АНГЛИЙСКИЙ ЯЗЫК БИЛЕТЫ

1. Law degree programmes in the UK, US, RF.

In the UK, a legal education usually begins with the completion of a bachelor degree in law, known as an LLB (Bachelor of Laws), which usually takes three years. In the subsequent vocational stage, a person who wishes to become a barrister join one of the Inns of Court before beginning the Bar Vocational Course. The completion of this stage is marked by a ceremony referred to as the call to the Bar. A third stage, known as pupilage, is a year-long apprenticeship, usually at a set of barristers' chambers, which customarily consists of groups of 20-60 barristers. Similarly, a person wishing to become a solicitor must also complete three stages: the first stage involves gaining a law degree; the second stage requires passing a one-year Legal Practice Course (LPC); and the final stage entails working for two years as a trainee solicitor with a firm of solicitors or in the legal department of a local authority or large company.

In the USA, a legal education comprises four years of undergraduate study followed by three years of law school. A law-school graduate receives the degree of juris doctor (J.D.). In order to qualify as a lawyer, a law school graduate must pass the bar examination.

In the RF a legal education begins with the completion of a bachelor degree in law, which takes four years nowadays. It is not necessary to have a license to practice law in Russia as a legal consultant, but only the members of the Russian bar associations (advocates) are permitted to appear in court on criminal matters. In Russia, an advocate must obtain an undergraduate degree in law (four years) or academic degree, practice law for two years and then pass the bar examination.

2. Differences between tort law and criminal law.

In a general way, the purposes of tort law and criminal law are similar. Tort law and criminal law are both used to identify wrongdoers. Tort law and criminal law are both used to take corrective action against wrongdoers. Tort law and criminal law are both used to deter others from being wrongdoers. Tort law and criminal law are both used to discourage self-help.

The overall purpose of criminal law is to provide some basic protection to society from clearly ant-social acts. Although crimes may have immediate victims (e.g., the owners of homes burned down by an arsonist), the ultimate victim of crime is society (e.g., the danger to everyone if an arsonist is not stopped). As a result, the focus of criminal law is on the person committing the crime. The focus of criminal law is on deciding if a person is a criminal and, if so, how the person should be punished. There is a sense in which criminal law is for the criminal.

As a general rule, in a criminal case, the financial harm suffered by the victim as a result of a crime is not the issue. Instead, there is an assumption in criminal law that tort law exists to compensate the victim for the victim's financial harm.

Tort law is a kind of civil law, like family law, property law, and contract law. Torts are some general standards of civil conduct. As a practical matter, torts are nothing more than a collection of theories for suing people for money and, if permitted, other remedies. The theme is that victims of torts are entitled to compensation for breach of the particular duties owed to them beyond family law, property law, and contract law. The focus of tort law is what the victim can do about the financial harm the victim has suffered.

Whereas there is an assumption in criminal law that tort law exists to compensate the victim for the victim's financial harm, the opposite is not true. There is no assumption in tort law that criminal law exists. Some wrongful conduct is a tort but not a crime, and vice versa. As general rule, in tort law, the financial harm suffered by the victim as a result of a tort is the only issue.

TORTS: A tort is a wrongful act that injures or interferes with another's person or property. A tort case is a civil court proceeding. The accused is the "defendant" and the victim is a "plaintiff." The charges are brought by the plaintiff. If the defendant loses, the defendant has to pay damages to the plaintiff.

CRIMES: A crime is a wrongful act that the state or federal government has identified as a crime. A criminal case is a criminal proceeding. The accused is also called a 'defendant". The victim is the person who has been hurt or the state of Georgia or other governmental entity. The charges are brought by the government. If the defendant loses, the defendant must serve a sentence. A fine is paid to the government and there is possible restitution to the victim.

3. Criminal law as one of the main bodies of law.

Criminal law is the body of law that relates to crime. It regulates social conduct and prescribes whatever is threatening, harmful, or otherwise endangering to the property, health, safety, and moral welfare of people. It includes the punishment of people who violate these laws. Criminal law varies according to jurisdiction, and differs from civil law, where emphasis is more on dispute resolution and victim compensation than on punishment.

Criminal law is distinctive for the uniquely serious potential consequences or sanctions for failure to abide by its rules.[7] Every crime is composed of criminal elements. Capital punishment may be imposed in some jurisdictions for the most serious crimes. Physical or corporal punishment may be imposed such as whipping or caning, although these punishments are prohibited in much of the world. Individuals may be incarcerated in prison or jail in a variety of conditions depending on the jurisdiction. Confinement may be solitary. Length of incarceration may vary from a day to life. Government supervision may be imposed, including house arrest, and convicts may be required to conform to particularized guidelines as part of a parole or probation regimen. Fines also may be imposed, seizing money or property from a person convicted of a crime.

Five objectives are widely accepted for enforcement of the criminal law by punishments: retribution, deterrence, incapacitation, rehabilitation and restoration. Jurisdictions differ on the value to be placed on each.

Retribution – Criminals ought to suffer in some way. This is the most widely seen goal. Criminals have taken improper advantage, or inflicted unfair detriment, upon others and consequently, the criminal law will put criminals at some unpleasant disadvantage to "balance the scales." People submit to the law to receive the right not to be murdered and if people contravene these laws, they surrender the rights granted to them by the law. Thus, one who murders may be executed himself. A related theory includes the idea of "righting the balance."

Deterrence – Individual deterrence is aimed toward the specific offender. The aim is to impose a sufficient penalty to discourage the offender from criminal behavior. General deterrence aims at society at large. By imposing a penalty on those who commit offenses, other individuals are discouraged from committing those offenses.

Incapacitation – Designed simply to keep criminals away from society so that the public is protected from their misconduct. This is often achieved through prison sentences today. The death penalty or banishment have served the same purpose.

Rehabilitation – Aims at transforming an offender into a valuable member of society. Its primary goal is to prevent further offense by convincing the offender that their conduct was wrong.

Restoration – This is a victim-oriented theory of punishment. The goal is to repair, through state authority, any injury inflicted upon the victim by the offender. For example, one who embezzles will be required to repay the amount improperly acquired. Restoration is commonly combined with other main goals of criminal justice and is closely related to concepts in the civil law, i.e., returning the victim to his or her original position before the injury.

4. Commercial law is the body of law that governs trade and commerce.

Commercial law, also known as business law, is the body of law that applies to the rights, relations, and conduct of persons and businesses engaged in commerce, merchandising, trade, and sales. It is often considered to be a branch of civil law and deals with issues of both private law and public law.

Commercial law includes within its compass such titles as principal and agent; carriage by land and sea; merchant shipping; guarantee; marine, fire, life, and accident insurance; bills of exchange and partnership. It can also be understood to regulate corporate contracts, hiring practices, and the manufacture and sales of consumer goods. Many countries have adopted civil codes that contain comprehensive statements of their commercial law.

In the United States, commercial law is the province of both the United States Congress, under its power to regulate interstate commerce, and the states, under their police power. Efforts have been made to create a unified body of commercial law in the United States; the most successful of these attempts has resulted in the general adoption of the Uniform Commercial Code, which has been adopted in all 50 states (with some modification by state legislatures), the District of Columbia, and the U.S. territories.

Commercial law refers to the body of law that pertains to commercial transactions. Its wideranging scope includes many different areas that affect businesses and individuals who enter into commercial transactions. Contracts, agency, bailments, carriers, sales, product liability, partnerships, corporations, unfair competition, secured transactions, property, commercial paper, insurance, and bankruptcy are all governed by commercial law.

5. Advantages and disadvantages of corporations compared to sole proprietorships and partnerships.

A company is a business association which has the character of a legal person, distinct from its officers and shareholders. This is significant, as it allows the company to own property in its own name, continue perpetually despite changes in ownership, and insulate the owners against personal liability. However, in some instances, for example when the company is used to perpetrate fraud or acts ultra vires, the court may 'lift the corporate veil' and subject the shareholders to personal liability.

By contrast, a partnership is a business association which, strictly speaking, is not considered to be a legal entity but, rather, merely an association of owners. However, in order to avoid impractical results, such as the partnership being precluded from owning property in its own name, certain rules of partnership law treat a partnership as if it were a legal entity. Nonetheless, partners are not insulated against personal liability, and the partnership may cease to exist upon a change in ownership, for example, when one of the partners dies.

A sole proprietorship, also known as the sole trader or simply a proprietorship, is a type of business entity that is owned and run by one natural person and in which there is no legal distinction between the owner and the business. The owner is in direct control of all elements and is legally accountable for the finances of such business and this may include debts, loans, loss etc. The owner receives all profits (subject to taxation specific to the business) and has unlimited responsibility for all losses and debts. Every asset of the business is owned by the proprietor and all debts of the business are the proprietor's. It is a "sole" proprietorship in contrast with partnerships (which have at least 2 owners). A sole proprietor may use a trade name or business name other than his, her or its legal name. They will have to legally trademark their business name, the process being different depending upon country of residence.

6. Types of torts.

There are basically three types of torts: intentional torts, negligence and strict liability.

An intentional tort is a civil wrong that occurs when the wrongdoer engages in intentional conduct that results in damages to another. Striking another person in a fight is an intentional act that would be the tort of battery. Striking a person accidentally would not be an intentional tort since there was not intent to strike the person. This may, however, be a negligent act. Careless conduct that results in damage to another is negligence.

Generally, liability because of a tort only arises where the defendant either intended to cause harm to the plaintiff or in situations where the defendant is negligent. However, in some areas, liability can arise even when there is no intention to cause harm or negligence. For example, in most states, when a contractor uses dynamite which causes debris to be thrown onto the land of another and damages the landowner’s house, the landowner may recover damages from the contractor even if the contractor was not negligent and did not intend to cause any harm. This is called strict liability or absolute liability. Basically, society is saying that the activity is so dangerous to the public that there must be liability. However, society is not going so far as to outlaw the activity.

Acme Construction Company was constructing a highway. It was necessary to blast rock with dynamite. The corporation’s employees did this with the greatest of care. In spite of their precautions, some flying fragments of rock damaged a neighboring house. The owner of the house sued the corporation for the damages. The corporation raised the defense that the owner was suing for tort damages and that such damages could not be imposed because the corporation had been free from fault. Was this defense valid? No. While ordinarily fault is the basis of tort liability, there are cases in which absolute liability is imposed on the actor. This means that when harm is caused, it is no defense that none was intended or that due care had been exercised to prevent the harm.

Other examples of absolute liability situations would be harm caused by storage of flammable gas and explosives, crop dusting when the chemical that is used is dangerous, factories which produce dangerous fumes, smoke or soot in populated areas, and the production of nuclear material.

Common torts include:assault, battery, damage to personal property, conversion of personal property, and intentional infliction of emotional distress. Injury to people may include emotional harm as well as physical harm.

Assault: Intentionally threatening a person with an immediate battery.

Battery: Intentional offensive touching of another person without the person’s consent.

Intentional or accidental damage to personal property: Property damage can occur in a number of ways, such as automobile accidents; breaking, marring or staining of valuables; or poor aim (such as baseballs or gunshots accidentally sent through windows). But any action to recover for property damage is limited to the jurisdiction of the court. For example, a magistrate can only decide a case involving a fire that burned down a building if the damages are ten thousand dollars or less.

Intentional infliction of emotional distress: A claim for intentional infliction of emotional distress requires a plaintiff to show (1) that the defendant engaged in extreme and outrageous conduct that was done recklessly or with the intent to cause severe emotional distress and (2) the plaintiff experienced severe emotional distress as a result of the conduct. Extreme and outrageous conduct is that which goes beyond bounds of common decency and is atrocious and intolerable to the ordinary person. Severe emotional distress is distress of such an intensity and duration that no ordinary person would be expected to tolerate it. A plaintiff is not required to show that she has suffered a physical injury in order to recover damages for severe emotional distress.

7. Formation and management of companies.

A company is formed upon the issuance of a certificate of incorporation by the appropriate governmental authority. A certificate of incorporation is issued upon the filing of the constitutional documents of the company, together with statutory forms and the payment of a filing fee. The 'constitution' of a company consists of two documents. One, the memorandum of association, states the objects of the company and the details of its authorised capital, otherwise known as the nominal capital. The second document, the articles of association, contains provisions for the internal management of the company, for example, shareholders' annual general meetings, or AGMs, and extraordinary general meetings, the board of directors, corporate contracts and loans.

The management of a company is carried out by its officers, who include a director, manager and/or company secretary. A director is appointed to carry out and control the day-to-day affairs of the company. The structure, procedures and work of the board of directors, which as a body govern the company, are determined by the company's articles of association. A manager is delegated supervisory control of the affairs of the company. A manager's duties to the company are generally more burdensome than those of the employees, who basically owe a duty of confidentiality to the company. Every company must have a company secretary, who cannot also be the sole director of the company. This requirement is not applicable if there is more than one director. A company's auditors are appointed at general meetings. The auditors do not owe a duty to the company as a legal entity, but, rather. to the shareholders. to whom the auditor's report is addressed.

The duties owed by directors to a company can be classified into two groups. The first is a duty of care and the second is a fiduciary duty. The duty of care requires that the directors must exercise the care of an ordinarily prudent and diligent person under the relevant circumstances. The fiduciary duty stems from the position of trust and responsibility entrusted to directors. This duty has many aspects, but, broadly speaking, a director must act in the best interests of the company and not for any collateral purpose. However, the courts are generally reluctant to interfere, provided the relevant act or omission involves no fraud, illegality or conflict of interest.

Finally, a company's state of health is reflected in its accounts, including its balance sheet and profit-and-loss account. Healthy profits might lead to a bonus or capitalisation issue to the shareholders. On the other hand, continuous losses may result in insolvency and the company going into liquidation.

8. Capitalization issue.

The term capitalisation refers to the act of providing capital for a company through the issuance of various securities. Initially, company capitalisation takes place through the issuance of shares as authorised in the memorandum of association!. The authorised share capital, the maximum amount of share capital that a company can issue, is stated in the memorandum of association, together with the division of the share capital into shares of a certain amount (e.g. 100 shares of

£1). The memorandum of association also states the names of the subscribers. The minimum share capital for a public limited company in Great Britain is £50,000. Issued share capital, as opposed to authorised share capital, refers to shares actually held by shareholders. Accordingly, this means that a company may authorise capital in excess of the mandatory minimum share capital but refrain from issuing all of it until a later date - or at all.

The division of share capital usually entails two classes of shares, namely ordinary shares and preference shares. The ordinary shareholder has voting rights, but the payment of dividends is dependent upon the performance of the company. Preference shareholders, on the other hand, receive a fixed dividend irrespective of performance (provided the payment of dividends is legally permitted) before the payment of any dividend to ordinary shareholders, but preference shareholders normally have no voting rights. There is also the possibility of share subdivision, whereby, for example, one ten-pound share is split into ten one-pound shares, usually in order to increase marketability. The reverse process is, appropriately enough, termed share consolidation.

Shares in British companies are subject to pre-emption rights, whereby the company is required to offer newly issued shares first to its existing shareholders, who have the right of 'first refusal'. The shareholders may waive their pre-emption rights by special resolution.

A feature of public companies is that the shares may be freely traded. Shares are normally sold to existing shareholders through a rights issue, unless pre-emption rights have been waived. Even here, though, new shares are not always offered in the first instance to the general public. But rather may be sold to a particular group or individuals (a directed placement).

Share capital is not, of course, the only means of corporate finance. The other is loan capital, typified by debentures. The grant of security for a loan by giving the creditor the right to recover his capital sum from specific assets is termed a fixed charge. Companies may also borrow money secured by the company's assets, such as stock in trade. This arrangement is known as a floating charge.

9. The main types of alterations in a company.

At some point in the life of a company, the owners may wish to make fundamental changes to the company. Some of these changes may merely be basically administrative. such as changing the company's name. Other changes may entail alteration of the company's structure. These changes sometimes place the rights of creditors and minority shareholders at risk and are thus subject to special statutory regulation. The main examples of the types of alterations which fall into this group are constitutional amendments, mergers, consolidations, sale of substantially all assets, acquisition of controlling shares and liquidation.

The most common constitutional alterations in a company include alteration of the company's name, capital or objects. According to English law, a change of name can be made by special resolution in a general meeting, or all the members must sign a written resolution that the name of the company be changed to the new name. A signed copy of the resolution containing the new name must then be submitted to the Registrar of Companies. If the submission is in order, Companies House will issue a Certificate of Incorporation on Change of Name.

A company may alter its capital structure, provided that the articles of association grant such power. Such an alteration might entail such things as an increase in share capital, a consolidation or division of shares, a subdivision of shares or a cancellation of shares. A company may only reduce its share capital following court confirmation. A company may alter its objects clause by special resolution. However, the court may at its discretion set aside such a resolution upon application by a small group of minority shareholders.

A merger takes place when one company is absorbed into another company. Where company X is merged into company Y, company Y is the acquiring company and survives. while company X is the acquired company and disappears. In a consolidation, both company X and company Y disappear and a new company Z is formed.

A company may also gain control of another company by purchasing substantially all of the other company's assets. At common law, a sale of this kind normally required unanimous shareholder approval. However, today such sales may take place upon approval by some majority of the shareholders. Acquisition of shares is another method of gaining control of another company. This is achieved by purchasing all or the controlling portion of outstanding shares in a company. Many times this is achieved through a takeover bid, whereby company Y (the acquiring company or acquirer) makes a public invitation to shareholders of company X (the acquired company or target) to sell their stock, generally at a price above the market price. There can be hostile takeovers and friendly takeovers. In the former, the takeover is opposed by the target company's management, while in the latter the action is supported by management. Various regulations apply largely to protect the target company shareholders.

Finally, winding-up or liquidation of a company is the process by which the life of a company is brought to an end. Compulsory winding-up is ordered by the court when the company is insolvent. However, a voluntary liquidation refers to a process which may be instigated by the members of the company where the company is solvent.