X. Discuss the main duties and career opportunities for barristers in the uk with your partner.

4.1.3. Judges

Read the text to fulfil the tasks.

The judges constitute the judiciary, or the third arm of the constitutional system in the UK. There are a relatively small number of judges of various ages, and they are located in most large cities and in the higher courts in London. As there is no judicial profession in England, all judges are usually appointed from the ranks of senior barristers, although advocates or solicitors have now become eligible for some of the lower positions. Some become circuit judges, of whom there are about 300, assigned to county courts throughput the country. Above these there are about 50 High Court judges who deal with more important or difficult cases around the country, and about 30 other judges, all of whom belong to one of the divisions of the High Court of Justice. The highest appointments are made by the Crown on the advice of the Prime Minister, and lower positions on the advice of the Lord Chancellor.

Other appointments of judges are supposedly made on non-political grounds. Once appointed, senior judges cannot be in practice removed from office until the retiring age of 75.

Judges are usually safe, conventional people and generally tend to support the accepted wisdom and status quo, and are overwhelmingly male.

Text-study

1. Learn these words.

to constitute – составлять

judiciary – судебный

to appoint – назначать на должность

to assign – назначать

county courts – суды графств

eligible – могущий быть избранным

circuit – округ

to retire – уйти на пенсию

to ensure – гарантировать

elitist – элита

remote – отдаленный

status quo – статус-кво (лат.)

overwhelming – подавляющий

2. Answer the following questions.

1. Who constitutes the third arm of the constitutional system in the UK?

2. What court are circuit judges assigned to?

3. How are the highest appointments of judges made?

4. Who can become a judge?

III. Professional Titles Quiz.

You’ve learnt a lot about different types of legal professions. Now test yourself matching the following clippings with the law professional titles.

1. They make up the largest branch of the legal profession in England and Wales. They are found in every town where they deal with all the day-to-day work of preparing legal documents for buying and selling houses, making wills, etc.

2. They deal with the most serious crimes, such as those for which the criminal might be sent into prison for more than a year.

3. They defend or prosecute in the English higher courts. They specialize in representing clients in court. In court, these lawyers wear wigs and gowns in keeping with the extreme formality of the proceedings. The highest level of them have the title QC (Queen’s Counsel).

IV. Find the English equivalents for the following Russian phrases.

1. назначаться;

2. окружные судьи;

3. по рекомендации;

4. рассматривать более важные и сложные дела;

5. быть уволенным.