Implement

1. The committee’s suggestions will be implemented immediately.

2. The plan was successfully implemented.

3. However there has been a growing trend for Acts of Parliament not to be implemented immediately.

Commence/commencement

1. Work will commence on the new building immediately.

2. The planes commenced bombing at night.

3. Instead the Act itself states the date when it will commence or pass responsibility on to the appropriate minister to fix the commencement date.

Access to

1. The only means of access to the building is along a muddy track.

2. The part of the Act giving employment rights was mostly brought into force in 1996, some parts of the Act which give disabled people rights to access to services were not going to be law until the year 2004.

3. Some parts which relate to access to transport may not be law until 2010.

Pass

1. Congress has debated whether to pass a balanced-budget amendment to the Constitution.

2. Parliament has passed a law to restrict immigration.

3. It can be seen that with all these stages it usually takes several months for a Bill to be passed.

Principle

1. The general principle is that education should be available to all children up to the age of 16.

2. The project worked on the principle that each person’s experience was equally valuable.

3. This is the main debate on the whole Bill in which MPs debate the principles behind the Bill.

Exercise 2. Fill the spaces in the following sentences with a suitable expression from Exercise 1.

1. So, the process by which an Act is … is a long one.

b. We have no … to the information.

c. We now … the meeting.

d. What do you know about the … of English law?

e. We have decided to… the committee’s recommendations.

f. The opposition parties moved (=suggested) an … to the bill.

g. He was responsible for … the contract.

h. Discrimination is a highly controversial … .

Exercise 3. Check yourself.

See if you can fill in the blanks. Look back for any answer you do not know.

How new laws are made

The Government … areas of new … to the House of Commons. These proposals are called … of Parliament. The Commons then … these …., often several times.

Since there is not enough time to … all the details of complicated legislation, much discussion is done in Parliamentary … – small groups of MPs who work out the details and present their findings to the whole House.

Finally, a … is taken, and if a … is …, it is sent for discussion to the House of Lords.

The House of Lords may … the Bill, in which case it returns to the House of Commons for a final …. On the other hand, the Lords may suggest … to a …, or refuse to accept it. In this case it must be discussed again in the House of Commons. In practice, the House of Lords may delay a … for about a year. In the end, however, they cannot prevent it becoming … if the Commons decides that it should do so. A … which becomes … is called an … … ….

It is occasionally possible for an individual MP to propose an item of …, This is called a Private Member’s Bill.

Exercise 4. Find in the text English equivalents for the following Russian words and expressions.

законодательный, большинство голосов, выборы, предварительное уведомление, осуществлять, нетрудоспособный, судья, счётчик голосов (при голосовании), квалификация (пригодность), поправка, вносить поправку, принять бюджет

Exercise 5. Translate the following sentences into English.

a.Законы – это наиболее важный первичный источник норм современного английского права.

2. Законы и акты делегированного законодательства, которые принимаются иными органами власти по разрешению Парламента, имеют приоритет перед другими источниками права.

3. С 1973 г. принимаемые законы (статуты) подразделяются на два вида: во-первых, это акты, принимаемые Парламентом; во-вторых, это акты, принимаемые Европейским Союзом.

4. В отдельных случаях инициаторами принятия того или иного закона могут выступать отдельные члены Парламента.

5. Однако непосредственным поводом для внесения законопроекта могут быть решение правительства, стремящегося проводить партийную политику.

6. В рабочем порядке законопроекты направляются правительству, которое вносит по ним предложения и изменения и направляет их в парламентскую комиссию.

7. Работа на текстом законопроекта поручается эксперту-юристу (обычно это один из барристеров – адвокатов высшего ранга).

8. Перед направлением в Парламент окончательный вариант законопроекта согласовывается с тем департаментом правительства, к компетенции которого он относится.

9. Законопроект проходит несколько обязательных стадий:

1. внесение законопроекта;

2. первое чтение;

3. второе чтение;

4. работа в комитетах;

5. отчет о работе над законопроектом;

6. третье чтение;

7. обсуждение поправок;

8. получение согласия короля (королевы)