Comprehension Check

1. Look through the text and say whether the following statements are true or false:

1. Both damages and fines are sums of money. 2. Both damages and fines may benefit the victim of an accident. 3. Damages are part of the civil system of law.

2. Reread paragraph 1. Try to summarize its content in three or four sentences. Answers to the following questions may help you to make the summary.

1. What is the principal distinction of law? 2. What are the main categories of English civil law? 3. What are the main categories of English public law? 4. What law systems can you compare with English categories of law?

3. Look through paragraphs 2 and 3 and try to analyse the differences between civil and criminal procedures. Write down the list of these differences to compare them with the procedures in your country.

4. In English law an act of violence against a person may be treated both as a crime and as a civil tort. On the basis of paragraph 4 try to explain some of the differences between the two procedures.

5. State the main theme of paragraph 6. Give an account of points of contact between criminal and civil law.

6. On the basis of the text match the terms and their definitions.

1. Defendant 2. Plaintiff 3. Prosecution 4. Trial

a) a person applying for relief against another person in an action or any other form of court proceeding; b) the hearing of a civil or criminal case before a court of competent jurisdiction; c) a person against whom court proceedings are brought; d) the pursuit of legal proceedings, particularly criminal proceedings.

Written Practice

1. Make the following sentences shorter retaining the main idea.

1. An English criminal court may force a defendant to pay a fine as punishment for his crime, and he may sometimes have to pay the legal costs of the prosecution.

2. In a civil case a crime cannot be proved if the person or persons judging it doubt the guilt of the suspect and have a reason for this doubt.

3. Once the plaintiff has shown that the defendant is liable, the main argument in a civil court is about the amount of money, or damages, which the defendant should pay to the plaintiff.

4. Disobeying any court may constitute criminal conduct, and the disobedient loser of a civil action may find he or she not only has to pay the damages originally ordered by the court, but a criminal penalty as well.

2. Render the following in Russian.

In some countries the family is thought to be so important that there is very little legal intervention in family life. In many Islamic countries, for example, fathers, brothers and sons are allowed considerable authority over the females in their family. As late as the 1970s, the male head of the household in Switzerland was deemed to represent the interests of everyone within that household, and, consequently, none of the women could vote in national elections. But in many parts of the world, the law now promotes the rights of individuals within the family unit, and regulates family relations through legislation. Raised from the taxes of the working population as a whole, child benefit is paid directly to the mother, and retirement pensions are paid to grandparents. In Sweden, parents can be prosecuted for physically punishing their children and children have a limited capacity to divorce their parents. In Britain there are special family courts with very strong powers to control and transfer private property in the interests of children. Much of the work of other courts is also directly relevant to family life.