VI. Study the spidergrams, match the world combinations to their Russian equivalents and use them in your own sentences:

1.

a) торговые отношения;

b) связи с общественностью;

c) трудовые отношения;

d) дипломатические отношения;

e) договорные отношения.

2.

1. административная санкция;

2. правовая санкция;

3. уголовное наказание;

4. гражданско-правовая санкция;

5. экономическая санкция.

3.

1. законопослушный гражданин;

2. уроженец;

3. частное лицо;

4. лицо старшего возраста;

5. известный гражданин.

VII. Answer the following questions:

1. How is civil law separated from public law?

2. What are the main categories of English civil law?

3. Why does public law deal with a crime committed against an individual?

4. How is public law divided?

5. Which category of law deals with marriage and other relations within a family?

6. Why does the distinction in civil law systems have more practical importance?

7. Where are the relationships between different branches of the state specified?

8. What documents act as the UK constitution?

9. Which laws are enforced by the executive branch?

VIII. Render the following text into English:

Деление права на публичное и частное получило в мировой юриспруденции широкое признание. Оно рассматривается большинством правоведов в качестве очевидного и фундаментального, и для этого имеются серьезные основания в самом строении права, характерные для национальных юридических систем. Особенно наглядно они выражены в праве стран континентальной Европы, где довольно четко можно выделить публичное и частное право, порой прямо по видам законов, кодексов. Но и в прецедентном англосаксонском праве всегда те или иные прецеденты, те или иные источники могут относиться либо к публичному праву, либо к частному праву.

Деление права на “публичное” и “частное” в современной юриспруденции является своего рода исходным пунктом и общим местом - фактом, который хотя и нуждается в объяснении, но сам по себе очевиден. В то же время обращает на себя внимание то обстоятельство, что на известных этапах исторического развития указанное деление как бы уходило в тень, а порой и прямо отрицалось. Любопытно в этой связи, что в Западной Европе XVI - XVII вв. потребность в развитии частного права вылилась в поразительный исторический феномен - в возрождение или в восприятие (рецепцию) римского частного права, которое в Германии позднего средневековья как бы возобновило свое действие. Оно так и называлось - “современное римское право”. И еще более знаменательно, что в эпоху Просвещения, Великой французской революции именно частное право - через гражданские законы - резко возвысилось, стало одним из решающих факторов становления свободного гражданского общества.

Additional Reading

Text 1. Read the text and match the headings to the paragraphs:

1. Public law - more fluid than civil codes

2. Administrative law developement leading to review of public law

3. The public law–private law dichotomy in the civil-law and common-law world

4. The factors that led to a rethinking of the division between public and private law

5. The role of public–private distinction in legal practice in civil-law countries

1. The generally accepted way of dividing and classifying the law in the civil-law world is quite different from that to which common-law lawyers are accustomed. The fundamental division in modern civil-law systems is that between “public” and “private” law. To civil lawyers, this distinction is basic, necessary, and self-evident. Despite the universal recognition of this distinction in the civil-law world, there is no agreement among civil-law lawyers on its theoretical basis (other than perhaps its historical basis—e.g., the Corpus Juris Civilis), and no uniformity among countries as to the scope of public and private law. As exemplified in the seventeenth- and eighteenth-century civil codes, private law has been described as “that area of the law in which the sole function of government was the recognition and enforcement of private rights.” Thus, today private law includes at least the civil and commercial codes. The proper classification of other areas is often disputed. Civil procedure, for example, is treated as public in some countries and as private in others. Labor law, social security, and various topics of government regulation are often referred to as “mixed” public and private areas. Public law, by contrast, focuses on “the effectuation of the public interest by state action.” Today public law includes at least what a common-law attorney would recognize as constitutional law, administrative law, and criminal law.

2. While public law has its roots in Roman law, it remained largely undeveloped until modern times, when the centralized state and its administrative apparatus began to flourish on the European continent following the Treaty of Westphalia in 1648. As administrative law developed in the nineteenth century, it became obvious to civil-law lawyers that the usual private-law rules that apply to disputes between individuals do not lend themselves easily to resolving disputes involving the state. Moreover, a trend emerged toward some form of review of the legality of state administrative action.

3. Several distinctive characteristics distinguish public from private law. Most important, public law generally is not part of comprehensive civil codes. Instead, public law consists of various statutes, supplemented liberally by judge-made norms, that regulate the organization and function of public authorities and the relationship between public agencies and individual citizens. Public law tends to be more fluid than the civil codes since it may change rapidly in response to political forces.

4. The public–private distinction dictates many of the basic features of legal practice in civil-law countries. The structure and jurisdiction of the courts in civil-law countries roughly correspond to private- and public-law matters, with private-law issues the province of the “ordinary” courts, and public-law matters addressed in separate “administrative” courts. Legal education and law practice likewise remain divided mainly along public–private lines. A teacher of the private law of property, for example, would be unlikely to attempt to teach about property taxation, land-use regulation, or the constitutional protection of property rights; those topics would be left to a specialist in public law.

5. Nonetheless, in the twentieth century several factors have led to a rethinking of the strict division between public and private law. These factors include the expanding influence of the common law, the increasing role of government in legal areas traditionally treated as private, a general trend toward written constitutions and acceptance of judicial review, the increased influence of organizations (e.g., trade unions), and the growth of legal fields that defy categorization as public or private.

Read the text about the public law–private (civil) law distinction again. Are the following sentences true or false?

1. The separation of the law into public and private spheres is of little practical importance in common-law countries .

2. There is a generally accepted theoretical basis for the public law–private law dichotomy.

3. The civil and commercial codes are included into private law by all civil-law countries.

4. A clear border line is drawn between public and private areas nowadays.

5. Public law had been developing intensively till the seventeenth century.

6. The nineteenth century gave rise to the elaboration of administrative law.

7. Public law is seldom incorporated into civil codes.

8. Civil codes are often subject to changes in response to political forces.

9. In civil-law countries the system of courts and legal education reflects the public–private distinction.

10. Usually lawyers in civil-law countries are specialists with broad qualifications able to deal with both public- and private-law matters.

11. Governments tend to play more and more significant part it areas of law that used to be thought of as private.

Text 2. Read the text and choose the correct answer:

Civil law countries, such as the continental European systems, are code-based law systems. In other words, laws are statutory and are not based on case law created in courts. At this point then it would appear that in the nineteenth century the US law was moving in the direction of a civil code: there was a central federal authority that could create legislation, declare state laws invalid, and enforce its decisions. Indeed, the citizens of the United States thought it important to put both the Constitution and universal civil liberties in a written form, something that the United Kingdom has never done. However, the crucial principles and approaches that the United States inherited from its British origins have kept the traditions of common law alive today in which case law does carry authoritative weigh.

Even through the nineteenth century, US judges, attorneys, and legal scholars relied on British law; today, however, British law is no longer as influential as it once was. There are a few British cases that are still mentioned in American law schools today, but far more importantly, there are fundamental concepts inherited from the English tradition that are still flourishing and continue to separate the English and American systems from other legal systems, such as the civil law systems of Germany and France. Three of the most important concepts that the Americans have inherited from the English are supremacy of law, precedent, and the idea of the trial as a contest.

1. The fact that both the executive and legislative branches of the government are required to follow the law as set down in the US Constitution is an indicator of the supremacy of law in the United States.

2. Precedent is the tradition that requires that courts follow the law as stated in decision by earlier courts.

3. Finally, we all know from watching infamous American cases or courtroom dramas on television that the American trial is an adversarial proceeding, like chess, in which the opposing attorneys seem to be more concerned with winning than arriving at the truth. What is not clear from the televised cases or TV dramas is that in the US 90 precent of the cases do not proceed to trial but are settled out of court. In other words, in most cases all sides work together to arrive at the truth. The cases that one sees on television, whether actual cases or TV drama, are the exception rather than the rule in the American system.

Televised cases are not a fair depiction of the American legal system. Too often it looks as though the person with the most money to hire the cleverest attorney wins the contest. In these contests, the judge is often a referee who must wait for one of the attorneys to cry, “Objection” before he or she can step in to decide if a piece of evidence or the questioning of a witness is valid. Normally, American judges don’t gather evidence as judges do in many systems; instead they look only at what the attorneys bring them, so the evidence may only be as good as the attoneys care to make it. Unfortunately, TV trials rarely show that in the American system, judges can and do step in to ask for additional information or to limit questioning of a witness. It is true that the system is adversarial and that most of the questioning is done by the attorneys; however, to compare television courtroom drama to real life would be like comparing a pocket calculator to a powerful computer.

1. Most European countries

a) have laws that look much the same

b) have adopted a unified civil code

c) are civil law countries

2. In the nineteenth century the US legal system

a) managed to keep some traditions of common law

b) had no centralized federal authority

c) was definitily on the way to a civil code

3. The citizens of the United States aimed to

a) have the Constitution in a written form

b) cherish the UK legal tradition

c) rely on the basic principles inherited from British origins

4. Today US legal system

a) is strongly influenced by British law

b) is based on case law

c) together with the English system is still separated from others

5. Courtroom dramas make people believe that in the USA

a) the parties are ready to settle their case out of court

b) a trial is a competition of attorneys

c) attorneys are eager to arrive at the truth

6. In the USA almost all the cases

a) proceed to trial

b) are settled peacefully

c) are reconsidered

7. Television shows the cases that are

a) based on real facts only

b) always TV drama

c) not typical

8. In the USA judges …….. the evidence.

a) are not involved in gathering

b) are not concerned about

c) must collect evidence as judges do in many systems

9. In the American system a judge

a) interferes in hearing of witnesses

b) is just a referee

c) participates in a rather passive way

Speaking

Discuss these questions:

1. Do you watch TV courtroom dramas? Why? Why not?

2. How does the role of the judge in your system differ from his or her role in the American system?

3. Much of the law in the United States is codified – written out. Why do you think American trials are so different from trials in countries with civil law systems?