Functions of coroners

Coroners are officers whose principal function is to investigate deaths by ordering a post-mortem examination or conducting an inquest. Coroners are appointed by the Crown from among barristers, solicitors, and qualified medical practitioners of not less than five years’ standing.

Match the words and word combinations denoting different fields of activity with their definitions, find their Russian equivalents.

conveyancing, probate, general litigation, pre-trial work, advocacy

1. A hearing for the preliminary consideration of an action or matter;

2. The field of law concerned with all contentious matters;

3. The field of legal activity concerned with arguing a case for a client in court;

4. The procedures involved in validity creating, extinguishing and transferring of interests of land;

5. A certificate issued to the effect that the will is valid and that the executers are authorized to administer the deceased’s estate.

Define the legal profession of officers described below

1. An officer acting as a judge in the lower courts;

2. A public official with authority to hear and decide cases in a law court;

3. A group of people who swear to give a true decision on issues in a law court;

4. An official who investigates the cause of any death thought to be violent, or unnatural deaths;

5. A lawyer who has the right to speak and argue in higher law courts;

6. A lawyer who prepares legal documents, advises clients on legal matters and speaks for them in lower law courts.

Read the text and get ready to discuss it.

TEXT 3

The face of the judiciary

If we were to ask judges across the world what they regard as the essential characteristics of a judge, they would all answer: independence, legitimacy, integrity, and impartiality. Yet the preparation judges receive for their work varies a great deal. Judges are molded by their culture, especially their legal culture, and they are different despite these common characteristics.

In some countries, Saudi Arabia for example, judges are religious men, with years of learning in the Sharia – the religious law of Islam – and its application. In other countries, England and the USA for example, judges simply are people learned in the law: graduates of law schools, with experience at the bar, who then move on to become judges. In England, for the upper echelon of the courts, this requires a royal appointment on the advice of the Lord Chancellor, and these judges are addressed as “your lordship”. Lower court judges (lay judges or magistrates) are appointed by the Lord Chancellor, and legal education is not required. In the US, most judges win their post in partisan elections. All federal judges are appointed by the chief executive (the president, with the advice and consent of the Senate), and in some states the governor has similar power.

Judicial education in the usa

How to bridge the gap between having a trial lawyer’s experience and becoming a good judge is a hotly debated topic among American lawyers. In1965 the National Judicial College was founded. It has undertaken to educate freshmen judges to develop special skills and competence. Some of the courses aim at a deep-ended knowledge of law and procedure. Others emphasize decision making, dispute resolution, sentencing and corrections, psychology, or court management. By now tens of thousands trial judges have gone through the program.