott

A company had been advertising the sale and use of its baby formula in underdeveloped countries in Africa, Asia, and Latin America. To encourage new mothers to feed their babies formula instead of breast milk, the company had been giving free supplies of its formula to hospitals.

Critics of the company’s practices said that breastfeeding at home was difficult once babies had been bottle–fed with formula in the hospital. The critics pointed out that many mothers, after leaving the hospital, discovered that bottled formula was too expensive; as a result, their babies were often underfed. When mothers did use the formula, they often mixed it with polluted water. The critics stated that many of the 3,500 infant deaths occurring daily around the world resulted from inadequate nourishment.

The company denied that its practices caused the deaths of babies. It asserted that its formula was beneficial to babies and that other factors, such as poor health care, caused infant deaths. The company believed it was unfair to criticize the promotion of a safe and useful product, noting that mothers who could not breast– feed needed bottled formula.

Beginning in 1977, citizens of various countries began to organize a boycott of the company’s formula and of its other products, which included different types of baby food and chocolate. The boycott attracted attention from the media and other groups. UNICEF (United Nation’s International Children’s Emergency Fund) and the World Health Organization issued regulations declaring that the company’s marketing practices would in the future be considered illegal. In 1988, however, it was discovered that the company was still offering free formula to new mothers in many countries. Because the company was based in Europe, the European Community (EC) was asked to take action. In 1992, the EC set up complaint procedures in 100 countries.

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Practice in Consumer Law

Role–play:

Role–play a meeting between “Boycotters to End Infant Formula Deaths” and representatives of the formula manufacturer. After each side presents its point of view, both should try to reach an agreement to address the problem.

Answer the questions:

1.With which position in the role–play do you agree? Explain. Was an agreement reached?

2.What does the word boycott mean? Do you think the boycott worked in this case?

3.Do you know of other consumer boycotts? Describe them and explain why people were boycotting.

4.Do you think the boycotts were effective? Were any of them waged against someone other than a manufacturer?

5.What alternatives to boycotting do people who dislike the practices of a company or group have? Compare the effectiveness of boycotts with that of alternatives.

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Consumer Law

UNIT 3.

Consumer Law

Read and translate the texts.

Have you ever bought a meal in a restaurant or a pair of sneakers at a sporting goods store? Have you ever ridden a bus to work or have your car repaired at a service station? If you did any of these things you were a consumer. A consumer is a person who buys goods and services for personal or household purposes from a seller.

When sellers agree to provide and consumers agree to pay for goods or services, the parties have entered into a legal agreement. The agreement is called a contract. Every time you order a meal a restaurant, you promise to pay for it, and the restaurant promises to give you a meal that is fit to eat. If the consumer and the seller have a dispute they can’t settle themselves, the law may help determine the outcome.

For many years, consumer law was characterized by the legal expression caveat emptor. This means “let the buyer beware.” In other words, consumers had to look out for unfair and misleading sales practices before buying or else be prepared to suffer the consequences. Once consumers bought something, they were stuck with the purchase, even if they got less than they bargained for, such as unsafe or poor–quality products.

Today the law is more balanced. Consumers now have a right to be correctly informed of important information, such as quality, price and credit terms. Sellers must avoid sales and advertising practices that mislead, deceive, or are otherwise unfair to consumers. This increased concern for consumers is based on the fact that sellers are usually better informed about the products or services being offered and are usually in control of the sales transaction.

Even though the law has changed, the best protection is still a careful purchase. Learning about products and services, shop-

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Practice in Consumer Law

ping carefully, and knowing your legal rights and how to enforce them are the best ways to avoid a problem.

You should also recognize that if you receive poor–quality merchandise or fall victim to a deceptive practice, all is not lost. You can often solve the problem yourself. And when you can’t, the law may provide a remedy.

While consumers have many rights, they also have responsibilities. For example, they have a responsibility to sellers to be fair and honest. A consumer who buys an item of clothing, wears it once to a party, and then returns it is not being fair and honest. When this happens, a seller’s costs go up, and everyone winds up paying higher prices.

Influences on consumers

Smart consumers understand the factors that influence their shopping habits. They think about whether they need the product, whether they can afford it, and how they can purchase it carefully. They also know the difference between wanting and needing a product. Of course, sometimes all consumers splurge and buy things they really don’t need. But smart shoppers don’t spend so much on things they want that they can’t afford what they really need.

Consumers often buy things in response to advertising. A great deal of television, radio, newspaper, and magazine advertising is geared toward specific groups of people. For example, sellers know that teenagers are an extremely important market for their goods and services, and so they develop specific ads for this audience. Advertising to teens has been stepped up as studies have shown that today’s parents make fewer buying decisions for their children. The ads, which are often purchased for shows or publications that particularly appeal to teens, are designed to increase sales of the products advertised. Many ads provide useful information about products or announce the start of a sale. However, ads may also attempt to influence you to purchase a product that you do not need or want or that you cannot afford.

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Consumer Law

Find the equivalents of the following words and expressions in the text.

Соглашение, определить исход, страдать от последствий, товары низкого качества, условия кредита, вводить в заблужде- ние, стать жертвой, избежать проблемы, в ответ на рекламу, быть нацеленным на…, увеличивать объем продаж, пытаться повли- ять, средство судебной защиты, «пусть покупатель будет бдите- лен» (покупатель действует на свойриск), пускать пыльв глаза.

Answer the questions:

1.Define the term consumer.

2.How was consumer law characterized for many years?

3.What did it mean?

4.Why is the law more balanced today?

5.What is the best protection for consumers? Why?

6.How can you avoid problems?

7.Do consumers have any responsibilities? Give your examples.

8.What factors influence smart consumers shopping habits? Are you a smart consumer?

9.How does advertising influence consumers?

Problem–solving:

Select an item costing more than $100 that you or your family would like to purchase. What item did you select? Use the library at your school or in your neighborhood to find answers to the following questions:

1.What publications can provide you with information about this product? How else can you get information about it?

2.What specific information is provided about the product?

3.How can this information help you to be a smart consumer?

Problem–solving:

Identify an ad for a product you would consider buying. If the ad appeared in a newspaper or magazine, cut it out and bring it to class. If it was aired on the radio or television, either tape (or videotape) the ad or write a description of it and bring it to class. Answer the following questions about your ad:

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Practice in Consumer Law

1.What product or service does the ad promote?

2.Who is the target audience for this product or service?

3.If the ad appeared on radio or television, at what time and during what program did it appear? If it appeared in print, in what publication did it appear? Why do you think the advertiser chose to run the ad in this way?

4.What information provided in this ad would you need to make a decision to purchase the product? Is there information you would need about the product that is not included in the ad? What is that information? How would you obtain it?

5.What makes this ad effective in encouraging you to buy the item advertised?

Problem–solving:

Create an ad that would encourage a teenager to buy one of the following products: a portable compact disc player, new basketball shoes, a meal at a fast–food restaurant, or toothpaste.

1.When you designed your ad, what ideas did you use to appeal to your audience?

2.Do professional advertising people use these ideas?

Read and translate the dialogue:

Narrator: The solicitor explains why he defends people who admit they are guilty, then he gives an example.

Interviewer: It’s your job to defend a person as best as possible…

Solicitor: As best as possible…

Interviewer: Well, I mean how can one do that if one feels that for instance the person is really guilty, for instance.

Solicitor: Oh, well I suppose really, one can put it very simply that my firm has a reputation for successful criminal defence and to some extent one is trying to continue that reputation. But sometimes there is very little that can be said…

Interviewer: What exactly do you mean?

Solicitor: I have a case at the moment actually where I have been told, by the client in no uncertain terms that he committed a par-

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