Vocabulary tasks

A Match the following English words and expressions with their Russian equivalents.

1	legal system	a	судебный иск
2	application of law	b	решить спор
3	variety of courts	c	сторона по делу
4	make decisions	d	ограничение
5	legal action	e	разнообразие судов
6	party	f	применение права/ закона
7	restriction	g	правовая система
8	resolve a dispute	h	принимать решения

B Match the legal terms with their definitions.

1	appeal	a	an out-of-court settlement of a dispute
2	jurisdiction	b	discussion about a subject where there is disagreement
3	court	c	governmental power or jurisdiction
4	arbitration	d	the right to use an official power to make legal decisions
5	authority	e	one of the people or groups of people involved in a legal agreement or argument
6	party	f	a formal request to a court for a decision to be changed
7	dispute	g	a governmental body intended to apply the law to controversies brought before it and to administer justice

Text b Jurisdiction of Courts

Jurisdiction means the power of a court to hear and determine a case. There are three forms of jurisdiction:

• If a court can be consulted by another court on points of law it is said to have consultative jurisdiction.

• A court has original jurisdiction if a case can be completely heard before it.

• If a court hears appeals from a lower court it is said to have appellate jurisdiction.

The judicial system consists of several levels, each level having numerous courts. Which court shall consider a particular case?

After cases are distributed between basic levels of judicial system (i.e. between courts of general jurisdiction and Arbitrazh courts), they shall be distributed between numerous courts of one judicial level. The basic principle in determining court's jurisdiction in this case is the geographic position of the court.