Vocabulary

1. affair дело

2. appeal апелляция

3. authority власть, полномочие

4. archbishops архиепископы

5. bill законопроект

6. to cede передавать, уступать

7. to conduct вести, руководить

8. to confer даровать, присуждать

9. con`sent согласие, разрешение

10. to dissolve распускать парламент

11. to elect избирать

12. elective выборный

13. to govern управлять

14. heir наследник

15. hereditary наследственный

16. to make peace устанавливать мир

17. to outline наметить в общих чертах

18. Privy Council Тайный совет

19. to prorogue отсрочить, назначать перерыв в работе парламента

20. to reign царствовать

21. to remit прощать, помиловать, освобождать(от штрафа, наказания)

22. Royal Assent королевская санкция

23. to submit представлять на рассмотрение (в суд, комиссию)

24. to summon созывать парламент

25. throne трон

26. treaty договор

27. virtual действительный, фактический

28. wealth богатство

the Whigs

backed

supported

the Tories.

polling day opinion poll; polling station

ballot box;

vote;

predict;

eligible to announced

manifestos

Task 1. Read the text.

Monarchy in Britain

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is a constitutional monarchy and a unitary state which is made up of the island of Great Britain (including England, Scotland and Wales) and of Northern Ireland. Great Britain is a monarchy, but the queen of Britain is not absolute but constitutional. Her powers are limited by the Parliament. The Parliament is the supreme legislative authority in Britain. Queen’s power is hereditary and not elective.

In practice the Monarch has no actual power: they say the Monarch reigns but does not rule. The Prime Minister is the virtual ruler of the country. The Prime Minister is usually the leader of the party that obtains a majority in the House of Commons. That party which has majority of seats in the House of Commons is called the Government and the other is the Opposition. The leader of the party in the opposition occupies a salaried office of the Leader of the Opposition.

All the affairs of the state are conducted in the name of the Queen, but really the Prime Minister is responsible for every measure submitted to Parliament.

The Queen summons, prorogues and dissolves Parliament. Normally she opens each session with a speech from the throne outlining the Government’s programme. The Monarch must give the Royal Assent before a Bill which has passed all its stages in both Houses of Parliament can become a legal enactment. (Act of Parliament).The Monarch’s consent and approval is required before a Cabinet can be formed or a minister takes up office. As Head of State the Monarch has the power to sign international agreements, to conclude treaties, to cede or receive territory, to declare war or make peace. The Monarch confers honours and makes appointments to all important state offices of state, including those of judges, officers in the armed forces, diplomats and the leading positions in the Established Church. As the ‘fountain of justice’, it is only the Monarch who is able to remit all or part of the penalties imposed upon persons convicted of crimes through the exercise on the advice of the appropriate minister. She must, in theory at least, see all Cabinet documents.

The Queen has her own Privy Council. The Cabinet developed from this Council, which used to be body of advisers of English monarchs. As the system of Cabinet developed the Privy Council declined in importance. The Privy Council consists of members of the royal family, the archbishops, colonial governors and senior ministers. There are about 300 of them altogether. The committee of the Privy Council, the Judicial Committee, however, is the final court of appeal for the British - a Royal court.

The hereditary principle still operates and the Crown is passed on to the sovereign’s eldest son (or daughter if there are no sons). Queen Elizabeth II came to the throne in 1952 after the death of her father, King George VI. She has four children: one daughter and 3 sons. The Queen’s heir is Charles, Prince of Wales. He was born in 1948, educated in Cambridge, served in the Royal Navy. Now he is involved in various aspects of public life, in particular industry and government.

The Royal family is the principal aristocratic house in Britain, closely connected with other members of the hereditary aristocracy and with big finance interests.

Functions of the Sovereign:

• opening and closing Parliament;

• approving the appointment of the Prime Minister;

• giving her Royal Assent to bills;

- giving honors such as peerages, knighthoods and medals;

• Head of the Commonwealth;

• Head of the Church of England;

• Commander-in-Chief of the armed forces.

Task 2. Read the international words and guess their meaning. Mind the stress.

`monarchy

`industry

`Prime Minister

`programme

`theory

`public

`final

`absolute

`practice

`documents

`officers

`cabinet

`office

`aspect

`parliament

`leader

`throne

`judge

consti`tutional com`mittee

oppo`sition

Task 3. Give Kazakh (Russian) equivalents to the following words and word combinations.

Find these terms in the text and translate the sentences with them.

to back, virtual rules, bill, constituency, entitled, amendment, appeal, borough, apply, appoint, authority, body, affair, hereditary power, heir, to nominate, obliged, to oppose, to reign, to reject, to resign, to submit, suffrage, to summon, unanimous.

Task 4. Insert the right words: Great Britain, House of Commons, Prime Minister, Parliament, Privy Council, Council, Court of Appeal, Queen

1 … is a monarchy. Queen’s powers are limited by … . 2. … is the virtual ruler of the country. 3. That party which has majority of seats in the … forms the government. 4. The … opens each session of Parliament with a throne speech. 5. The Queen has her own…. There are about 300

members in this …. 6. The judicial Committee is the final ….

Task 5. False or true? Check your answers in the text of task 1.

1. Great Britain is a constitutional monarchy. 2. The Queen’s powers in Britain are unlimited. 3. The Prime Minister is the leader of the party which has majority in the House of Lords. 4. The Queen opens each session of Parliament with a speech from the throne. 5. The Privy Council is

responsible for all government measures. 6. The Judicial Committee is the court of appeal in Britain. 7.As Head of State the Monarch has the power to sign international agreements and to declare war or make place. 8.

Task 6. Find in the English-Kazakh (Russian) Law dictionary the meanings of the following words: depend, dependant, dependence, dependency, dependent.

Task 7. Explain the difference in meaning between the two verbs in the following phrase “The Queen reigns but does not rule”. What do you understand by this?

Task 8. Answer the Questions.

1. What kind of monarchy is Great Britain?

2. Is the Queen’s power hereditary or elective?

3. Who is the virtual ruler of the country?

4. What are the functions of the Queen of Britain?

5. What is the final court of appeal in Britain?

6. What state body is the Privy Council?

7. When did Queen Elizabeth II become queen?

8. Does the monarch still have real power?

9. Who is able to remit penalties?

10. Who summons, prorogues and dissolves Parliament in Kazakhstan? When?

11. By whom are the Queen’s powers limited?

Task 9. Name all the functions, power, duties, obligations of the Monarch.

Task 10. Skim the text and say what the text is about in general.

The British constitution

A constitution is a set of rules which define the relationship between the various organs of government and between the government and citizens of a country. Its purpose is to set the parameters of governmental power and the right and duties of the citizens. The constitution of every country will determine the system of government in that country. The British constitution is important to English citizens. It is not written. The statement that the British constitution is not ‘written’ does not mean that the British citizens possess no important constitutional documents; it merely means that the constitution is not embodied in any single document, or series of documents, containing our essential constitutional laws. The British citizens have many enactments, but they are of great importance. The sources of the UK constitution can be found in custom, case law books of authority. These are in formal or ‘moral’ rules- a code of practice for government which has evolved over the years. They are primarily concerned with the relationship between the Crown (or Monarch) and the executive and the legislature.

The doctrine of parliamentary sovereignty governs the relationship between the legislature and the judiciary. There are two aspects to the doctrine of parliamentary sovereignty:1. Parliament may enact any law it wishes; 2. no authority, including the courts, has the power to question the validity of the legislation. The originals of the doctrine are historical arising from the political changes of 1688 which sought to limit the power of the monarchy. There is no law which states that Parliament is supreme but the doctrines accepted and recognized by the courts.

The procedure is known as “The Queen in Parliament”. It is the duty of the British judiciary to enforce the will of Parliament as expressed through its legislation.

Another feature of the British Constitution that is relevant to the constitutional role of the judiciary is the theory of the separation of powers. Because there is no written constitution in the UK, the limitations on government power are largely self-imposed, relying on unenforceable conventions and a political culture based on the rule of law.

An additional feature of the doctrine of parliamentary sovereignty is that each new Parliament is supreme. The traditional view is that no Parliament can limit the actions of a future Parliament. Much of the debate in this area is the issue of a Bill of Rights.

The process of judicial review is a practical application of the rule of law. It forms the basic of a growing body of administrative law which regulates the relationship between the courts, public administrative bodies. The judicial review does not enable the courts to question the merits of administrative action or the validity of an Act of Parliament.

Task 11. Read the text again and note all the law terms you can find. Translate them into Kazakh (Russian). Use a dictionary if necessary.

Task 12. Say which paragraph contains the information about

1. the definition and purpose of the British constitution;

2. the information about the characteristics of the British constitution;

3. the doctrine of parliamentary sovereignty;

4. ‘The Queen of Parliament’;

5. The separation of powers;

6. A Bill of Rights.

Task 13. Answer the questions.

1. What do you understand by the British constitution?

2. What is the purpose of the UK constitution?

3. Does the United Kingdom have a written constitution?

4. Who can alter the rules of the British constitution?

5. Explain the doctrine of parliamentary sovereignty to other students.

СРСП 5

Task 1. Read the text.

The Royal Family.

Many members of the Royal Family undertake official duties in Britain and abroad. Their various responsibilities reflect tradition, their own personal interests and Britain’s former imperial status. For example, among her many titles the Princess Royal (Princess Anne) is Chancellor of the University of London, Colonel-in-Chief of eleven Army regiments, including the 8^th Canadian Hussars and the Royal New Zealand Nursing Corps, and President of the Save the Children Fund, for whom she has traveled widely.

The Royal Family’s money comes from two sources: government funds and their own personal wealth, which is considerable. On the one hand the Queen is certainly one of the richest women in the world, while on the other her power is limited by the fact that so many of her expenses are paid for by government money. Parliament has had effective control of the monarch’s finances since the seventeenth century.

Task 2. Look at the chart.

The Royal Family.

Numbers show order of succession to the Crown.

The Queen Mother

A. The Queen - Prince Philip (The duke of Edinburgh) B. Princess Margaret 11.

a. Prince Charles (The prince of Wales)1. - Princess Diana

a.a. Prince William 2., Prince Henry 3.

b. Princess Anne (The princess Royal) 8. - Captain Mark Philips

b.b. Peter Philips 9., Zara Philips 10.

c. Prince Andrew (The Duke of York) 4. - Sarah (Duchess of York)

c.c. Princess Beatrice 5., Princess Eugenie 6.

d. Prince Edward 7.

Task 3. Answer the Questions.

1. Who is next in line to the British crown after Prince Charles?

2. How can Parliament control the Royal family?

3. Which member of the Royal Family has the highest number of public engagements?

Task 4. Read the text.

The Queen is really a figurehead representing the country, but she has the power to prevent any politician from establishing a dictatorship. The Queen and her family are a symbol that people can identify with. The British public is obsessed with the details of the royal family life, and when people feel that the Queen has problems with her children, or her sister, they see her as a “real person” with the same worries and anxieties as themselves.

The monarchy has not always been popular. During the late 19^th century there was a growing republican sentiment, but the personality and family image of the Queen, her father and grandfather have removed that feeling. The Queen is probably the wealthiest woman in the world, most of the money coming from family investments rather than the state. Her state salary (the Civil List) pays for her servants and transport. In recent years the Queen has become a roving ambassador for Britain, and if we calculate the increase in trade after a royal visit abroad, the nation probably makes a profit from her activities , and that does not take into account the income from tourism in Britain generated by the monarchy and great state events such as royal weddings.

Just how popular is she? In the late 1980s a newspaper conducted an opinion poll. People were asked, “If there were no monarchy who would you vote for as president?”. More than 80 per cent chose the Queen. Prince Charles came second, closely followed by his father, Prince Philip. The prime minister of the day was the fourth- with 2 per cent of the votes.

Task 5. Explain the meanings of the following words and expressions.

• a figurehead;

• obsessed with;

• a growing republican sentiment;

• a roving ambassador;

• an opinion poll.

Task 6. a) List four countries which have monarchies. b) Which of these adjectives do you associate with the British monarch: ostentatious; greedy; modest; vulgar; hard-working; lazy; wealthy; dignified; popular.

Task 7. Read the text and answer the questions.

Political Parties of Great Britain

Britain has a two- party system. From 1832 to 1918 the dominant parties were the Conservatives on the one hand and the Whigs or Liberals on the other. Later the Labour party backed by the trade unions replaced the Liberals as the main party of reform, and since 1924 the political scene has been dominated by the Conservative and Labour parties.

The Conservative party or the Tories is the party supported traditionally by the rich and the privileged- the monopolists and landowners. It expresses the interests and views of the propertied class.

The formation of the Labour party at the beginning of the century was a victory of the labour movement. But Labour Government showed no radical change in policy from the Tories. From the very beginning there were two main trends within the party- the left socialist trend represented by the party’s rank - and - file members and the right- wing trend represented by the party’s top leadership. In fact, it’s sometimes extremely difficult to tell the difference between the Labour and the Conservative policies.

The present day political scene is a combination of various political parties: the Conservatives, the Labour, the Liberal- Democratic party. The membership and parliamentary representation of the Liberal-Democratic party today is almost insignificant, although it does play a certain role in tipping the scales between the two largest parties: the Labour and the Conservatives.

The main way in which people exert influence over government is through political parties. These parties organize opinion on national issues, formulating policies which they feel will meet the wishes of as many people as possible.

1. What are the main political parties in Great Britain?

2. What are the dominant parties in modern Britain?

3. Is the role of the Liberal party today insignifant?

4. There is little difference between the Labour and the Conservative policies, isn’t there?

5. What is the ruling party in Great Britain now?

Task 8. Learn and remember the following phrasal verbs.

TO BRING - әкелу, әкеп беру, іс қозғау, дәлел келтіру; приносить, доставлять, возбуждать дело, предъявлять доказательство.

to bring an action, syn. to b. a case before the court; to b. a charge against smb. – қылмыстық іс қозғау, возбуждать уголовное дело

to bring an accusation against – айыптау, обвинять

to bring before the bar, syn.to b. to justice (trial) – сотқа беру, предавать суду

to bring the charge - айып тағу, предъявлять обвинение

to bring forth a confession – шындықты айту, делать признание

to bring forward a proof – дәлел ұсыну, представлять доказательства

to bring in a bill – заң жобасын енгізу, вносить законопроект

to bring in a verdict вердикт шығару, выносить вердикт

to bring an indictment – айыптау шешімін ұсыну, предъявлять обвинительное заключение

to bring into account – жауапқа тарту, призывать к ответу

to bring to the light – ашу, раскрывать

to bring to terms – келісімге әкелу, приводить к соглашению

Task 9. Give the English equivalents from the task above.

айыптау, обвинять; айып тағу, предъявлять обвинение; шындықты айту, делать признание; жауапқа тарту, призывать к ответу; заң жобасын енгізу, вносить законопроект; дәлел ұсыну, представлять доказательства; вердикт шығару, выносить вердикт; ашу, раскрывать; келісімге әкелу, приводить к соглашению; сотқа беру, предавать суду; айыптау шешімін ұсыну, предъявлять обвинительное заключение; қылмыстық іс қозғау, возбуждать уголовное дело;

Task 10. Give 5-6 sentences with words given in ex. 8.

Unit 6