Section 2 Courts

Exercise 15

Pronunciation practice.

Practise saying the words:

[æ] in´valid; e´xamine; handle

[ai] comprise; higher; compliance; by

[ə:] certain; commercial; first; interpret; third

[ɛə] declare; there

[k]´competent

[ʃ] cassation; relation; issue; officially; session; initiate

[tʃ] structure; such

[ð] within; other; with; whether

[s]proceeding; council

[gz] e´xecutive; e´xamine

Exercise 16

a) Match the English word combinations with their Russian equivalents.

constituent entities	кассационная инстанция
to handle cases (or appeals)	субъекты Федерации
appeals against the decisions	проверять законы
instance of cassation	апелляции на решения (судов)
to examine laws	в рамках своей подведомственности
within the jurisdiction	рассматривать дела (или апелляции)

b) Fill in the gaps with the word-combinations from part a).

1. There are eighty three……. ….. in the Russian Federation.

2. …… ….. …… of the first instance court are handled by appellate courts.

3. The Constitutional Court can …… …….. at the federal level as to their compliance with the constitution.

4. Commercial courts of the subjects of the Russian Federation ….. …… as trial courts.

Text

Pre-reading task: Scan the text and entitle it.

The basic level of commercial courts comprises “commercial courts of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation”. There are 81 such courts. These courts handle cases as the first instance court.

Appeals against the decisions of the first instance court are handled by appellate courts. Now there are 20 appellate courts.

The third level courts are the Federal Territorial Commercial Courts. There are 10 such courts. They handle cases as an instance of cassation in relation to the courts.

The highest level of commercial court is the Supreme Commercial Court of the Russian Federation. The most important functions of the court is to issue decisions addressed to lower courts and to review cases by way of supervision.

The structure of the courts of general jurisdiction is provided by the Law on Court Organisation of 1996. The basic level of the system of the courts of general jurisdiction is the district court. In relation to the justices of the peace, district courts are the courts of a higher instance.The second level of courts are supreme courts of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation. The Supreme Court of the Russian Federation is the highest court within the system of courts of general jurisdiction.

The Constitutional Court is the only body that officially interprets the Constitution and can declare that a certain legal act is invalid.

The Court is competent to examine laws and legal acts at federal as well as at the regional level as regards to their compliance with the constitution.

The Constitutional Court can also resolve disputes about competence between state bodies if the dispute cannot be resolved by other means.

Exercise 17

Find Participle I and Participle II in the text. Translate sentences with them.

Exercise 18

Find in the text all the derivatives of the words below and translate them into Russian:

to comply, to relate, to supervise, high, region, official.

Exercise 19

Find a word or a phrase in the text which is similar in the meaning to the following:

main, subjects, judicial body, to try (cases), to stipulate, to state (officially), to explain

Exercise 20

Find a word or a phrase in the text which is opposite in the meaning to the following:

contradiction, valid, informally, lower court, inessential

Exercise 21

Choose the correct answer.

1. What is the main idea of the text?

1. The Constitutional Court is the only body that officially interprets the Constitution.

2. The structure of the courts of general jurisdiction is provided by the Law on Court Organisation of 1996.

3. The court system of the Russian Federation consists of the three independent groups of courts.

4. The highest level of commercial court is the Supreme Commercial Court of the Russian Federation.

2. Which statement corresponds to the text?

   1. At present, there are 20 Federal Territorial Commercial Courts.

   2. The military courts are included into the system of courts of general jurisdiction.

   3. The main function of the RF Constitutional Court is to make sure that laws and legal acts comply with the constitution.

   4. The Supreme Commercial Court is located in Moscow.

Exercise 22

a) Look at the diagram and describe the system of commercial courts. For more information about the courts, go to http://www.arbitr.ru/eng/.

Use the words:

to consist of; to handle cases (appeals); court of first instance; appellate courts; to review; an instance of cassation; lower courts; by way of supervision

Commercial courts

the Supreme Commercial Court of the Russian Federation

(the Plenum, the Presidium, the Department of Civil Cases, and the Department of Administrative Cases)

↑

Federal Territorial Commercial Courts (10 )

↑

appellate commercial courts (20)

↑

commercial courts of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation (81)

↑

specialised commercial courts (e.g. courts for intellectual property since June 2013)

Exercise 23

Make a diagram to describe the work of the Constitutional court. Read the text below. For additional information go to http://www.ksrf.ru/en/Info/Pages/default.aspx

Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation is a judicial body of constitutional review. The rules of the operation of the Constitutional Court are determined by the Constitution of the Russian Federation and the Federal Constitutional Law on the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation.

The Constitutional Court consists of 19 judges. They are appointed by the Federation Council upon nomination by the President of the Russian Federation. The court is presided by the President and two Vice-presidents. The Constitutional Court performs its functions if no less than three quarters of the total number of Judges are in office.

The proceeding before the constitutional court can be initiated by the president, parliament or a group of members of parliament comprising a fifth of all members of the State Duma or the Council of the Federation, the Government, the Supreme Court, the Supreme Commercial Court, legislative and executive bodies of the Subjects of the Federation.

Decisions of the Constitutional Court are obligatory throughout the territory of the Russian Federation for all representative, executive and judicial bodies of state power, local self-government, enterprises, organizations, public officials, citizens and their associations.

Exercise 24

Writing. Comparing and Contrasting.

Write a paragraph (200 words), comparing the British court system and the Russian court system.

COMPARE AND CONTRAST

When you compare one subject to another, you show how the two are alike, or similar. If you speak about similarities, you should start, for example, with

Both N and N…

Like +N, NV

For example,

Like many European countries, Russia belongs to the continental legal system.

When you contrast two subjects, you show how they are different. If you speak about differences, you should start, for example, with

In contrast to/ as opposed to/ unlike + N, NV

In comparison with/Compared to+ N, NV

NV , whereas/ while/but NV

For example,

Unlike many European countries, Great Britain belongs to the common law system.