English for Law Students: University Course

M.V. Lomonosov Moscow State University Law School


Department of Foreign Languages





ENGLISH
FOR LAW STUDENTS
UNIVERSITY COURSE


Part I

2-nd edition


Рекомендовано Учебно-методическим объединением по юридическому образованию высших учебных заведений в качестве учебного пособия для студентов высших учебных заведений, обучающихся по направлению «Юриспруденция» и специальности «Юриспруденция»




СТАТУТ
MOCHBft 2015

УДК 802/809.1
ББК 81.2
     E 58

EDITED BY Tatiana Tarasova

CONTRIBUTORS: Natalya Berezhneva Asya Goloborodko Dina Karpova Anna Reitman Tatiana Tarasova

REVIEWED BY
Eugenia Yakovleva Professor of Linguistics Suren Avakjan Professor of Law

E 58 English for Law Students: University Course / Ed. by T. Tarasova. Part I. — 2-nd ed. — Moscow: STATUT, 2015. — 343 p. [Английский язык для студентов-юристов. 2-е изд. — М.: Статут, 2015. — На английском языке]

      ISBN 978-5-8354-1166-5 (Part I; softback)
      ISBN 978-5-8354-1165-8

          ENGLISH FOR LAW STUDENTS is a part of the university course of legal English for academic purposes. It is addressed to law students of noncommon law countries. It is aimed at teaching students to understand the language of English law, its fundamental concepts and institutions. Its goal is to enable students to deal with different types of legal texts, to become knowledgeable in current legal issues, to use proper English legal terms with regard to their own legal systems. The final objective is to stimulate students’ interest in law and language. Although English for Law Students is designed as a part of the university course of legal English it can also be useful for students of the humanities, economics, social and political sciences, etc. in their self-study of English law and language.

УДК 802/809.1
ББК 81.2
      ISBN 978-5-8354-1166-5 (Part I)
      ISBN 978-5-8354-1165-8


© Contributors, 2015
                     © Издательство «Статут» (Statut Publishing House), 2015

CONTENTS



Foreword .....................................................5

UNIT I
HISTORY AND SOURCES OF ENGLISH LAW
Text 1. Case Law .............................................6
Text 2. How Do Judges Really Decide Cases? ..................19
Text 3. Equity ..............................................30

UNIT II CONSTITUTION
Text 1. The Development of the UK Constitution...............38
Text 2. Evolution of the British Constitution in the 17-th Century..................................44
Text 3. Structure of the UK Constitution ....................52
Text 4. Constitutionalism....................................63
Text 5. Separation of Powers.................................71
Text 6. Separation of Powers in the United Kingdom ..........79
Text 7. The Rule of Law......................................84
Text 8. Federal and Unitary Constitutions ...................95

UNIT III MONARCHY
Text 1. Nature of the Crown ............................... 107
Text 2. Functions of Monarchy.............................. 118
Text 3. Personal Powers of the Monarch .................... 124
Text 4. The Royal Prerogative ............................. 136
Text 5. Dwindling Power of the Crown ...................... 141
Text 6. A Right Royal Argument .............................. 147
Text 7. Referendum Set to Back the Queen of Australia...... 150


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UNIT IV PARLIAMENT
Text 1. Rise of English Parliament ......................... 157
Text 2. Formation of Two Houses of Parliament .............. 162
Text 3. Legal History of Parliament......................... 164
Text 4. British Parliament Today ........................... 172
Text 5. Composition of Parliament .......................... 187
Text 6. Composition of the Modern House of Lords.............202
Text 7. Composition of the Modern House of Commons ..........224
Text 8. Meeting of Parliament................................236
Text 9. Types of Legislation ................................240
Text 10. Passage of a Public Bill Introduced by the Government into the House of Commons .......................... 242
Text 11. Parliamentary Privilege ............................249

UNIT V THE EXECUTIVE
Text 1. Parliamentary Government ........................... 259
Text 2. Cabinet and Prime Minister ..........................268
Text 3. Growth of the Executive..............................272
Text 4. ‘Hollowed-out Government’............................277

Glossary ................................................... 291
Keys ....................................................... 326
References.................................................. 342

FOREWORD


   English for Law Students is designed
   • to meet the students’ needs in acquiring both language through law and law through language;
   • to strengthen their reading and writing skills;
   • to develop the students’ ability to analyse, summerise and interpret legal texts concerning particular legal area or issue;
   • to introduce common law terms, concepts and institutions to the students of a different law system;
   • to increase their competence in legal language usage;
   • to provide thought provoking materials;
   • to encourage analytical approach to and comparative studies of current legal issues and reforms;
   • to equip students with linguistic tools to advance in their scholarly activity.
   English for Law Students contains five UNITS: History and Sources of English Law, Constitution, Monarchy, Parliament, The Executive. Each unit includes a number of texts on a particular theme followed by LANGUAGE PRACTICE AND COMPREHENSION CHECK with TASKS ranging from word building to complicated legal vocabulary, grammar, syntax, discussion points. They focus on reading comprehension, speaking and writing activities. Each unit ends with the task to write an essay based on the texts of the unit on one of the exam questions.
   The KEY at the end of the book gives the answers to some exercises.
   The GLOSSARY provides definitions for most legal terms used in the units.
   English for Law Students is designed for all those who strive for academic excellence and professional success.

                UNIT I




            HISTORY AND SOURCES OF ENGLISH LAW


TEXT 1


CASE LAW

   The word source can mean several different things with regard to law, but for our purposes it primarily describes the means by which the law comes into existence.
   English law stems from seven main sources, though these vary a great deal in importance. The basis of English law today is case law, a mass of judge-made decisions which lays down rules to be followed in future cases. For many centuries it was the main form of law and it is still very important today. However, the most important form of law, in the sense that it prevails over most of the others, is statute, or Act of Parliament, which today is the source of most major changes in the law. As well as being a source of law in their own right, statutes contribute to case law, since the courts occasionally have to interpret statutory provisions, and such decisions lay down new precedents. Delegated legislation is a related source, laying down detailed rules made to implement the broader provisions of statutes.
   An increasingly important source of law is the legislation of the European Community, which is the only type of law that can take precedence over statutes in the UK, and is increasingly influencing the decisions of the courts in interpreting statutes.


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HISTORY AND SOURCES OF ENGLISH LAW

Finally, custom, equity and obligations relating to international treaties are minor sources of law, though Britain’s obligations under the European Convention on Human Rights have produced notable contributions to law reform.
   Before the Norman conquest, different areas of England were governed by different systems of law, often adapted from those of the various invaders who had settled there; roughly speaking, Dane law applied in the north, Mercian law around the midlands, and Wessex law in the south and west. Each was based largely on local custom, and even within the larger areas, these customs, and hence the law, varied from place to place. The king had little control over the country as a whole, and there was no effective central government.
   When William the Conqueror gained the English throne in 1066, he established a strong central government and began, among other things, to standardize the law. Representatives of the king were sent out to the countryside to check local administration, and were given the job of adjudicating in local disputes, according to local law.
   When these ‘itinerant justices’ returned to Westminster, they were able to discuss the various customs of different parts of the country and, by a process of sifting, reject unreasonable ones and accept those that seemed rational, to form a consistent body of rules. During this process - which went on for around two centuries - the principle of stare decisis (‘let the decision stand’) grew up. Whenever a new problem of law came to be decided, the decision formed a rule to be followed in all similar cases, making the law more predictable.
   The result of all this was that by about 1250, a ‘common law’ had been produced, that ruled the whole country, would be applied consistently and could be used to predict what the courts might decide in a particular case. It contained many of what are now basic points of English law - the fact that murder is a crime, for example.

7

UNIT I

   The principles behind this ‘common law’ are still used today in creating case law (which is in fact often known as common law). From the basic idea of stare decisis, a hierarchy of precedent grew up, in line with the hierarchy of the modern court system, so that, in general, a judge must follow decisions made in courts which are higher up the hierarchy than his or her own. This process was made easier by the establishment of a regular system of publication of reports of cases in the higher courts. The body of decisions made by the higher courts, which the lower ones must respect, is known as case law.
   Case law comes from the decisions made by judges in the cases before them (the decisions of juries do not make case law). In deciding a case, there are two basic tasks; first, establishing what the facts are, meaning what actually happened; and secondly, how the law applies to those facts. It is the second task that can make case law, and the idea is that once a decision has been made on how the law applies to a particular set of facts, similar facts in later cases should be treated in the same way, following the principle of stare decisis described above. This is obviously fairer than allowing each judge to interpret the law differently, and also provides predictability, which makes it easier for people to live within the law.
   The judges listen to the evidence and the legal argument and then prepare a written decision as to which party wins, based on what they believe the facts were, and how the law applies to them. This decision is known as the judgment, and is usually long, containing quite a lot of comment which is not strictly relevant to the case, as well as an explanation of the legal principles on which the judge has made a decision. The explanation of the legal principles on which the decision is made is called the ratio decidendi — Latin for the ‘reason for deciding’. It is this part of the judgment, known as binding precedent, which forms case law. All the parts of the judgment which do not form part of the ratio decidendi of the case are called obiter dicta - which is Latin for ‘things said by the way’.

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HISTORY AND SOURCES OF ENGLISH LAW

These are often discussions of hypothetical situations: for example, the judge might say ‘Jones did this, but if he had done that, my decision would have been . . .’ None of the obiter dicta forms part of the case law, though judges in later cases may be influenced by it, and it is said to be a persuasive precedent.


LANGUAGE PRACTICE AND COMPREHENSION CHECK

ACTIVE VOCABULARY

case               possible crime and its investigation by the
                   police                                     
court case         legal action or crime                      
case law           law as established by precedents           
to stem from       to derive from, to originate               
to lay down        to declare or start firmly                 
statute            law passed by a law making body            
to interpret       to place a particular meaning on           
precedence         the right to be put or dealt with before   
                   others, especially because of the greater  
                   importance                                 
to take precedence to effect; be directly related             
to give precedence 1. fair treatment ( in law )               
to apply the law   2. magistrate                              
justice            3. title given to High Court judge         
itinerant justice  traveling justice                          
evidence           the answers given in the court of law      
judgment           a decision made by a court in respect of   
                   the matter before it                       
TASK I.     a)     Complete the following sentences using     
the above words:                                              

1. This rule does not ... to your particular case.

9

UNIT I

   2.  The police do all they can to bring criminals to ... .
   3. He passed ... on the guilty man.
   4  were sent out to the countryside to check the local
administration.
   5.    In the dispute over custody of the child, the court decided to    to mother's claims.
   6.  My . against the local council will be heard today.
   7. The police have a clear . against the prisoner.
   8. The witness gave her . in a clear firm voice.

   b) Discuss the following legal terms and Latin expressions:
   •  Source of law Something (such as a constitution, treaty, statute, or custom) that provides authority for legislation and for judicial decisions; a point of origin for law or legal analysis.
   •  Ratio decidendi [Latin ‘the reason for deciding’] 1. The principle or rule of law on which a court’s decision is founded. 2. The rule of law on which a later court thinks that a previous court founded its decision; a general rule without which a case must have been decided otherwise.
   •  Obiter dictum [Latin ‘something said in passing’] A judicial comment made while delivering a judicial opinion, but one that is unnecessary to the decision in the case and therefore not precedential (although it may be considered persuasive). Often shortened to dictum.
   •  Stare decisis [Latin ‘to stand by things decided’] The doctrine of precedent, under which a court must follow earlier judicial decisions when the same points arise again in litigation.
   •  Precedent 1. The making of law by a court in recognizing and applying new rules while administering justice. 2. A decided case that furnishes a basis for determining later cases involving similar facts or issues.

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