greatbritain

PART 2. Legislative power

supporters (back-benchers) behind them. The House of Commons is presided over by the Speaker.

The House of Lords is the upper house of the parliament. It consists of about 1,200 members and is probably the only upper house in the democratic world whose members are not elected. About 70% of them are hereditary peers1, because their fathers were peers before them. The other 30% are «life peers’’, whose titles are not passed on to their children. They are officially appointed by the King or Queen on the advice of the Government, for various services of the nation. The House of Lords is presided over by the Lord Chancellor.

The main function of Parliament is making laws. A proposal for a new law is called a bill. Bills may be introduced in either the House of Commons or in the House of Lords by any member. In practice most bills are proposed by the Government. After being discussed and perhaps changed the bill is sent to the other House to go through the same process. When both Houses agree on a text, the bill is sent to the King or Queen for his or her signature — so called «Royal Assent»2 — after which it becomes an act of Parliament.

A bill which has been passed by the House of Commons is almost certain to become a law, and about 50 bills become acts each year. The House of Lords can revise bills but it cannot stop them from becoming acts, it can only delay the process (for a maximum of 12 months). The Royal Assent is a formality: no sovereign has refused a bill since 1707. Besides making laws the main functions of Parliament are providing money for the Government through taxation, examining Government policy, administration and spending, and debating political questions.

Vocabulary

a) advice, balance, bill, constituency, either, election, except, main, policy, proposal, the same, service, signature, single, supreme, taxation, upper;

b) to agree, to appoint, to debate, to delay, to elect, to be held, to introduce, to pass a bill, to preside, to propose, to provide, to refuse, to represent, to resign, to revise, to spend, to stand for election, to pass a bill, to vote.

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UNIT 3. GOVERNMENT OF BRITAIN

Notes on the text

1.a peer — звание представителей высшей аристократии в Англии, дает право быть членом палаты лордов, a hereditary peer — наследственный пэр, a life peer — пожизненный пэр (титул, который не передается по наследству);

2.«Royal Assent» — королевская санкция, одобрение монархом законопроекта.

Exercises

1. Practice the pronunciation of the following words.

Balance [`bxlqns], supreme [sju`prJm], supremacy [sju`premqsI], constituency [kqns`tItjuqnsI], peer [`pIq], chancellor [`CRnsqlq], signature [`sIgnqCq], assent [q`sFnt], policy [`pOlIsI], represent

[reprI`zFnt], resign [rI`zaIn], preside [prI`zaId].

2. Match the following terms with their definitions.

a)a proposal for a new law;

b)electoral district;

c)the candidate who gets more votes than any other candidate;

d)every British citizen except prisoners, lords and mentally ill.

3. Complete the following diagram.

The Sovereign

4. Use the information given in the text to answer the following questions.

1.Which of the people are not elected: a peer, an MP, the Prime Minister?

2.What is the difference between a life peer and a hereditary peer?

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PART 2. Legislative power

3.What are back-benchers?

4.What is the difference between a bill and an act of Parliament?

5.Which of the two Houses of Parliament has more power?

6.What happens in case an MP dies, resigns or is made a peer?

5. Make one sentence from each set of the following words.

a)supreme, the separate elements, power;

b)consists, House of Commons, elected members;

c)each constituency, one member, is represented;

d)the Speaker, is presided, the House of Commons;

e)majority, House of Lords, hereditary;

f)a bill, Royal Assent, Act of Parliament;

g)each year, become acts, bills.

6. Give a brief description of:

1.the House of Commons;

2.the House of Lords;

3.the way a bill becomes an Act of Parliament.

7. Read the text about the royal tradition and answer the following questions.

1)When does the Queen have an official birthday?

2)What traditional ceremony takes place on the Queen’s official birthday?

3)How is the Queen’s regiment called?

The Queen is the only person in Britain with two birthdays. Her real birthday is on April 21st, but she has an «official» birthday too. That’s on the second Saturday in June. And on the Queen’s official birthday there is a traditional ceremony called the Trooping of the Colour. It’s a big parade with brass bands and hundreds of soldiers at Horse Guards’ Parade in London. A regiment of the Queen’s soldiers, the Guards, march in front of her. At the front of the parade is the regiment’s flag or ‘colour’.

The Guards are trooping the colour. Thousands of Londoners and visitors watch in Horse Guards’ Parade. And millions of people at home watch it on television.

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UNIT 3. GOVERNMENT OF BRITAIN

Part 3. Executive Power

The election is held every 5 years. The leader of the party which obtains a majority of seats in a general election is named Prime Minister. The Prime Minister is formally asked by the Sovereign to recommend a group of ministers to form a Government. About 20 of these ministers, both from the Commons and the Lords, are invited by the Prime Minister to form the Cabinet. They are in charge of major Government departments and ministries run by civil servants1, who are permanent officials. Even if the Government changes after an election, the same civil servants are employed.

The Cabinet headed by the Prime Minister is responsible for deciding policies2 and controlling and co-ordinating government administration. The meetings of the Cabinet are always secret. When a decision has been made an individual minister must either support it or resign, because the Cabinet acts as one body with «collective responsibility». The Prime Minister has considerable individual power to introduce and control policies, to change the Cabinet by appointing new ministers, dismissing old ones, or «reshuffling«3 the Cabinet by moving its members to other Cabinet posts. He is the actual ruler of the country.

The main Opposition раrtу forms a Shadow Cabinet, similar to the Cabinet in power4, and the relevant members act as opposition ministers. At present there are two main political parties in Great Britain: the Conservative party and the the Labour party. The other parties are: the Liberal, the Communist and the Social-Democratic party. Since 1945 the Conservatives and Labour have been either the Government or the Opposition.

Vocabulary

a) actual, (political) body, considerable, decision, department, major, ministry, an official, permanent, policy, relevant, responsibility, ruler, seat, shadow;

b) to be held, to obtain, to form, to run, to govern, to introduce, to employ, to resign, to dismiss, to move, to decide a policy, to be in charge (of), to be responsible (for), to be in power.

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PART 3. Executive Power

Notes on the text

1.a civil servant — правительственный чиновник;

2.to decide a policy — определять политику, линию поведения, меры;

3.reshuffling — перестановка;

4.in power — у власти.

Exercises

1. Practice the pronunciation of the following words.

Civil [`sIvIl], govern [`gAvqn], major [`meIGq], actual [`xktjuql], employ [Imp`lOI], considerable [kqn`sIdqrqbl], reshuffle [rI`Safl], permanent [`pWmqnqnt], ruler [`rHlq], dismiss [dIs`mIs].

2.Use these words and expressions from the text to fill the gaps in the following sentences: constituencies, opposition, civil servants, general election, a Shadow Cabinet, to be responsible.

1.The United Kingdom is divided into 650 parliamentary ... .

2.A ... takes place every five years.

3.While the Conservatives were in power, Labour formed the official ... .

4.The main opposition раrtу forms a ... .

5.Major government departments and ministries are run by ... .

6.The Cabinet with the Prime Minister at the head . . . for deciding policies and controlling and coordinating government administration.

3.Turn the following nouns into adjectives: parliament, ceremony, administration, constitution, politics, responsibility, election.

4.Use the information given in the text to answer the questions:

1.What is «collective responsibility»?

2.What is a Shadow Cabinet?

3.Why is the Prime Minister considered to be the actual ruler of the country?

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UNIT 3. GOVERNMENT OF BRITAIN

4. What is the difference between the Government and the Cabinet?

5.Make one sentence from the following set of words.

1.are invited, 20 ministers, to form;

2.meetings, secret, Cabinet;

3.power, Prime Minister, to change;

4.parties, largest, Conservatives and Labour.

6.Answer the following questions to obtain the summary of the text.

1.How often are general elections held?

2.What is the supreme executive power in the state?

3.How is the Prime Minister chosen in Britain?

4.Who forms the Government the Cabinet?

5.What is the Cabinet responsible for?

6.Who runs departments and ministries?

7.How does the Cabinet act?

8.What are the main functions of the Prime Minister?

9.Who forms a Shadow Cabinet?

10.How many political parties are there in Britain?

11.Which are the largest political parties?

7.Read the following paragraph and answer the following questions:

1)What is the origin of the word «establishment?

2)What meaning does it have now?

The word «establishment» has been in use for a long time, meaning the established Church, i.e., the Church of England, which is linked with the Crown and the State. In the middle of the 20th century it came to be used in a much wider sense to describe the ruling class in general. It implies the whole group of people and institutions enjoying positions of established privilege and superiority, e.g., the aristocracy, the Colleges of Oxford and Cambridge, the Bank of England. It indicates the existing power structure in society – powerful institutions and people with their traditional views.

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PART 4. Judicial Power

Part 4. Judicial Power

British Law1 comes from two main sources: law made in Parliament(written law, i.e. statutes) and Common Law (unwritten law), which is based on previous judgments and customs.

The Law has two branches: Civil law and Criminal law. Civil law is concerned with the rights, duties and obligations of individual members of the society between themselves (e.g., family law, law of property, the law of contract, etc.). Criminal law is concerned with wrongs against the community2 as a whole.

England and Wales have no criminal code or civil code and the interpretation of the law is based on what happened in the past. The most common tуре of law court in England and Wales is the magistrates’ court3. There are 700 magistrates’ courts and about 30,000 magistrates in the country. They deal with about 90% of all crimes. Sentences vary a lot but most people who are found guilty have to pay a fine. Magistrates’ courts can impose fines up to £2,000 or prison sentences of up six months.

Magistrates are usually unpaid and have no formal qualifications, but they are respectable people who are given some training. More serious criminal cases go to the Crown Court4, which has 90 branches in different towns and cities. Civil cases, for example, divorce or bankruptcy cases, are dealt with in County Courts. Appeals5 are heard by higher courts. For example, appeals from magistrates’ courts are heard in the Crown court. The highest court of appeal in England and Wales is the House of Lords. Scotland has its own High Court in Edinburgh, which hears all appeals from Scottish courts. Certain cases may be referred to the European Court of Justice6 in Luxembourg.

The legal system also includes juvenile courts7 (which deal with people under seventeen) and Coroners’ courts8 (which investigate violent, sudden or unnatural deaths). There are administrative tribunals which make quick, cheap and fair decisions with much less formality. Tribunals deal with professional standards — disputes between individuals, and disputes between individuals and government departments (for example, over taxation).

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UNIT 3. GOVERNMENT OF BRITAIN

Vocabulary

a) appeal, bankruptcy, civil, court, crime, criminal case, criminal code, community, dispute, divorce, fair (decision), guilty, judgement, justice, legal, law, magistrate, obligation, prison, property, sentence, punishment, previous, statute, tribunal, violent;

b) deal with, to impose a fine, to investigate, to punish, to refer (to), to vary.

Notes on the text:

1.law — право, юстиция, Common Law — общее право;

2.wrongs against the community — правонарушения против общества;

3.Magistrates’ court — мировой суд, magistrate — мировой судья;

4.Crown Court — суд короны, County Court — суд графства;

5.appeal — апелляция, обжалование;

6.the European Court (of Justice) — Суд Европейских Сообществ;

7.juvenile court — суд по делам несовершеннолетних;

8.coroner — судебный следователь в Англии, расследующий случаи насильственной или внезапной смерти, Coroners’ court — суд, проведенный коронером.

Exercises

I. Practise the pronunciation of the following words.

Criminal [`krImInql], court [kLt], magistrate [`mxGIstreIt], crime [`kraIm], guilty [`gIltI], prison [`prIzn], legal [`lJgl], divorce

[dI`vLs], bankruptcy[`bxNkrAptsI], justice [`GastIs], juvenile [`GHvqnaIl], tribunal [traI`bjHnl], vary [`vFqrI], refer [rI`fW].

2. Match these words from the text with their definitions:

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PART 4. Judicial Power

3. Which courts do you think would deal with the following:

a)a bank robbery?

b)a divorce case?

c)a drowning?

d)a case of driving too fast?

e)a burglary committed by a fifteen-year-old?

4. Which punishment do you think is suitable for each of the following crimes:

a)murder of a policeman;

b)drinking and driving, without causing an accident;

c)vandalizing a telephone box;

d)robbing a supermarket with a gun;

e)stealing goods from a shop;

f)parking a car illegally.

1.five to ten years in prison;

2.a small fixed fine;

3.life imprisonment;

4.a £400 fine;

5.A £200 fine and disqualification from driving;

6.100 hours of community service.

5.Answer the following questions to obtain the summary of the text.

1.Who is responsible for making laws in Britain?

2.What is the most common type of law court in England and Wales?

3.What is the most common form of punishment?

4.What type of court deals with civil cases?

5.Where are. appeals heard?

6.What is the highest court of appeal in England and Wales?

7.What sort of crimes do Coroners’ Courts investigate?

8.What type of law court investigates crimes committed by young people?

9.What do administrative tribunals deal with?

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UNIT 3. GOVERNMENT OF BRITAIN

6. Read the following text and answer the question:

What is the difference between a solicitor and a barrister?

The legal profession in Britain is divided into two parts: solicitors and barristers.

Solicitors undertake legal business for the public. They give legal advice on a wide variety of questions, ranging from those of domestic nature to those affecting public financial, commercial and industrial affairs. They are entitled to represent their clients in the lower courts: county and magistrates’ courts.

Barristers are known collectively as ‘the Bar’, collectively and individually as ‘counsel’. The function of barristers is to advise on legal problems submitted through solicitors and to conduct cases in court. It is against established usage for a barrister to have any direct contact with his client. The client must go to a solicitor, who prepares the case for trial and instructs the barrister on his client’s behalf.

7. Read the following English proverbs and sayings and find their Russian equivalents.

One law for the rich, another law for the poor.

Opportunity makes the thief.

Murder will out.

Repentance is good, but innocence is better.

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