- •Unit I For Study
- •1. Vocabulary.
- •2. Supply the sentences with the missing words, given in brackets below.
- •Reading Practice
- •What is Law?
- •Comprehension Check
- •8. Pick out from the text all the word combinations with the following words (terms) and give their Russian equivalents.
- •Written Practice
- •1. In order to retell the text it's always necessary to compress the information contained in paragraphs. So make the following sentences shorter retaining the main idea.
- •2. Translate the following text in written form.
- •Discussion Points
- •Extra Activity
- •1. Read the following newspaper article and say what your verdict would be in the similar case. Good Excuse for Speeding
- •2. Read the story and answer the question.
- •Read for Enjoyment
- •Unit 2 For Study
- •1. Vocabulary.
- •2. Supply the sentences with the missing words, given in brackets below.
- •Reading Practice
- •Sources of Modern Law
- •Comprehension Check
- •Written Practice
- •2. Translate the following microtext in written form.
- •Discussion Points
- •Extra Activity
- •1. Look through the newspaper extract and think of a reason for the young man's arrest. Give your own verdict whether the man is guilty or innocent. Fag End of the Evening. From upi in Dallas
- •2. Read the next article and make comments on it. Who is to blame in the case? Entitle the text
- •3. Work in pairs. You are a policeman and your partner is a witness or you are a detective and your partner is one of Steven’s friends. Ask all possible questions. Read for Enjoyment
- •Unit 3 For Study
- •1. Vocabulary.
- •2. Supply the sentences with the missing words, given in brackets below.
- •Reading Practice
- •Continental Systems
- •Comprehension Check
- •Written Practice
- •2. Translate the following into English:
- •Discussion Points
- •Extra Activity
- •Prison Cell Forgery (подделка) of Cheque Books
- •Read for Enjoyment
- •Unit 4 For Study
- •1. Vocabulary.
- •2. Supply the sentences with the missing words, given in brackets below.
- •Reading Practice
- •Civil and Public Law
- •Comprehension Check
- •Look through the text and say whether the following statements are true or false:
- •Written Practice
- •1. Make the following sentences shorter retaining the main idea.
- •2. Render the following in Russian.
- •Discussion Points
- •Extra Activity
- •1. Complete this questionnaire. If you wouldn't make any of the choices suggested, then add one of your own.
- •2. Here is the crime solved by Detective Shadow. What is the solution?
- •1. Vocabulary.
- •2. Supply the sentences with the missing words, given in brackets below.
- •Reading Practice
- •Criminal Law
- •Comprehension Check
- •In paragraph 1 find the sentences to prove that in different countries there are different attitudes towards crime.
- •Reread paragraph 2 and 3 and name the theme, which connects them. Match the terms and their definitions. Consult the glossary if necessary.
- •On the basis of paragraphs 4 and 5 expand the following statements. Add information from the text.
- •Look through paragraphs 6 and 7 and try to answer the following questions.
- •Written Practice
- •Make the following sentences shorter, retaining the main idea.
- •Render the following into Russian. What is the Purpose of the Trial?
- •Discussion Points
- •Extra Activity
- •Here is the crime solved by Detective Shadow. What is the solution?
- •Look at the extracts from newspapers given below and match them with the suitable word in the brackets.
- •1. Vocabulary.
- •Supply the sentences with the missing words, given in brackets below.
- •Reading Practice
- •Enforcing the Law
- •Comprehension Check
- •Written Practice
- •Render the following into English.
- •Discussion Points
- •Extra Activity
- •1. Here is the crime solved by Detective Shadow. What is the solution?
- •2. Read the text and answer the question below. He Demanded Two Parachutes
- •Unit 7 For Study
- •1. Vocabulary.
- •Supply the sentences with the missing words, given in brackets below.
- •Reading Practice
- •Major and Minor Crimes
- •Comprehension Check
- •1. Look through paragraph 2 and explain the difference between a felony and a misdemeanor. What crimes in your country are regarded as felonies and what as misdemeanors?
- •2. Reread paragraphs 3 and 4 and name the theme, which connects them. Match the terms and their definitions. Consult the glossary if necessary.
- •3. Look through the text and say whether the following statements are false or true.
- •4. Match the English phrases with their Russian equivalents.
- •5. Look through the text and answer the following questions.
- •Written Practice
- •Translate the following and give the title of the text in Russian.
- •Translate the following into English.
- •Discussion Points
- •Extra Activity
- •1. Read the text below carefully and answer the questions as briefly as possible.
- •2. Comment on the following differences in legal consequences for felonies and misdemeanors. Compare them with those in your country.
- •Read for Enjoyment
- •Unit 8 For Study
- •1. Vocabulary.
- •2. Supply the sentences with the missing words, given in brackets below.
- •Reading Practice
- •Defences
- •Comprehension Check
- •Look through the text and say whether the following statements are true or false.
- •Discussion Points
- •Extra Activity
- •1. Read the text and do the tasks that follow. Helicopter Plucks Two from Jail
- •2. Read the text and comment on its contents. Give the annotation of it in Russian. Duress
- •Read for Enjoyment
- •The Lawyer and the Horse
- •Unit 9 For Study
- •1. Vocabulary.
- •Reading Practice
- •Civil and Criminal Penalties
- •Comprehension Check
- •Written practice
- •Discussion Points
- •Extra Activity
- •The Prison Cell
- •1. Vocabulary.
- •Supply the sentences with the missing words given in brackets below.
- •Reading Practice
- •Small Business and the Law
- •Comprehension Check
- •Written Practice
- •1. Render the following in English.
- •Render the following into Russian and entitle the text.
- •Extra Activity
- •1. Look at the title of the newspaper article and say what information you think it will contain. Read the article and do the task. Manslaughter Charge Inroad Rage Case
- •Comprehension Check
- •Written Practice
- •Discussion Point
- •Extra Activity
- •1. Say what you know about these famous human rights advocates and the contributions they made in fight for human rights:
- •2. Read the news story and do the tasks that follow. Passenger Stabbed Attacker on Tube with a Swordstick
- •Comprehension Check
- •Written Practice
- •2. Translate the following into English.
- •Discussion Points
- •Extra Activity
- •1. Read the two case histories below and decide which offences Jack and Annette have committed: Two Cases
- •2. Read the following phrase carefully and say how the criminal betrayed himself.
- •Read for Enjoyment He Earned his Dollar
- •I. Read the following text and answer the questions. Categories of Human Rights
- •II. Write a 120-180-word summary of the text.
- •I. Think ahead. Before reading the article answer the following questions: “What is capital punishment? Can you name any countries which have it?” Capital Punishment: For and Against
- •II. Write a paragraph containing two arguments for and a paragraph containing two arguments against capital punishment.
- •I. Read the following text and compare Criminal Code with Economic Crime in Russia and Belarus New Criminal Code to Deal with Economic Crime
- •The Organization of the Federal Courts Today
- •I. Draw the pyramid of the federal courts and write down all the names of the courts. Do the same with the system of courts in your country.
- •II. Make the plan of the text.
- •I. Read the following text. Comment on its title. The Sources of English Law
- •II. Divide the text into logically connected parts and give the title to each of the parts. Write a short summary of the text.
- •The Investigation of a Murder in Detroit
- •I. List the succession of actions in the order which they come in the text.
- •II. Find the sentences in the text to prove the cruelty of the Black Legion. Comment on the methods of the Black Legion.
- •Criminology
- •I. List all transnational crimes and give their definitions with the help of the glossary or with your own words. Translate them into Russian.
- •II. Choose any three groups of crimes to speak about their state in your country.
- •I. Read the text and answer the questions after it. Homicide
- •II. Write a 120-180-word summary of the text.
- •The Case for the Defence
- •The story
- •The Case for the Defence
- •I. Pick out facts supporting the author’s view that it was indeed the strangest murder trial he had ever attended.
- •II. Write a 120-180-word summary of the text.
- •I. Read the text and give your own title to it.
- •II. Answer the following questions.
- •Legal terms
- •In Context
- •Using the Words
- •Legal profession
- •Law in belarus
- •Main features of law in belarus
- •To Unit 1
- •I. Put each of the following words and phrases into its correct place in the passage below.
- •II. Choose the correct answer.
- •To Unit 2
- •To Unit 3
- •To Unit 4
- •To Unit 5
- •To Unit 6
- •To Unit 7
- •To Unit 8
- •To Unit 9
- •To Unit 10
- •Trial by Jury
- •To Unit 11
- •Glossary
The Organization of the Federal Courts Today
The American court system is complex, a function in part of our federal system of government. Each state runs its own court system and no two are identical. In addition, we have a system of courts for the national governments. These federal courts coexist with the state courts. Individuals fall under the jurisdiction of both court systems. They can sue or be sued in either system, depending mostly in what their case is about. The vast majority of cases are resolved in the state courts.
The federal courts are organized in three tiers, like a pyramid. At the bottom of the pyramid are the U.S. district courts, where litigation begins. In the middle are the U.S. courts of appeals. At the top is the U.S. Supreme Court. To appeal means to take a case to a higher court. The courts of appeals and the Supreme Court are appellate courts; with few exceptions, they review cases that have been decided in lower courts. Most federal courts hear and decide a wide array of cases; the judges in these courts are known as generalists.
The U.S. District Courts. There are ninety-four federal district courts in the United States. Each state has at least one district court, and no district straddles more than one state. In 1990, nearly 550 full-time federal district court judges dispensed justice in various degrees in almost 267,000 criminal and civil cases.
The district courts are the entry point to the federal court system. When trials occur in the federal system, they take place in the federal district courts. Here is where witnesses testily, lawyers conduct cross-examinations, and judges and juries decide the fate of litigants. There may be more than one judge in each district court, but each case is tried by a single judge, sitting alone.
Criminal and civil cases. Crime is a violation of a law that forbids or commands an activity. Criminal laws are defined in each state's penal code, as are punishments for violations. Some crimes — murder, rape, arson — are on the books of every state. Others — sodomy between consenting adults is one example — are considered crimes in certain states but not all. Because crime is a violation of public order, the government prosecutes criminal cases. Maintaining public order through the criminal law is largely a state and local function. Federal criminal cases represent only a fraction of all criminal cases prosecuted in the United States. The national penal code is very specialized. It does not cover ordinary crimes, just violations of federal laws, like tax fraud or possession of controlled substances banned by Congress.
The definition of crime rests with the legislative branch. And the definition is dynamic, that is, it is subject to change.
Courts decide both criminal and civil cases. Civil cases stem from disputed claims to something of value. Disputes arise from accidents, contractual obligations, and divorce, for example. Often the parties disagree over tangible issues (the possession of property, the custody of children), but civil cases can involve more abstract issues too (the right to equal accommodations, damages for pain and suffering). The government can be a party to civil disputes, called on to defend or to allege wrongs.
Sources of litigation. Today, the authority of U.S. district courts extends to
• federal criminal cases authorized by federal law (for example, robbery of a federally insured bank or interstate transportation of stolen securities).
• civil cases brought by individuals, groups, or government for alleged violation of federal law (for example, failure of a municipality to implement pollution-control regulations required by a federal agency).
• civil cases brought against the federal government (for example, enforcement of a contract between a manufacturer and a government agency).
• civil cases between citizens of different states when the amount in controversy exceeds $50,000 (for example, when a citizen of New York sues a citizen of Alabama in a United States district court in Alabama for damages stemming from an auto accident in Alabama).
Most of the cases scheduled for hearings in the U.S. district courts never are actually tried. One side may be using a lawsuit as a threat to exact a concession from the other. Often the parties settle their own dispute. Less frequently, cases end with adjudication, a court judgment resolving the parties' claims and ultimately enforced by the government. When district judges adjudicate cases, they usually offer written reasons to support their decisions. When the issues or circumstances of cases are novel, judges can publish opinions, explanations justifying their rulings.
Precedent and decision making. Following review of the briefs and, in many appeals, oral argument, the three-judge panel will meet to reach a judgment. One of the three judges attempts to summarize the panel's views, although each judge remains free to disagree with the reasons or with the judgment. The influence of published appellate opinions can reach well beyond the immediate case. For example, a lawsuit turning on the meaning of the Constitution produces a case that then serves as a precedent for subsequent cases; that is, the decision becomes a basis for deciding similar cases in the same way. Although district court judges sometimes publish their opinions, it is the exception rather than the rule. At the appellate level, however, precedent requires that opinions be written.
Decision making according to precedent is central to the operation of our legal system, providing continuity and predictability. This bias in favor of existing decisions is captured by the Latin expression "stare decisis", which means "let the decision stand." But the use of precedent and the principle of "stare decisis" do not make lower-court judges cogs in a judicial machine. "If precedent clearly governed," remarked one federal judge, "a case would never get as far as the Court of Appeals: the parties would settle.
Judges on the courts of appeals direct their energies toward correcting errors in district court proceedings and interpreting the law (in the course of writing opinions). When judges interpret the law, they often modify existing laws. In effect, they are making policy. Judges are politicians in the sense that they exercise political power, but the black robes that distinguish judges from other politicians signal constraints on their exercise of power.
Judges make policy in two different ways. Occasionally, in the absence of legislation, they employ rules from prior decisions. We call this body of rules the common or judge-made law. The roots of the common law lie in the English legal system. Contracts, property, and torts (an injury or wrong to the person or property of another) are common-law domains. The second area of judicial lawmaking involves the application of statutes enacted by Congress. The judicial interpretation of legislative acts is called statutory construction. The application of a statute is not always clear from its wording. To determine how a statute should be applied, judges first look for the legislature's intent, reading reports of committee hearings and debates in Congress. If these sources do not clarify the statutes meaning, the court does. With or without legislation to guide them, judges on the courts of appeals and district courts look to the relevant opinions of the Supreme Court for authority to decide the issues before them.
Although the Supreme Court has the final say on what a law means, its decisions often fail to address the precise issue confronting lower-court judges. This means that federal judges can sometimes exercise as much political power as the High Court justices themselves. For example, in 1955 federal judges in Alabama were called on to determine whether, in light of the Supreme Court's decision in Brown v. Board of Education, Alabama's racially segregated public transportation facilities violated the Constitution's equal protection clause. Because applicable Supreme Court precedents appeared to go in opposite directions, three federal judges from the Deep South had to decide which path to take.