АнглиЙскиЙ модуль 3

TEXT 8

Courts in the United Kingdom

The court system in England and Wales can be considered as consisting of 5 levels:

•Supreme Court (formerly the House of Lords) and the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council

•Court of Appeal

•High Court

•Crown Court and County Courts

•Magistrates’ Courts and the Tribunals Service

The Judicial Committee of the Privy Council is the court of final appeal for Commonwealth countries that have retained appeals to either Her Majesty in Council or to the Judicial Committee. Some functions of the Judicial Committee were taken over by the new Supreme Court in 2009.

Supreme Court (formerly the House of Lords).

In 2009 the Supreme Court replaced the House of Lords as the highest court in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. As with the House of Lords, the Supreme Court hears appeals from the Court of Appeal and the High Court (only in exceptional circumstances). Appeals are normally heard by 5 Justices, but there can be as many as 9.

High Court.

The High Court consists of 3 divisions, the Chancery Division, the Family Division, and the Queen’s Bench Division. Decisions of the High Court may be appealed to the Civil Division of the Court of Appeal.

Chancery Division

The Companies Court of the Chancery Division deals with cases concerning commercial fraud, business disputes, insolvency, company management, and disqualification of directors.

The Divisional Court of the Chancery Division deals with cases concerning equity, trusts, contentious probate, tax partnerships, bankruptcy and land.

The Patents Court of the Chancery Division deals with cases concerning intellectual property, copyright, patents and trademarks, including passing off.

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Family Division

The Divisional Court of the Family Division deals with all matrimonial matters, including custody of children, parentage, adoption, family homes, domestic violence, separation, annulment, divorce and medical treatment declarations, and with uncontested probate matters.

Queen’s Bench Division

The Administrative Court of the Queen’s Bench Division hears judicial reviews, statutory appeals and application, application for habeas corpus, and applications under the Drug Trafficking Act 1984 and the Criminal Justice Act 1988. It also oversees the legality of decisions and actions of inferior courts and tribunals, local authorities, Ministers of the Crown, and other public bodies and officials.

The Admiralty Court of the Queen’s Bench Division deals with shipping and maritime disputes, including collisions, salvage, carriage of cargo, limitation, and mortgage disputes. The Court can arrest vessels and cargoes and sell them within the jurisdiction of England and Wales.

The Commercial Court of the Queen’s Bench Division deals with cases arising from national and international business disputes, including international trade, banking, commodities, and arbitration disputes.

The Mercantile Court of the Queen’s Bench Division deals with national and international business disputes that involve claims of lesser value and complexity than those heard by the Commercial Court.

The Technology and Construction Court of the Queen’s Bench Division is a specialist court that deals principally with technology and construction disputes that involve issues or questions which are technically complex, and with cases where a trial by a specialist TCC judge is desirable.

Crown Court.

The Crown Court deals with indictable criminal cases that have been transferred from the Magistrates’ Courts, including hearing of serious criminal cases (such as murder, rape and robbery), cases sent for sentencing, and appeals. Cases are heard by a judge and a jury. Decisions of the Crown Court may be appealed to the Criminal Division of the Court of Appeal.

Magistrates’ Courts.

The Magistrates’ Courts deal with summary criminal cases and committals to the Crown Court, with simple civil cases including family proceedings courts

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and youth courts, and with licensing of betting, gaming and liquor. Cases are normally heard by either a panel of 3 magistrates or by a District Judge, without a jury. Criminal decisions of the Magistrates’ Courts may be appealed to the Crown Court. Civil decisions may be appealed to the County Courts.

Judges are appointed by the crown, on the advice of the prime minister, Lord Chancellor, or the appropriate cabinet ministries.

6.Изучите схему судебной системы Великобритании. Сравните ее

ссодержанием текста из упражнения 5. Найдите и кратко охарактеризуйте суды, которые не упоминаются в тексте.

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7. Работа в парах. Посмотрите на примеры судебных дел. Подумайте, какие суды Великобритании могут рассматривать эти дела. Объясните свой выбор.

1.Mr Johnson and Mrs Johnson are getting divorced. Mrs Johnson demands to have the house, the car, 75% of Mr Johnson’s life savings and their pet cat, Tigger. “No way!” says an angry Mr Johnson.

2.Two separate companies, English International Telecommunications and Britphone, both bring out a new mobile phone which they call the ‘Smell-O- Phone’. Both companies claim that the name was their own idea.

3.Five workers have been sacked from the computer manufacturing company ‘Compucrash’ for incompetence. They believe that they have been unfairly dismissed.

4.Mr and Mrs Waugh had a new window installed in their house. The window company now wants the Waughs to pay, but Mr Waugh is refusing because he thinks the quality of workmanship is poor.

5.Newspaper editor Mr Hislop publishes an article describing the Prime Minister as a ‘useless, incompetent fool who can barely tie his own shoelaces, let alone run the country’. The PM decides to take immediate legal action against the paper.

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Unit 6

BRIEFING A CASE

1. Подберите для английских слов и словосочетаний русские эквиваленты.

2.Заполните пропуски в предложениях, используя слова из упражнения 1.

1.____________ sues _______________ in civil suits in trial courts.

2.The government ____________________________ defendants in a

______________________ in trial courts.

3.The losing party may ask a higher (appellate) court to review the case. If the law gives the loser the right to a higher court review, his or her lawyers will ________________ .

4.A person who files a formal appeal demanding appellate review as a matter of right is known as the _________________. His or her opponent is the ___________________.

5.In a ___________, the victim brings a case against the offender or a third party for causing physical or emotional injuries.

6.The judicial process in a _____________ differs from a civil case in several important ways.

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3. Подберите для английских слов и словосочетаний русские эквиваленты.

4. Прочитайте (2 мин.) краткое изложение дела (BRIEF). Соедините части текста (1–7) с их описаниями (a–g).

NOTE:

A student brief is a short summary and analysis of the case prepared for use in classroom discussion. It is a set of notes, presented in a systematic way, in order to sort out the parties, identify the issues, ascertain what was decided, and analyze the reasoning behind decisions made by the courts.

Case briefing helps you acquire the skills of case analysis and legal reasoning. Briefing a case helps you understand it.

a)The chain of argument which led the judges in either a majority or a dissenting opinion to rule as they did.

b)Who are the parties to the lawsuit, what is their dispute, and how did they get to the court?

c)The majority’s basic answer to the basic legal question in the case.

d)Name of the case (parties, date published, case-reporting publication, court).

e)The basic legal question regarding what specific provision of law that is to be decided in the case.

f)The disposition of the case in the lower court(s) that explains how the case got to the court whose opinion you are reading.

g)The political, economic or social impacts of the decision.

1.__________________________________

2.__________________________________

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3.__________________________________

4.__________________________________

5.__________________________________

6.__________________________________

7.__________________________________

Sample Legal Brief

1.Citation: Goss v. Lopez, No. 73-898, SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES, 419 U.S. 565; 95 S. Ct. 729; 42 L. Ed. 2d 725; 1975 U.S. LEXIS 23, October 16, 1974, Argued, January 22, 1975

2.Facts: Students in the Columbus, Ohio, public schools brought this suit. The students claimed that their constitutional right to due process had been violated when they were suspended temporarily without a hearing prior to their suspensions. The Ohio Code provides for free education for all students between the ages of six and twenty one. Principals may suspend students for misconduct for up to ten days or expel them. In such cases, the school officials must notify parents of the suspension or expulsion within twenty four hours and include a notice of the reasons. Suspended students may appeal to the board of education. The suspensions of the ten students, who brought this action, occurred during a period of widespread unrest in the Columbus public schools.

3.Issue: Whether students may be suspended for ten days or less without due process of law.

4.Procedural History: The district court held that due process applies when students are suspended from school for ten days or less.

5.Holding: Suspensions of ten days or less are not de minimis. Due process is required before school officials can suspend students.

6.Reasoning: Under Ohio law, the plaintiffs had a right to public education; therefore, school officials must accord them due process before depriving them of protected interests. Schools have broad authority to establish and enforce standards of conduct; however, such authority is subject to constitutional limitations. Students have a property interest under the Fourteenth Amendment to an education. The court reasoned that “the State is constrained to recognize a student’s legitimate entitlement to a public education as a property interest which is protected by the Due Process Clause and which may not be taken away for misconduct without adherence to the minimum procedures required by that

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Clause.” The Due Process Clause also protects liberty interests to a good name and reputation from arbitrary action by the state. Short suspensions are less intrusive on students’ rights than are expulsions; however, exclusion from the educational system for ten days is not de minimis.

In order to protect property and liberty interests, courts cannot permit school systems to impose suspensions in any way they deem appropriate. If due process applies, what process is due? Due process requires notice and a hearing prior to suspension for ten days or less. A hearing consists in giving the student “an opportunity to explain his/her version of the facts.”

The court stopped short of requiring more extensive due process protec- tions—right to counsel, confronting and cross examining witnesses, and compulsory process for witnesses—in suspensions of ten days or less. The court recognized that requiring extensive due process protections in short-term suspensions would overwhelm the resources of the schools. Providing students and their parents with notice and an informal hearing to tell their version of the incident “will provide a meaningful hedge against erroneous action.” The court further noted that more extensive due process requirements are required in long-term suspensions.

7. Significance: Goss established that due process is required before students may be suspended for ten days or less. The nature of the due process required will depend upon the severity of the consequences for the students. In general, suspensions, of ten days or less, require notice and an opportunity to be heard. Longer suspensions usually require a formal hearing with the opportunity to present witness, the opportunity to subpoena witness, the opportunity to confront witnesses, and the right to counsel.

5.Прочитайте разделы 1 и 2 краткого изложения дела. Ответьте на вопросы.

What is the name of the case? Who is the defendant?

Who is the plaintiff (claimant)?

What is the defendant alleged to have done?

6.Прочитайте остальные разделы (3 — 7). Ответьте на вопросы.

What was the lower court ruling?

What was the decision of the Supreme Court and the reasoning for it?

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7. Самостоятельная работа. Используя различные источники, найдите примеры дел и составьте краткое письменное изложение дела.

SUMMONS

1. Прочитайте описание уголовного дела и ответьте на вопросы.

On June 17, 1987, at 10:32 p.m., a call was received at the 911 service of the Metropolitan Police Department in Washington, D.C. The female caller said, «I just shot my husband,» and gave the address as 1799 Lamont Street, N.W. Detective Sal Palmer responded to the call and reached the house at 10:38 p.m.

Detective Palmer met Martha Monroe at the door. Mrs. Monroe led the Detective to a bedroom upstairs. When Detective Palmer entered the bedroom, he saw a fully clothed man, later identified as George Monroe, Martha Monroe’s husband, lying face down on the bed covered with a light blanket. The blanket had three bullet holes in it, and several blood stains.

Detective Palmer ascertained that the man on the bed was dead, and asked Mrs. Monroe who he was and what had happened. She responded «I shot my husband,» and pointed to the dresser near the bed on which was a revolver. Detective Palmer read Mrs. Monroe her Miranda rights, and placed her under arrest.

Later, at the station, Mrs. Monroe waived her right to counsel and to remain silent. Detective Palmer questioned her, after which he wrote up a statement. Mrs. Monroe signed it. The prosecution charges Mrs. Monroe with the First Degree Murder of her husband, George Monroe [D.C. Code, Sec. 22-2401].

Martha Monroe admits that she shot her husband, but now, through her attorney, asserts that the she acted in self defense. Mrs. Monroe now claims that for the entire time of her marriage to George Monroe she has been the victim of severe and continual physical and emotional abuse from him; she says the last time he beat her he almost killed her. She claims that because of this abuse she is suffering from Battered Woman Syndrome, and that she shot her husband because she had a reasonable belief that even though her husband was asleep, her life was in imminent danger. She claims she had no choice but to kill him.

What happened on June 17, 1987, at 10:32 p.m.?

Who came to the place of the crime? What did he find?

Who is the defendant?

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What did Martha Monroe say to Detective?

What did she claim later? How did she explain her action?

2. Работа в парах. Заполните повестку в суд для Марты Монро.

GLOSSARY

Indictment — обвинительный акт

Superseding Indictment — новый обвинительный акт, заменяющий предыдущий в связи с изменением обстоятельств дела

Probation Violation Petition — заявление о нарушении правил условного освобождения

Information — жалоба, обвинение

Superseding Information — новое обвинение, заменяющее предыдущее в связи с изменением обстоятельств дела

Supervised Release Violation Petition — заявление о нарушении правил освобождения под надзор

Violation Notice — уведомление о допущенном нарушении Order of Court — судебный приказ

Complaint — официальное обвинение, иск perjury — лжесвидетельство

NOTE: More serious criminal charges are called indictable offences. Major indictable offences include offences such as murder, rape, arson, perjury, threatening or endangering life and culpable driving causing death.

UNITED STATES SUPERIOR COURT for the

District of Columbia

United States of America v.

____________________

Defendant

Case No.

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