English для юристов. Гончар

Module 9 Unit 2

Text: The European Convention on Human Rights.

Human Rights and EU law

Vocabulary in use

Pre reading tasks

1.What do you understand under the term human rights? Predict the list of words which to your mind could be used in the text.

2.Match the following English words and expressions with their Ukrainian equivalents.

Reading tasks

1.Scan the text and note all the words and phrases that you think are terms closely connected with the European Convention on Human Rights. Compare them with the words which you have predicted.

THE EUROPEAN CONVENTION ON HUMAN RIGHTS.

HUMAN RIGHTS AND EU LAW

For people living in Europe today, one international human rights treaty has special importance — the European Convention on Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (ECHR). This treaty was created

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under the auspices of the Council of Europe, a key objective of which was to secure democracy in Europe after the Second World War. A supra5national judicial tribunal exists to adjudicate on alleged vio5 lations of the rights set out in the ECHR and enforce them against signatory States.

Among the rights set out in the ECHR are: the right to life (Art 2); prohibition of torture, inhumane and degrading treatment (Art 3); prohibition of slavery and forced labour (Art 4); rights to liberty and security of the person (Art 5); right to a fair trial to determine civil obligations and criminal charges (Art 6); no punishment without law (Art 7); right to respect for a person’s private and family life, his home and his correspondence (Art 8); freedom of thought, conscience and religion (Art 9); freedom of expression (Art 10); freedom of assembly and association, including the right to form and join trade unions (Art 11); and the right to marry (Art 12). There are a number of Protocols to the ECHR, not all of which the parties have yet agreed to be bound by. The First Protocol provides that «every natural and legal person is entitled to the peaceful enjoyment of his possessions» (Art 1), that «no person shall be denied the right to education» (Art 2) and that the parties to the Protocol «undertake to hold free elections at reasonable intervals by secret ballot, under conditions which will ensure the free expression of the opinion of the people in the choice of the legislature» (Art 3).

Some rights, such as the protection against slavery (Art 4), the prohibition on torture and inhuman treatment (Art 3) and the pro5 hibition on retrospective criminal legislation (Art 7) are unqualified; there are no permissible limitations. Many of the other rights are, however, qualified. Article 5 (right to liberty and security), for example, sets out specific situations where limitations by the State may be permissible. In others, Arts 8, 9, 10 and 11, competing interests, which may countervail over the right in question, are set out. These include:

(a)the interests of national security or public safety;

(b)the prevention of disorder or crime;

(c)the protection of health or morals; and

(d)the protection of the rights of others.

Articles 8(2) and 11(2) also include the protection of the freedoms of others, and Art 8(2) allows invasions of privacy, which are in the interests of «the economic well5being of the country». These quali5 fications must be «prescribed by law», in pursuit of a «legitimate aim»

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and «necessary in a democratic society». The ECHR is, therefore, not a charter of libertarian values, which upholds individual liberty against the State in all situations.

The European Union and European Community law is a legal sys5 tem quite distinct from that of the Council of Europe and the ECHR. There are, however, important interconnections between them. First, all Member States of the European Union are parties to the ECHR.

Secondly, the European Court of Justice in Luxembourg (ECJ) regards the rights protected by the ECHR as forming part of the «general principles» of Community case law.

The European Union itself is not a party to the ECHR. (To be accurate, it would be the European Community, which would beco5 me a party, as it has legal personality, whereas the European Union does not). This means that a person or business claiming that an institution of the European Union (for instance, the Commission) has breached human rights cannot take a case to the Court of Human Rights. There are several reasons why the European Union has not become a party to the ECHR. In 1996 the Court of Justice stressed that the EC Treaty contained no express or implied powers enabling the Community to become a party to the ECHR. In any event, some Member States take the view that, because the European Community is not a «State», it o5 ught not, itself, to participate in treaty organisations such as that of the ECHR. It is also far from certain that parties to the ECHR, which are not Member States of the European Union, would welcome it joining.

The question therefore arises whether one or more Member States of the European Union, which are parties to the ECHR, may be liable before the Court of Human Rights for a violation of the ECHR following a decision reached by the European Union’s institutions. The Court of Human Rights has answered this in the affirmative. In Matthews v UK (1999), a resident of Gibraltar complained that people living there had no vote in elections for the European Parliament contrary to Protocol No 1 of the ECHR, Art 3. Gibraltar is not part of the UK, but people living there are British nationals. The provisions of the EC Treaty apply there, though Gibraltar is excluded from the operation of some of its provisions, notably on free movement of goods. In 1976, the Member States of the European Community concluded a treaty agreement between themselves on direct elections to the European Parliament; the Council subsequently made a Decision

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under EC Treaty, Art 249 setting out in more detail the voting arran5 gements; Gibraltar was not included in the franchise. The Court of Human Rights accepted that the European Community as such could not be challenged because it was not a contracting party to the ECHR; but it held that the UK, by its actions in participating in making the Council Decision, was responsible for the violation of the ECHR.

2.Check your understanding of the main points, read the whole text carefully and:

A. Complete the tables below:

• Articles in the ECHR

• Over time, new rights have been added to the Convention through additional Protocols. Those included in the Human Rights Act at present are:

B. Complete each sentence below:

1.The European Union and European Community law is a legal system distinct from…

2.The European Union itself is not a party to the ECHR. This means …

3.There are several reasons why The European Union has not become a party of the ECHR, they are:

4.The Court of Human Rights deals with a range of questions connected with …

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3.WORD STUDY. A. Describe the difference in the meanings of the following words in the pairs below. Point out the part of speech of the words; make up your own sentences with them.

•person5personality;

•national5nationals;

•in detail –in details;

•economic5economics5economical;

•individual5individuals;

•people5peoples.

4.PREPOSITIONS. Choose the right preposition in brackets according to the contents of the sentences (in, from, to, before, under, on, against).

1.There is no currently protection of gays and lesbians …discrimi5 nation in the UK. It was an attempt to ensure that individuals had protection … such abuses in future

2.Because there is no general right … privacy in UK law, it has been protected indirectly in certain ways.

3.Which article in the ECHR provides the prohibition … torture or degrading treatment?

4.In most situations, all persons who are parties to a crime are liable … the same punishment. –What kind of violations can Member State be liable … the Court of Human Rights?

5.Who took a case … the European Court of Human Rights?

6.This provision is contrary … the previous Protocol.

7.The British Council uses its expertise in education to bring human rights issues to a wide audience, including those who might other5 wise be excluded … access to human rights and justice.

8.Are you going to participate … making draft version of the legal document?

9.I am sure that the decision of the Court will be … the affirmative.

10.This decision was made … Art. 12 of the ECHR.

BUILD UP YOUR VOCABULARY

5.Find an odd word in the following word chains, explain your choice:

• liberty5safety5freedom

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•humane5human5inhuman

•include5exclude5conclude

•party5side5 political group

•right5wrong5duty

•security5safety5protection

•allowable5inadmissible5permissible

•agreement5treaty5treatment

•Act5Protocol5article5charter

6.WORD FAMILIES. Point out the part of speech of the following words and explain the word building mechanism underlining their root, prefix and suffix.

7.1) abbreviations

A.Look at the title of the mentioned in the text case. Do you understand the abbreviation: Matthews v UK. How can we say it in spoken English?

B.Write down the following abbreviations in full words and compose sentences to illustrate their meanings

Arts, ECHR, UK, ECJ, EU, EC

2) connectors

Study the text containing the following words («therefore, whereas, to be accurate, in any event, contrary to»). Copy out, illustrating them with your own examples.

Post reading tasks

PAIR WORK

1.Here is a list of key words, use them to produce a dialogue. Compare

your dialogue with different versions of your friends.

• to adjudicate

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•to breach smth.

•to conclude a treaty

•to uphold individual liberty

•to reach a decision

•to imply power

•to claim (business claiming)

2.With TV/radio programmes like below, discuss what you are going to watch/ listen or you actually did watch/listen to in the previous evening.

——————————

TV CHANNEL 7

——————————

6.00Science: Our World

6.15Sports News

6. 20 Human Rights in Ukraine: the current situation

7.00TV5show «Good evening»

OVER TO YOU

Project Work: A group or personal research over a period of time, choose one of the themes below and try to practice your:

*communication skills (when interviewing and reporting back),

*research skills (when reading and making notes),

*social skills (when discussing and collaborating)

•The European Union and Human Rights: the current situation

•Human Rights Policy: the Treaty of Amsterdam of 97

•Human Rights: the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC)

Current issues of concern in human rights protection

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Module 9 Unit 3

Text: Contract Law

Vocabulary in use

Pre reading tasks

1.What is the key word that characterizes property law vs. contract law?

2.Match the following English words and expressions with their Ukr ainian equivalents:

Reading tasks

1.Read the text to understand what information is of primary impor tance or new for you

CONTRACT LAW

A contract, in the simplest definition, is a promise enforceable by law. The promise may be to do something or to refrain from doing something. The making of a contract requires the mutual assent of two or more p5 ersons, one of them ordinarily making an offer and another accepting. If one of the parties fails to keep the promise, the other is entitled to l5 egal recourse against him. The law of contracts considers such questions

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as whether a contract exists, what the meaning of it is, whether a contr5 act has been broken, and what compensation is due the injured party.

Contract law is the product of a business civilization. It will not be found, in any significant degree, in precommercial societies. Most primitive societies have other ways of enforcing the commitments of individuals; for example, through ties of kinship or by the authority of religion. In an economy based on barter, most transactions are self5 enforcing because the transaction is complete on both sides at the same moment. Problems may arise if the goods exchanged are later found to be defective, but these problems will be handled through property law — with its penalties for taking or spoiling the property of another

— rather than through contract law.

Even when transactions do not take the form of barter, primitive societies continue to work with notions of property rather than of promise. In early forms of credit transactions, kinship ties secured the debt, as when a tribe or a community gave hostages until the debt was paid. Other forms of security took the form of pledging land or pawning an individual into «debt slavery.» Some credit arrangements were essentially self5enforcing: livestock, for example, might be entrusted to a caretaker who received for his services a fixed percentage of the offspring. In other cases — constructing a hut, clearing a field, or building a boat — enforcement of the promise to pay was more difficult but still was based on concepts of property. In other words, the claim for payment was based not on the existence of a bargain or promise but on the unjust detention of another’s money or goods. When a worker sought to obtain his wages, the tendency was to argue in terms of his right to the product of his labour.

A true law of contracts — that is, of enforceable promises — imp5 lies the development of a market economy. Where a commitment’s value does not vary with time, ideas of property and injury are adequate and there will be no enforcement of an agreement if neither party has performed, since in property terms no wrong has been done. In a mar5 ket economy, on the other hand, a person may seek a commitment tod5 ay to guard against a change in value tomorrow; the person obtaining such a commitment feels harmed by the fact that the market value dif5 fers from the agreed price.

Traditional contract law developed rules and principles controlling the voluntary assumption of obligations, regulating the performance of obligations so assumed, and providing sanctions for failure to perform.

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Modern commercial practice relies to a growing extent on arbit5 ration to handle disputes, especially those that arise in international transactions. There are several reasons for the growing use of arbit5 ration. The procedure is simple, it is more expeditious, and it may be less expensive than traditional litigation. The arbitrators are frequently selected by a trade association or business group for their expert understanding of the issues in the dispute. The proceedings are private, which is advantageous when the case involves trade or business secrets. In many legal systems, the parties can authorize arbitrators to base their decision on equitable considerations that the law excludes. Finally, when the parties are from different countries, an international panel of arbitrators may offer a greater guarantee of impartiality than would a national court. Despite these advantages of arbitration, the deve5 lopment of contract law may suffer considerably by a withdrawal from the courts of litigation involving some of the most significant and difficult problems of the present day, all the more so because the reasoning in arbitral awards is usually not made public.

2. Answer the following questions using the information from the text:

1.What does making of a contract require?

2.What is one party entitled to do if the other fails to keep the promise?

3.What does the law of contract consider?

4.How do primitive societies enforce the commitment of individuals?

5.Did contract law exist in early societies? How were problems solved?

6.What does a true law of contract imply?

7.What are the reasons for the growing use of arbitration?

8.What are the advantages and disadvantages of arbitration?

3. Explain in other words the following words and word combinations:

1.to give hostages

2.to pledge land

3.to pawn into slavery

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