PARTICIPANTS IN A TRIAL

The Parliament in Great Britain has the role of making the laws, which are interpreted by
the law courts or the courts of justice. The British legal profession includes two members: the
solicitor and the barrister.
The solicitor is consulted if a person needs the assistance of a law for a certain problem,
like: a divorce, a fight with the neighbours, setting of a business, to make a will or to sell a
property. The barrister is consulted if a person has a more serious and difficult problem, which
need to be judged in a civil or criminal court of law. This will represent him in the court and
will plead for his case. The barrister will take part in the trial as part of the Council for the
Prosecution, as council for the plaintiff, or of the Council for the defence, as council for the
defendant.
The main role in a trial is held by the judge, who is in charge of the following
responsibilities: to conduct the proceedings, to point out the matters which have to be clarified,
to ask questions to the parties and witnessesl to examine the documents and the evidence, to
present the summary of the case to the jury, to interpret the laws and to pass the sentence. The
jury is formed by twelve persons, called jurors, aged between 21 and 60 years old. The jury is
always present in a criminal court and sometimes in a civil court and has the role of
unanimously giving the verdict "Guilty" or "Not guilty" (if the jury can't reach an agreement,
then a new jury has to rejudge the case).
In a criminal case, according to the English law, a person is considered innocent and is
not accused of robbery or murder until his guilt is proved. For this, the two parties usually bring
witnesses, who are called into the court by the barristers, in a witness box, where they are asked
to swear on oath and then say what they saw, not what they heard from other persons.
The court system in the us is formed by the us Supreme Court and over eighteen thousand
other American smaller courts, like the Trial courts, the Appellate courts and the District courts.
Each state has a specific court system.
The lowest level of the court system is represented by the Trial courts, or lithe courts of
first instance", possessing original jurisdictionl which is the power of being the first court to
hear a case. The role of these courts is to take evidence, listen to witnesses and decide what is
true and what is not, handling both with civil and criminal matters. The decisions in this court
are made by a judge or by a jury, made up of citizens selected from the community. Most of the
parties involved in a civil litigation demand a judge and not a jury to take part in a trial, because
the decision is reached faster by the judge.
The Appellate courts are charged with the responsibility of reconsidering the decisions
made by a Trial court, if the defendant requests it. It makes a review to ensure that there is no
error in the interpretation of a law, by using only judges and not jury.
The District courts deal both with criminal and civil matters, the so called diversity cases,
like suits between parties from different states, when the amount in controversy is over
$50,000, the approval of passports, the solving of the federal prisoners' cases and the
naturalization of the immigrants.
According to the American law, rooted in the Bill of Rights, the rights of persons accused
of crimes are meant to protect the individual from the arbitrary use of police power. An accused
person has the right to representation by a lawyer, who is compulsory provided by the state to
those unable to afford one.

1
 BASIC VOCABULARY

law = 1. body of enacted or customary rules recognized by a community as binding; 2.

one of these rules; 3. their controlling influence, jurisprudence; law as a system (court of low)
or science (to read law); 4. one of the branches of the study of law, the lows concerning
specified deportment (commercial law)
member = 1. person belonging to a society; 2. MP (one formerly elected to toke part in
proceedings), member of Parliament;
legal = 1. required or appointed by law; 2. based on, occupied with law
barrister = is called to Bar and has the right to participate as advocate in superior courts
solicitor = member of the legal profession, competent to advise clients, instruct and
prepare causes for barristers, but not to appear as advocate except in certain lower courts
dispute = controversy, debate, difference of opinion
will = the declaration of a person's wishes regarding the disposal of his property after his
death
to set up a business = to start a business
to sue somebody = to bring somebody to court; to bring/enter an action against somebody
to plead = to address court as advocate on behalf of either party
to plead (not) guilty = to deny, confess liability or guilt liability
to represent somebody = to act as embodiment for, to stand for, to be entitled to speak for
somebody
plaintiff = party who brings suit into court of law
defendant = person sued in law-suit
judge = public officer appointed to hear and try causes in courts of justice
to preside = to exercise control
evidence = information, statement, proof (given personally or drawn from documents)
admissible as testimony in court to establish the facts
to rule = to give judicial or authoritative decision; to keep under control
jury = body of twelve persons who try final issues of fact in criminal or civil cases and
pronounce the verdict
to make the summing-up = to make the review of evidence or argument (especially of
judge after both sides have been heard)
to summon = to demand the presence of, to call upon, to appear
to return a verdict = to communicate a verdict
witness = person whose existence, position, state, serves as testimony or proof and who
gives sworn testimony in low court
to swear something on an oath = to state something by a solemn appeal to God
to hear = to listen judicially to
hearsay = what one hears, but does not know to be true
to pass a sentence = to give a sentence
to agree on a verdict = to pronounce a verdict
to reach agreement = to have on accordance in opinion

SYNONYMS
dispute = controversy, debate
to set up = to start
to plead guilty = to confess guilt
to plead not guilty = to deny guilt
counsellor = adviser
to iudge = to try

2
 proceeding = piece of conduct
eye-witness = bystander
case = couse, suit
witness-box = dock

ANTONYMS
legal - illegal
plaintiff - defendant
defence - prosecution
straightforward – indirect

1. Answer the questions:

1. When will a person consult a solicitor? A person consults a solicitor when that person
needs the ssistance of law for certain problems (a divorce, a fight with neighbours etc.)
2. When does a person appeal to the services of a barrister? A person appeals to the
services of a barrister when we discuss about serious and difficult problem.
3. Who are the participants in a criminal court? The jury is always present in a criminal
court.
4. Who may a barrister represent in a court? The barrister represent persons which need to
be judged in a civil or criminal court.
5. Who presides over a court in England? The judge presides over a court in England.
6. What does a jury consist of ? The jury consists of twelve persons, called jurors, aged
between 21-60 years old.
7. What are the duties of a jury? The jury has the responsability of unanimously giving
the verdict “Guilty” or “Not guilty”.
8. How long is the accused person supposed innocent? The person is supposed innnocent
until his guilt is proved.
9. What is the role of a witness? A witness is called into court by barristers and they are
asked to swear on oath and say what they saw.
10. Where is the evidence given? The evidence is given in a witness box.
11. What is "hearsay" evidence? The hearsay evidence is based not on a witness's
personal knowledge but on another's statement not made under oath.
12. Is "hearsay" evidence taken into consideration in English law courts? Yes, this
evidence is taken into consideration in English law courts because the witnesses are asked to
say what they saw, not what they heard from other persons.
13. Who posses the sentence on the accused? The jury is the only who posseses the
sentece on the accused.
14. What is the role of the Bill of Rights in the US law courts? The Bill of Rights in the
US law courts has the role of protecting the individual from the arbitrary use of police power.
15. What kind of rights does it refer to? It mentions the right to representation by a
lawyer, compulsory provided by the state to those unable to afford one.
16. What is the structure of the court system in the US? The court system in the US is
formed by the US Supreme Court and other eighteen thousand American smaller courts (Trial
Courts, the Apellate courts and the District courts).
17. What is the role of the Trial courts? The role of the Trial courts is to listen to
witnesses and decide what is true and what is not, handling both civil and criminal matters.
18. What is the meaning of the "original jurisdiction"? The “original jurisdiction” is the
power of being the first court to hear a case.

3
 19. Who takes decisions in a trial court? The decisions in trial courts are taken by a judge
or by a jury.
20. What is the role of an Appellate court? The Appellate court has the role of
reconsidering the decisions made by a Trial court, if the defendant requests it.
21. Why does an Appellate court not use a jury? An Appellate court does not use a jury
because the interpretation of law is better using only judges.
22. What kind of matters do the District courts deal with? The District courts deal with
criminal and civil matters with the so called diversity cases.

2. Fill in the blanks with the missing words:

a) Civil cases are brought by a plaintiff against a ..defendant....... .

b) The ....jury..... consists of twelve people selected at random from the lists.
c) First the council for the ...prosecution...... presents the case.
d) ...The barrister...... plead his case in court.
e) Under English low, a person is considered innocent until his ..guilt....... is proved.
f) According to the court system in the US, each state has a ...specific…. court system.
g) The decisions in Trial court are made by a ....judge..... or by a ......jury….
h) The Appellate courts ….reconsider........ the decisions made by a Trial court.
i) The District courts deal both with ...criminal...... and ...civil...... matters.

3. Which of the following sentences are true and which are false? Correct the false ones:

a) Civil cases are brought by a plaintiff against a defendant and the lawyers, who act for
each side, will hire solicitors to plead the case in court. TRUE
b) A jury consists of twenty people selected according to a special procedure. FALSE (A
jury consists of twelve people…)
c) The judge may intervene at any point and ask questions to clarify matters. TRUE
d) It is the judge's duty to conduct the proceedings, interpret the laws and give the verdict
of "Guilty" or "Not Guilty". FALSE (It is the jury’s duty to conduct the proceedigs….)
e) The witness must not swear on oath on giving evidence before the jury. FALSE (The
witness must not swear on oath on giving evidence)
f) The decisions in a Trial court in America are always made by a judge and by a jury.
FALSE (The decisions in a Trial court in America are akways made by a judge or by a jury)
g) The role of the Appellate courts is to take evidence, listen to witnesses and review the
written records of the lower courts. FALSE (The role of the Appellate courts is to reconsider
the decisions made by a trail)
h) The Trial courts form the lowest level of the court system in the US. TRUE
i) The Bill of Rights protects the individuals from the wrong use of police power. TRUE

4. Here are some expressions connected with a law court trial. Put them in the right
order:
a) to bring somebody to court 4
b) to accuse somebody of something 3
c) to return a verdict 9
d) to give evidence 5
e) to pass a sentence 7
f) to arrest on a charge of 2
g) to plead guilty 6
h) to commit a crime 1

4
 i) to prosecute 8
j) to win a case 10
k) to release on bail 11

5. What do you call a person who:

a) pleads a case in court- a barrister

b) undertakes legal business for ordinary people- a solicitor
c) gives evidence in trial- the judge
d) is summoned to court to give a verdict in a case- the jury
e) presides over a magistrates' court – The Supreme Court
f) is brought to the court on the initiatives of the parties- the judge

MAGNA CARTA
An island on the Thames between Staines and Windsor had been chosen as the place of
conference: the King encamped on one bank, while the barons covered the marshy flat, still
known by the name of Runnymede, on the other. Their delegates met on the island between
them, but the negotiations were a mere cloak to cover John's purpose of unconditioned
submission. The Great charter was discussed, agreed to and signed in a single day (1215, June
16).
One copy of it still remains in the British Museum, injured by age and fire, but with the
royal seal still hanging on the brown, shrivelled parchment. It is impossible to gaze without
reference on the earliest monument of English freedom which we can see with our own eyes
and touch with our own hands, the Great Charter to which from age to age patriots have looked
back as the basis of English liberty. But in itself the Charter was no novelty, nor did it to
establish any new constitutional principles. The character of Henry the First formed the basis of
the whole and the additions to it are for the most part formal recogni· tion of the judicial and
administrative changes introduced by Henry the Second. But the vague expressions of the other
characters were now changed for precise and elaborate provisions. The bounds of unwritten
custom, which the older grants did little more then recognise, had proved too weak to hold the
Angevins; and the baronage now threw them aside for the restraints of written law.
It is in this way that the Great Charter marks the transition from the age of traditional
rights, preserved in the nation's memory and officially declared by the Primate, to the age of
written legislation, of parliaments and statues, which was soon to come. The church had shown
its power of self-defence in the struggle over the interdict, and the clause that recognised its
rights alone retained the older and general form. But all vagueness ceases when the Charter
passes on to deal with the rights of Englishmen at large, their right to justice, to security of
person, to good government. "No freeman", run the memorable article that lies at the base of
the whole judicial English system, "shall be siezed or imprisoned, or dispossessed, or outlawed,
or in any way brought to ruin: we will not go against any man nor send against him, save by
legal judgement of his peers or by the law of the land". "To no man will we sell", runs other, or
"delay, right or justice".

Adapted from "A Short History of the English People", by J.R. Green

5
 SOLICITORS AND BARRISTERS

The legal profession in England and Wales is divided into solicitors and barristers. The
duty of the solicitor is to give advice and to lead the business of the client. He will also have a
barrister to care of a specific matter of the client's business. The solicitors have the right to a
brief council, who will be called in if the situation requires, in order to give specialist advice, to
draft documents or to act as advocates in the higher courts. He is the one who will entitle the
barrister to act as an advocate in the higher courts.
The solicitors have been usually considered the junior part of the legal profession, but
have increasingly become the dominant part of it. They are only admitted for practice if they
complete three stages of training: the academic stage, the vocational stage and the
apprenticeship. The academic stage of training is satisfied by the completion of a qualifying
law degree containing the six core subjects or by passing the Common Professional
Examination. The six core subjects are Constitutional and Administrative Law, Contract, Tort,
Criminal Law, Land Law and Equity and Trust. The last stage consists of a two years
apprenticeship to an established solicitor and can be regarded as the clinical stage of training. In
this stage, they learn various skills that are necessary for a solicitor, like managing an office,
interviewing clients, writing letters, instructing counsel and handling money. Once admitted,
the solicitor is required to maintain a practising certificate, for which a substantial annual fee is
charged.
The governing bodies of the barristers are more complex then those of solicitors. First of
alt in order to become a barrister, it is necessary to become a member of one of the Inns of
Court, like the Inner Temple, the Middle Temple, Lincoln's Inn or Gray's Inn. Though
admission to the Bar is still largely the domain of the individual Inns, the formal education of a
trainee barrister is centralised through the Inns of Court School of Law. Another governing
body for barristers is the Bar Council, which is the barristers' elected representative body.
Like in the case of solicitors, the training of barristers is divided into three stages:
academic, vocational and apprenticeship. The requirements of the academic stage are the same
with those of the solicitors. Barristers work in offices, in groups of between twelve and twenty
sharing services notably of a derk, but also secretarial and other services. Each chamber is
required to have at least one clerk, who performs the functions of office administrator and
accountant, business manager and agent. After around ten to fifteen years in practice, a
successful barrister can consider applying for promotion to Queen's Counsel known as "silk"
from the material of which the Queen's Counsel formal gown is made.
The distinction between the two branches of the legal profession is an artificial one. In
fact, there are no tasks exclusive to one branch. Solicitors regularly appear as advocates in the
law courts and sometimes in Crown Courts, which are geographically remote from barristers'
chambers. Equally, there are many barristers who very seldom appear in the court, spending
their time on written opinions on the law. Over the years, there has been debate on the fusion of
the two branches of the profession.

BASIC VOCABULARY
fusion = the result of fusing; a coalition of ideas, conceptsl bronches, parties etc.
advice = an opinion or recommendation offered as guide to action, conduct etc.
to draft = to draw the outlines or plan of; to sketch; to drow up in written form, to
compose
circumstance = a condition, detail, part or attribute, with respect to time, place, manner,
agent etc. which accompanies, determines, or modifies a fact or event; a modifying or
influencing factor

6
 senior = more advanced in age or older in standingl superior in age or standing to, of
higher or highest degree
to carry out = to put (principles, instruction) in practice
task = piece of work imposed
to handle = to manage (thing, person)
(to) brief = 1. summary of facts and law points of a case drawn up for counsel; 2. to
instruct (barrister, solicitor) by brief, employ
completion = the act of completing; fulfilment
apprenticeship = working for another in order to learn a trade, for instruction, training
vocational stage = educational training that provides a student with practical experience
in a particular occupational field
Inns of court = a legal society occupying such a building
sole = belonging or pertaining to one individual or group to the exclusion of all others;
exclusive
practitioner 1. one engaged in the practice of a profession, occupation; 2. one who
practices something specified
clinical = extremely objective and realistic
equity = 1. the application of the dictates of conscience or the principles of natural justice
to the settlement of controversies; 2. a system of jurisprudence or a body of doctrines and rules
developed in England and followed in the United States, serving as supplement and remedy the
limitations and the inflexibility of the common law
trust = a fiduciary relationship in which one person (the trustee) holds the title to property
(the trust estate or trust property) for the benefit of the other (the beneficiary)
gown = official or uniform robe of various shapes worn by judge, lawyer, clergyman,
college
tort = a wrongful act, not including a breach of contract or trust, which results in injury to
another's person, property, reputation, or the like, and for which the injured party is entitled to
compensation

SYNONYMS
to divide = to separate
occasion = opportunity
to maintain = to keep up
artificial = synthetic
to spend =to disburse
advice = guidance

ANTONYMS
increasingly - decreasingly
satisfied - unsatisfied
subjective - objective
to maintain - to discontinue
simple - complex
artificial - genuine
to spend - to earn

1. Answer the questions:

1. What are the solicitors dealing with? The solicitors give advice and lead the business of
the client.

7
 2. Is there any difference between solicitors and barristers? The solicitor lead the business
of the client while the barrister care of a specific matter of the client’s business.
3. Which is the historical recognition regarding the two branches of the legal profession?
The solicitors are considered the junior part of the legal profession, while the governing bodies
of the barrirsters are more complex.
4. Which is the final stage in the solicitor's education? The final stage consists of 2 years
of apprenticeship to an established solicitor.
5. Name some barrister's governing bodies. To become a barrister, it is necessary to
become a member of one of the Inns of Court, like the Inner Temple, the Middle Temple,
Lincoln's Inn or Gray's Inn. Though admission to the Bar is still largely the domain of the
individual Inns, the formal education of a trainee barrister is centralised through the Inns of
Court School of Law. Another governing body for barristers is the Bar Council, which is the
barristers' elected representative body.
6. Which are the stages the solicitors and the barristers are supposed to pass through? The
barristers and solicitors are supposed to pass through three stages: academic, vocational and
apprenticeship.
7. What do the barristers deal with? The barristers care of a specific matter of the client’s
business.
8. When can a barrister consider applying for promotion to Queen's Counsel? A barrister
can apply for promotion to Queen’s Counsel after ten-fifteen years in practice.
9. Can the two legal professions interfere within each other? Yes, because the distinction
of the two legal profession is an artificial one. There are no tasks exclusive to one branch.
10. Which are the motives that can lead to a fusion of the branches of the legal
profession? There are many barristers who seldom appear in court, spending time on written
opinions on the law.

2. What part does each of the following take in a trial?

a) The judge- passes the sentence

b) The solicitor- an assistance of law
c) The barrister- pleads for the case

3. Which of the following statements are true and which are false? Correct the false ones.

a) The barrister gives advice and has the conduct of the business of the client from day to
day. TRUE
b) The solicitor has the conduct of the business and he will retain another solicitor to
carry out a specific task in handling the client's business. FALSE (The solicitor gives advice
and lead the client’s business)
c) Barristers are increasingly becoming the dominant branch of the profession. FALSE
(The solicitors are becoming the dominant branch of the profession)
d) There are eight core subjects for the final stage of training of the solicitors.FALSE
(There are six core subjects for the final stage of training of the solicitors)
e) In order to become a solicitor it is necessary to become a member of the Inn's Court.
FALSE (In order to become a barrister it is necessary to become a member of the Inn's Court)
f) After around ten years in practice, successful barristers can consider applying for
promotion the Oueen's Counsel. TRUE

8
 4. Fill in the blanks with the missing words:

a) The ..barrister...... , is currently alone entitled fo act as advocate in the low higher
courts.
b) The six core subjects are…………….....and ….
c) Once admitted, the …………. is required to maintain a practising certificate.
d) The ……….. of the academic stages are common to both branches of the profession.
e) ………………….. are all sole proctitioners.
f) ……….......... regularly appear as advocates in the low courts.

9
 THE ROLE OF JUDGE AND JURY

There is a very subtle difference between the iudge and the iury: the judge deals with
questions of law, while the jury deals with questions of fad. The difference between the
questions of law and the questions of Fad is also a very subtle one. An example of a question of
fact is the issue whether the defendant was at a particular place at a particular time. This issue is
called by lawyers a question of primary fact. On the other hand, in a criminal trial, where the
intention is relevant, a question of fact will require an evaluation of all the surrounding
circumstances in coming to a conclusion about the defendant's state of mind. For example, in a
shop lifting (the offence of theftL if the defendant was in a state of confusion resulted from the
side effects of medication and he had no intention to steal goods, the jury would be called upon
to elucidate these facts. This is no longer conclusive in the complex cases of fraud or deception,
where these issues are more important than the primary facts. Moreover, the judge will have to
deal with a question of law when defining the constituent elements of the offence of theft.
The role of the judge in a court of law is a passive one. He has the role of the arbiter of
the law, who controls the trial and directs the jury. The length of a trial may vary from a few
hours to a month or more; the average length of a contested case is just under nine hours, which
is about two days of court time. If there are points of law involving admissibility of evidence
which are easy to decide upon without too much argue, the judge may exclude the jury.
Otherwise, the jury will listen to and will form opinions about the veracity of witnesses. In this
case, the judge will direct the iury to reach a verdict of guilt or innocence. The iudge will be
required to direct the jury to give a verdict of "not guilty" if a conviction cannot, as a matter of
law, be sustained in a case, during a trial. The judge cannot ignore such a direction, the
resulting verdict being called a direct acquittal. The judge will also sum up the case for the jury,
before it retires to consider a verdict. In the summing up, the judge will summarize the case,
explain the legal issues in contention, comment on factors that lend weight to or cast doubt on
certain evidence, from an independent and impartial standpoint. If the jury ignores the judge's
explanation of the law when drawing a conclusion or if the jury returns a verdict suspect of
coming against the weight of evidence, the verdict will be called perverse.
The jury is considered the arbiter of the fact, who deals with all the issues of fact, who
deals with all the issues of fact. The jurors will secretly deliberate about whom they believe and
disbelieve. They must form a collective viewpoint about the case, as close to reality as possible,
resulted from the evidence beFore them. After determining whether the defendant's actions
constitute the offence charged, the jury retires and is not allowed to interfere until a decision is
reached. If the jurors cannot agree and if every effort of coming to a conclusion fails, a new
jury will be called and the case will be retried. The old discharged jury is called a "hung" jury.
At first, the decision of the jury in a trial court had to be unanimous, although it was
usually requiring a new trial of the same case. This problem was solved in 1967, when The
Criminal Justice Act was adopted. It introduced the principle of majority in the decision
reached by the jury. Nowadays, it is possible to acquit a convict if ten jurors agree on a verdict,
even if the jury consists of eleven or twelve jurors, or if nine agree when the jury consists of ten
jurors. If a member of a twelve parties jury dies during the course of a trial, the trial will go on,
even if the decision will have to be reached by eleven jurors. It will stop if the number of jurors
decreases below ten.
Usually, the decision of the jury cannot be changed by an appeal. The Court of Appeal
will not reopen a case or reconsider the decision made by the jury, unless there had been a
mistake in the use of the right procedure. If this happens, it means that the judge will fail to
conduct the trial correctly and the case is retried by the Court of Appeal.

BASIC VOCABULARY

10
 issue = a point in question or a matter that is in dispute as between contending parties in
an action of law
to require = to call upon or oblige (a person) authoritatively; order or command; to
demand someone to account for his actions
evaluation = determining or setting the value or amount of
shoplifting = stealing goods from the shelves or displaying of a retail store while posing
as a customer
side-effect = any effect of a drug, chemical or other medicine that is in addition to its
intended effect, especially an effect that is harmful or unpleasant
fraud = 1. deceit, trickery, sharp practice or breach of confidence, used to gain some
unfair or dishonest advantage; 2. a particular instance of such deceit or trickery
deception = something that deceives or is intended to deceive; fraud; subterfuge; trickery
to contest = to call a witness (in a lawsuit); to testify
admissibility = capability of being admitted
veracity = conformity to truth or fact; accuracy
to empanel = 1. to enter on a panel or list for jury duty; 2. to select (a jury) from the panel
(to) convict = 1. to prove or declare guilty of an offence, especially after a legal trial; 2. a
person serving a prison sentence
standpoint = the mental position, attitude, from which one viewsn and judges things
contention = struggle between opponents; dispute; controversy
perverse = wilfully determined or disposed to go counter to what is expected or desired;
contrary
to mitigate = to make less severe
confines = a boundary; border; frontier
to acquit = to declare innocent; settle (a debt); behave oneself
aquittal = declaration of innocence in court

SYNONYMS
to require = to demand
shoplifting = theft
fraud = deception
to contest = to testify
veracity = honesty
contention =controversy

ANTONYMS
to require – to forgo
veracity - dishonesty
partial - impartial
contention - disagreement
to believe - to disbelieve

1. Answer the questions:

1. What does the judge deal with?

2. What do the jurors deal with?
3. Give an example of a question of fact.
4. Name a question of low.
5. What are the relations between the judge and the jury?
6. What happens when the jury cannot agree on the verdict?

11
 7. How many jurors are needed to obtain an accepted verdict?
8. When is the trial considered a failure by the trial judge?

2. Which of the following statements are true and which are false? Correct the false ones.

a) The judge deals with questions of fact and the jury deals with questions of law.
b) The judge is the arbiter of the law.
c) The judge cannot ever exclude the jury.
d) The judge is required to direct the jury to return a verdict of "nof guilty" if during a
trial a conviction cannot be sustained in a case.
e) Once the jury is refired, the judge delivers the sentence.
f) Acquittal by a jury is sacred. The Courf of Appeal can reopen or reconsider the jury's
decision.

3. Fill in the blanks with the missing words:

a) When the defendant committed a public offence under the effects of medication, the
jury will be called upon to ......... the facts.
b) At all stages, the role of the…...........is passive.
c) The ……........... has the last word before the ………......retires to consider a verdict
when he sums up the case for the jury.
d) The verdict is called …..........when the jury ignores the judge's explanation of the law.
e) ......... must debate in secret their deliberations about whom they believe and disbelieve.

4. What do you call a person who:

a) Deals with questions of law

b) Deals with questions of fad
c) Is the arbiter of the law
d) Is the arbiter of the foct

SELECTION OF THE JURY

The principle underlying the selection of the English jury is that of randomness. The
theory is that a jury chosen at random will be representative of the community. Any prejudices
held by particular members of the jury are likely to be counteracted by the good sense of the
other members of the jury. In marked contrast, the principle underlying the selection of the jury
in the United States is that of securing a "neutral" jury which will try the case dispassionately
according to the evidence. Potential jurors are subjected to detailed questioning either by the
councilor by the judge to reveal any prejudices and to confirm neutrality.
The basic qualification for the jury service in England and Wales is the simple age and
residence qualification. All persons aged between 18 and 70 registered as Parliamentary or
local government electors who have been resident in the United Kingdom for at least five years
since attaining the age of 13 are eligible for jury service. The advent of computerised databases
means that today jury panels are selected genuinely at random from electoral lists using random
selection computer programmes. Persons with certain criminal convictions are disqualified
either for life or for ten years depending on the seriousness of the offence.
There is a group in the population who have a right to be excused if summoned; for them,
service as jurors is optional. These include those over 65, members and officers of Parliament,
the military and the medical profession, including veterinary practitioners. There are two

12
general grounds on which a juror has a right to claim to be excused of jury service: when the
juror has attended court for jury service within the previous two years or when the juror has
been excused jury service for a longer period which has not expired (to those who have served
in long and complex trials). A juror who shows, or about whom it becomes apparent that he or
she cannot efficiently be elected as a juror because of a physical disability or insufficient
understanding of English, must be discharged.

From "The Administration of Justice", by Robin C. White

13
 JUSTICE ON ANCIENT ROMANIAN LAND

The legislation of the Geto-Dacian state

Besides the unwritten law, expressed in the Geto-Dacian State, there was a law system.
Strabon, a Greek geographer and historian, as well as lordanes, a historian of the Goths, at the
court of the Ostrogoths' kings, in Italy, stated that Geto-Dacians' laws were adopted during the
ruling of Burebista, who sustained that the laws he imposed were inspired by gods.
The laws were transmitted from generation to generation, in written form and they have
been kept untillordanes' times (the 6-th century O.E.). By the agency of these laws there have
been introduced new standards -commandments of the king who resorted to the authority of
religion in order to be taken into account by his people. There was the need of maintaining the
fear of gods in order to be sure of the observance of the
Legal institutions
At the same time with the extension of the slave-owning system, the difFerences of
wealth strengthened the great private extems property. In Dacia there were great landholders
that used the labour of the slaves. Besides the private property, there existed the collective
property of the territorial community.
Through the agency of information, recorded by Horatio, we know that the Geto-Dacians
were great tillers.
Regarding the organization of the family, there are a lot of information recorded by
Herodot, Ovid and Horatio. There was monogamy and the future husband had to bought his
bride from her parents. On the other hand, the future wife had to bring to her new house a
dowry consisting in money or goods.
Ovid affirmed that woman was on an inferior level compared to that of man. She worked
hard and she was sentenced to death if she had committed adultery.
There is no recorded information about the existence of any standards regarding
obligations and commercial contracts, but scientists consider that they existed (the argument
was the intensification of trade and the large use of coin).
In the field of criminal law, the main disposals considered the defence of the state and of
the private property. Generally speaking, the state was charged with the justice, but they still
applied the system of the blood revenge.
The Dacian State was concerned with the organization of the legal system. The king
Comosycus -as lordanes recorded -took care of the organization of the trial and the trial itself,
but he was at the same time the great priest. Some historical texts certify the use of the judiciary
combat in order to solve different litigation. As for the diplomatic activity of the Dacians, they
used norms of international law, the priests using a certain ritual at the conclusion of the
treaties.

BASIC VOCABULARY
custom = usual practice; (law) established usage having the force of a law
generation = 1. whole body of persons born about the same lime; 2: procreation,
propagation of species, begetting or being begotten; 3. production by natural or artificial
process; 4. overage time in which children are ready fo replace parents (reckoned at 30 years, as
a time measure)
agency = active operation, action; instrumentality
slave = person who is legol property of another and is bound to absolute obedience
at the same time = concurrently
wealth = welfare, prosperity, riches, large possessions, opulence, abundance
collective = of, from, many individuals, common, by all, for the benefit of all
private = individual, personal, not affecting the community

14
 community = 1. joint ownership, fellowship; 2. body of people living in the same
locality; 3. body of people having religion, profession in common
to strengthen = to become stronger, to make stronger
tiller = ploughman, farmer, cultivator
monogamy = practice, circumstance of being married to one at a time
information = 1. informing, telling; 2. thing told, items of knowledge, news; 3.(low)
charge, complaint, lodged with court or magistrate (against)
dowry = 1. property or money brought by wife to husband; 2. endowment, marriage
portion; 3. gift of nature, talent
adultery = voluntary sexual intercourse of married person with one of the opposite sex,
other than his or her spouse
trade = 1. exchange of commodities for money or other commodities, commerce; 2.
exportation or importation of goods from or to home countries, or exchange of commodities of
different countries
to revenge = to satisfy oneselt to be satisfied with retaliation (for offence, upon, on the
offender); to take vengeance
ritual = 1. prescribed order or performing religious service; 2. performance of religious
acts

SYNONYMS
concurrently = simultaneously
wealth = fortune
to strengthen = to accentuate
disposal = disposition, measure; stipulation
to attest = to certify
combat = duel
conclusion = settlement

ANTONYMS
written - unwritten
difference - resemblance
monogamy - polygamy
private - collective
equality - inequality

1. Answer the questions:

1.What did Strabon and lordanes say about the Geto-Dacians; laws?
2.What was property in Dacia like?
3.What is the information recorded by Horatio regarding the Geto-Dacians?
4.What do we know about the family organization at that time?
5.What do we know about the criminal law?
6.Who was in charge with the organization and the trials?
7.Did the Geto-Dacians use any norms of international law?

2. Translate into English:

a ) În epoca sclavagistă exista o accentuată inegalitate intre femei şi bărbaţi.

b) Respectarea legilor statului asigura libertatea indivizilor.

15
 c) Dezinformarea completului de judecată atrage după sine penalizarea celui in cauză.
d) Unii oameni cred că au numai drepturi în societate.
e) În ţara noastră nu este acceptată bigamia.
f) Fiind adaptabil, omul a reuşit să reziste transformărilor naturale de-a lungul timpului.

3. Some of the following sentences are true and some are false. Correct the false ones:

1) Iordanes was a Greek historian and geographer.

b) Burebista used the fear of gods in order fo impose the obedience of the law.
e) In Dacia there were slaves who worked on the private properties as well as on the
collective ones.
d) Dacians were polygamous.
e) Geto-Dacians used the coin and made trade.
f) They still applied the blood revenge.

4. Explain the following terms:

generation
community
adultery
trade

6. Use the antonyms of the following words in sentences of your own:

resemblance
any
collective
to strengthen
polygamy

BILL OF RIGHTS. COMMON LAWS

The first three amendments to the Constitution of the United States are generally referred
to as the National Bill of Rights. At the time Constitution was submitted to the people in 1787,
there was much criticism of the document due to the fact that it did not contain a Bill of Rights.
The explanation of this goes bock to the original English common low idea of government.
According to this, individual rights exist themselves as inborn and inalienable. The Constitution
and government are merely an added protection to those rights people already possess. This
idea is today underlined by the government of Great Britain and the United States, by those of
the self-governing British Commonwealth.
In contrast to this, the doctrine and belief that were and still are prevalent in other
countries should be mentioned, such as the states of the Continental Europe, which are under
what might be termed a prerogative type of government. Even the most free of these countries
in their written constitutions make statements of individual rights that are based on the
underlying thought that these rights are the gift of the state. Thus, we find the Constitution of
Switzerland (Article 55): "The freedom of the press is guaranteed. However, the lows of the
cantons shall enact the necessary provisions to avoid abuse; these provisions should be
submitted to the approval of the Federal Counsel. The Confederation may also fix penalties in
order to prevent abuses directed against itself or its authorities."

16
 This provision is characteristic to the most enlightened European democracies and is in
direct contrast to the British and American common-law idea of protection for already existing,
inalienable rights.
Common-law, originally custom and usage, become the law 'common' to all the people of
England by judicial enforcement. Thus it originated in England, but has come to consist in great
part in the principles which have been declared and developed in the decisions of the courts
when adducting upon the private law in the countries of Anglo-Saxon origin. It is usually not
incorporated in the Constitution or written statutes of a country, but is the term generally used
to describe that system of fundamental law, which is in force among the English-speaking
peoples as contrasted, with Roman law and derivative systems based on an enacted code. The
early settlers of the United States claimed and were in fact supposed, to have brought with them
in America their inherent common-low rights of person and property. It is the English common-
law, which thus is recognized throughout the United States as the common-law of the country
and is the fundamental basis of the institutions of Government.
Primarily the Governments of each of the states and territories enforce the common-law.
The Code Napoleon and its development in the State of Louisiana due to the original French
settlement there have inAuenced it to some extent. It is, of course, subject to repeal or
amendment by statute, but primarily the common-law has been developed and extended by the
state and Federal Courts, past and present.
In those states where the common-law has been codified, these codes consist in large part
of a restatement of the common-law doctrines and their later development up to the time of
codification. In addition, the common-law rights of the individual, as generally accepted, have
been stated to a greater or lesser extent at various times in American history. Among these
statements is that in the Declaration of Independence, which says that all men "are endowed by
their creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of
Happiness."
Also, the Bill of Rights or the first ten amendments to the United States Constitution and
the Bill of Rights in the various states constitutions are in whole or in large part made up of
statements, common-law rights, which are inborn, inherent and inalienable and not granted by
any Government, according to Anglo-Saxon and American theory. Thus, the American
Governments, national or state, are merely added protection to the common-law rights, which
the citizens already possess.

Adapted from "Concise Dictionary of American History"

17
 CIVIL PROCEEDINGS

Understanding the English legal system must start with the distinction between civil and
criminal proceedings. Civil and criminal proceedings require different courts and procedures,
although some judges sit in both civil and criminal courts. The distinction between civil and
criminal proceedings consists mainly in the legal consequences that follow a particular act.
The role of the civil law and civil proceedings is to determine the rights and obligations
of individuals themselves, as well as in their relations with the others. Such civil acts could be:
the determination of rights arising under a contract, the rights regarding property and
succession, the obligations of paying damages for torts, like negligence, nuisance or
defamation, questions of status, such as divorce, adoption and the custody of children. These
rights belong to the area of private law, as they are of private nature; but there are also rights
that belong to the public law, like questions of taxation, or questions of planning and
compulsory purchase, which are of public nature.
In a civil proceeding, the person who begins the proceeding is the plaintiff and he sues or
brings an action against a defendant. The plaintiff will be seeking a remedy, usually in the form
of damages (money compensation), but possibly also in the form of an injunction (an order
prohibiting the defendant from committing or continuing to commit a wrongful act). Most civil
proceedings are heard by a judge sitting alone; in defamation cases, which are very rarel the
judge will be helped by a jury in civil proceedings. The judge delivers a judgement after
hearing the action. The terminology is not the same in all the civil proceedings. For instance, in
divorce proceedings, the petitioner, who asks for the marriage to be dissolved, partitions for a
decree against the respondent. If it is certain that the marriage has broken down irretrievably
because of the respondent's adultery, the person with whom the respondent is alleged to have
committed adultery must usually join the proceedings. This party is called co-respondent.
In civil proceedings, the plaintiff usually must prove the facts on which the claim is
based. This means that the plaintiff has the burden of proof, which in the civil cases is said to
be on the balance of probabilities. In other words, the plaintiff must satisfy the judge through
admissible evidence, which is more reliable than his statements which he pretends to be true.

BASIC VOCABULARY. IDIOMS

procedure = 1. act or manner of proceeding in any action or process; conduct; 2. a
particular course or mode of action; 3. mode of conducting legal parliamentary, or other
business, especially litigation and judicial proceedings
obligation = 1. an argument enforceable by law, originally applied to promises under seal;
2. a document containing such an agreement; 3. a bond containing a penolty with a condition
annexed for payment of money, performance of covenance etc.; 4. any bond, note, bilt
certificate, or the like, as of a government or a corporation, serving os evidence of
indebtedness; 5. something by which a person is bound to do certaih things, and which arises
out of a sense of duty or results from custom, low etc.;
succession = the descent or transmission of a throne, dignity, estate, or the like;
nuisance = something offensive or annoying the individuals or to the community,
especially in violation of their legal rights;
defamation = false or unjustified injury of the good reputation of another as by slander,
libel, calumny
compulsory = required without exception; mandatory; obligatory;

SYNONYMS

18
 fundamental = essential
consequence = effect
obligation = (1) contract; (2) = responsibility
compulsory = obligatory

ANTONYMOUS
fundamental - secondary
negligence - care
private - public
compulsory - voluntary

1. Answer the questions:

1. Is there any difference between civil and criminal proceedings?

2. Which are the aims of the civil law and civil proceedings?
3. Who is the person who begins the proceedings and what does he do?
4. Which is the schedule of a civil proceeding?
5. What about divorce?
6. What does the burden of proof imply?

2. Complete the blank spaces with the missing words:

a) Different ......... and ......... are used for civil and criminal proceedings.
b) Civil law and proceedings aim to determine the ......... and ......... of individuals as well
as between each other.
c) Questions of taxation or questions concerning planning or compulsory purchase
are rights that belong to ......... low.
d) Most civil proceedings are heard by a ......... sitting alone.
e) In civil proceedings, the plaintiff usually has the ......... of proof.

3. What do you mean by:

-proceeding
-procedure
-case
-burden of proof
-litigation

4. Which of the following statements are false and which are true? Correct the false ones:

a) The distinction between civil and criminal proceedings is of no importance in

understanding English legal system.
b) The questions of taxation are of private law nature.
c) In most criminal proceedings the person beginning the proceedings is the plaintiff.
d) Most civil proceedings are heard by a jury of 12 persons.
e) The plaintiff must satisfy the judge through admissible evidence, which is nof as
reliable as his statements that he pretends to be true.

RULES OF CIVIL PROCEDURE

19
 The English system of civil procedure is based upon the adversary principle: a series of
statements of fact are put forward by one party to be attacked by the opposing party. The judge
acts principally as umpire or referee and leaves it to the parties to put the case before him. The
rules of civil procedure which govern the handling of cases are technical, complex and detailed.
They are designed to regulate the conduct of the parties and their advocates in an adversary
trial. They can be found in large volumes entitled The supreme Court Practice (known among
lawyers as 'The White Book') and The County Court Practice (known among lawyers as 'The
Green Book'). This mass of rules really has three objectives. The first objective is to ensure that
the facts on which a claim is based are accurately found and appropriately arranged so that the
issues between the parties can be identified. The second is to ensure that the correct and
appropriate rule of law is found and applied. The third objective is to ensure that the remedy or
remedies prescribed by that rule of law can adequately be enforced.
It is not necessary to dwell on the detail of the rules of procedure, since a broad outline of
the process in action in contract and tort will serve for our enquiry.
Whether the rules actually achieve their objectives remains to be assessed, but there has
been a succession of calls over the last 30 years for the redrafting of the rules in order to make
High Court practice and procedure quicker, simpler and cheaper. Few of their recommendations
have been implemented. The recommendations of the Civil Justice Review pick up some of
these recommendations and their implementation will mark the start of a new era in the
processing of civil disputes.

Adapted from "The Administration of Justice", by Robin C. White

20
 TRUTH -THE PRINCIPLE OF THE JUDICIAL PLEADING

Truth is the accurate reflection of the objective reality in thinking, by comparing what
exists with what really happens.
There are two kinds of truth: the objective and the relative truth.
The objective truth reflects the existing reality, which is independent from the human
consciousness. The criterion and the source of truth are the socialhistorical experience of
humankind, which makes the process of finding out the truth a continuous and unlimited in
time one.
The relative truth is the reflection of reality, which is just, but approximate. For example,
the scientific fact is a relative truth. Using the relative truth, the human consciousness
permanently aims to the absolute truth.
The absolute truth includes all the relative truth in its progressive and infinite historical
sequence. Any relative truth contains elements of absolute truth.
Along the history, all the conceptions, systems and schools were appreciated through
their attitude towards the truth. Truth is the key to any lawsuit or juridical proceeding.
At the basis of all the branches of the studies of law lies the principle of absolute truth,
especially in the procesuallaw, where complete concordance between the facts regarding the
cause and the conclusion of the criminal lawsuit is demanded. A person who has to give
evidence in a trial will have to swear on oath that he will tell the truth and nothing but the truth.
He is required not to make a false statement or pass the truth over in silence.
What we mean by telling the truth is that a person says a true sentence and not a false
one. As Aristotle said, "a true statement is the one by which you say that it is what it is and that
it is not what it is not".
In the Middle Ages, philosophers sustained that truth is the accord between object and
intellect. Legally speaking, we have the right to sustain that our opinions are true, but we must
be able to motivate them, seriously and firmly.

BASIC VOCABULARY. IDIOMS

accurate = careful in exact conformity with a standard or with a truth
really = in fact, in reality, positively
reality = property of being real
objective = belonging not to the consciousness or the perceiving or thinking subject, but
to what is presented to this, external to the mind, real
relative = pertinent, relevant, related to the subject
absolute = complete, pure, mere; real, unconditionat self-existent and conceivable without
relation to other things
truth = quality or state of being true or accurate; honest; sincere; loyal; accurately shaped;
adjusted
irrespective of = not taking into account; without reference to
motive = what induces a person to act
consciousness = totality of a person's thoughts and feelings
criterion = principle, standard a thing is judged by
humankind = mankind, human species
source = origin, places where things come from
permanent = intended to lost indefinitely
opinion = judgement or belief not founded on certainty or proof; view held as probable
conception = thing conceived, idea
lie = intentional false statement
conclusion = final result

21
 statement = stating, expression in words
intellect= faculty of knowing and reasoning

SYNONYMS
to assert = to declare
accurate = precise
really = indeed
absolute = perfect
relative = pertinent
criterion = principle
humankind = mankind
source = origin
permanent = lasting

ANTONYMS
truth - lie
accurate - inaccurate
reality - fiction
respective - irrespective
false - true

1. Answer the questions:

1.What is truth?
2. What kinds of truth did you read about?
3. What does objective truth deal with?
4. What about the relative one?
5. What is the absolute truth?
6. What are the words a person has to soy before giving evidence?
7. What is a true statement in Aristotle's way of thinking?
8. How did philosophers in the Middle Ages define the truth?

2. Fill in the blank spaces with the missing words:

a ) Truth demands the complete ......... of facts.

b) The relative truth is the ........., but ......... reflection of reality.
c) To say a truth means to say a ......... sentence, not a false one.
d) The scientific fact is a ......... truth.
e) The process of finding out truth is ......... and ......... in time.
f) Before giving evidence in a trial, the witness must say the .................., the whole .........
and nothing but the ......... .

3. Make sentences using the antonyms of the following words:

limited, silence, truel serious, permanent, relative

4. Use the following expressions in sentences:

22
 - to give evidence
- to tell the truth
- to pass something over in silence
- judidal proceedings

5. How many meanings can you find to these words?

-sentence
-firm

6. Write a paragraph composition using the following:

lawyer, pleading, justice court, to lie at the basis, truth, accord, fact, exact, regarding,
reality

CHARTISM AND THE NEW POOR LAW

The history of the chartist movement (1838 -1848) is really an illustration of this. It is
usual to point out that, when payment of MP's was authorised in 1911, all the six political
points of the Charter had been in principle conceded, except the not very sensible proposal for
general elections to be held annually. But William Lovett and Feargus O'Connor, the two
principal leaders -both of whom were sent to prison during the period of agitation -and the bulk
of their followers wanted something more than manhood suffrage, vote by ballot and other
changes in electoral procedure. They aimed at getting a different kind of MP, the sort of
member who had first experience of sufferings of the being completed in 1911, the Chartist
demands in this sense only began to be considered after 1906, the year in which Members of
Parliament of a new social type first appear in significant numbers.
The social reform which the Chartists advocated, were often vaguely described as
impracticable and inconsistent with each other. But they were certainly united in their outcry
against the new poor relief system of 1834. Joseph Naylor Stephens, a Wesleyan minister
turned into a Chartist agitator called it "this damnable law", which violates all the laws of God".
Yet the law which bore more hardly upon the lives of the workers was left unaltered throughout
the Queen's reign.
The Poor law of 1834 stopped the Speenhamland systems of rates in aid of the wages by
trying to abolish outdoor relief. If the poor needed help, they were let to come to the workhouse
for it. If they came to the workhouse, they found that the help they got -food and shelter for
themselves and their families -was administered in such a strict, mean and humiliating fashion
that people would rather die than become paupers. If they would not become paupers, than they
must either find a job, however hard and poorly paid, or emigrate, or die. In spite of Dickens'
"Oliver Twist" and in spite of Chartist agitation, the grim new workhouses remained the typical
buildings of Victorian England.
Outdoor relief was never wholly abolished, especially in the case of the aged, and after
about 1870 the principle of abolition survived chiefly in rural areas. Some relieving officers and
workhouse masters administered the law in a kindlier spirit than others, and the workhouse
infirmary, where the sick law, gradually took on more the character of a hospital than a place of
punishment. But the fear of the workhouse remained one of the biggest factors in creating and
maintaining the habits of hard work, thrift and adaptability. Whole families would move about
the country, on foot if necessary, in search of employment -which made what the books call our
Labour Force so efficient an instrument for creating wealth.

23
 The supervision of the Poor Law, at first entrusted the commissioners, was the main task
of a new government department set up in 1871. This was the local Government Board, having
as its other work the control of the town councils, which had been reformed and put on an
entirely new basis in 1835. Local government was a second point at which the law affected the
life of the workers, especially in the new industrial towns, for the law intervened to restrict
within narrow limits the improvements which a council could provide for the town it served.

Adapted from "British Life and Civilization", by Livia Deac, Adrian Nicolescu

24
 ELOQUENCE

Eloquence is the art of beautifully, enthusiastically, thrilling and convincing speaking.

Judicial eloquence
In trials or instances regarding the commitment of serious offences, speeches or orations
must be distinguished by very serious argumentation. In order to obtain the forgiveness of the
judge, the accused must attract the attention of the audience and generate powerful emotions.
We call a good speech that which connects the public speaker and the listener. This
masterstroke consists of various ways of persuasion, remarks, comments upon rules, the staving
off the hypothetical impediments and bewilderment. In fact, the whole pleading with a logical
background has a subtle and touching demonstration.

Demonstrative eloquence
There are many cases in which the demonstrative speech is expressed. Isocrate, the
founder of a school of rhetoric in Ancient Greece, distinguished himself by his speeches, which
represented real masterpieces. Panagiric and About Panatheene celebrations would be some
examples of these. He used a very delicate style, a juicy and nonpretentious vocabulary,
harmonious sentences with figures of speech, an equal and eloquent rhythm and a poetry of
words loaded with maximum emotional value.

Latin eloquence
The Romans created an original rhetoric, whose outlines were represented by the
orientation to pragmatism and Stoic philosophy, as they had roots and developed the presocratic
and isocratic tradition.
Another outstanding figure of Roman culture and civilisation was Cicero, famous for his
rare qualities of the perfect orator. As he stated, "an orator must have the logician's sharpness of
mind, the thinking of the philosopher, the poet's way of expressing his thoughts, the jurist's
memory, the tragedian's voice and, above all, the gesture of a famous actor".
Quintilian the greatest rhetor master and expert, defined oratory as the art of eloquence
and the orator was "a good man speaking". His lectures about rhetoric were well known and
highly appreciated at that time. In Quintilian's work we can find out the basic features of the
ideal advocate: sincerity, sensibility, morality, modesty. He has to be kind, but not familiar; he
has to give the proper advice knowing what was all aboutJnot to be passionate, not to get angry,
but to be calmJto keep his interior equilibrium and, moreJ to be impartial.

BASIC VOCABULARY. IDIOMS

eloquence = fluent, forcible and apt use of language
speech = public address
argumentation = methodical reasoning
oration = a formal public declaration or speech; discourse
orator = eloquent public speaker; the person who makes a good speech
audience = persons within hearing; assembly of listeners
to generate = to bring into existence
masterstroke = surpassingly skillful oct
masterpiece = consummate piece of workmanship
persuasion = persuading, persuasivenesst conviction
remark = a written or spoken comment, anything said
to stave off = to avert, to ward off
bewilderment = perplexity

25
 demonstration = outward exhibition of feelings, of opinion, logically proved
demonstrative = serving to point out or to exhibit
founder = one who founds institutions
rhetoric = the art of persuasive and impressive speaking
rhetor = Ancient Greek or Roman feacher or professor of rhetoric; rare, orator
tradition = fact handed down from ancestors to posterity
original = innate, initial; that has served as pattern
outlines = main features
pragmatism = doctrine that estimates any assertion solely by its practical bearing upon
human interests
stoic philosophy = making virtue the highest good, concentrating attention on ethics and
inculcating control of the passions and indifference to pleasure or pain (school founded in
Athens, 308 BC by Zeno)
feature = distinctive or characteristic port of something or somebody
equilibrium = stote of balance; neutrality of judgement
impartial = unprejudiced

SYNONYMS
orator = public speaker
oration = discourse
to generate = to produce
clemency = mercy
master = teacher
to stave off = to avert, to ward off, to defer
impediment = obstruction
bewilderment = confusion
ideal = perfect
impartial = fair

ANTONYMS
well - bad
favourable - unfavourable, disadvantageous
pretentious - nonpretentious
equal - unequal
rare - numerous
famous - unknown
calm - anxious
interior - exterior
impartial - prejudiced

1. Answer the questions:

1. What do the orators try to do during their speech?

2. How do they succeed in doing this?
3. What was Isocrate's style like?
4. What are the characteristics of latin eloquence?
5. Describe the perfect orator in (icero's version.
6. How is Quintilian's vision different from thot of Cicero?

2. Fill in the blank spaces with the missing words:

26
 a) An ......... must have the logician's sharpness of mind, the thinking of a ........., the .........
's way of expressing his thoughts, the ......... 's memory, the ......... 's voice and, above all, the
gesture of a famous ..................
b) A good .........……. must connect the public speaker and the ..................
c) ................. was the founder of a school of rhetoric in Ancient Greece.
d) ..................defined the orator as "a good man speaking well".

3. Translate into English:

a) Cicero a fost o personalitate a retoricii romane.

b) Pledoaria avocatului a fost perfecta şi la obiect.
c) Procurorul s-a dovedit a fi foarte inteligent.
d) Discursul judiciar trebuie bine pregătit.
e) Avocatul trebuie să fie bine informat pentru apararea inculpatului.
f) Prietenii comentează verdictul. Au spus că judecata nu a fost corectă.

4. Use the following words in sentences of your own:

eloquent; clemency; thrilling; founder; favour; persuasion; impediment; support; famous;

impartial; to get angry; quality

ANGLO-SAXON GOVERNMENT
The corner-stone of Government in the Saxon society was the king.
Although there were certain reins of his power controlled by the Witan full Witenagemot,
a council of 'wise men' chosen from the aristocracy), this council should not be seen as any sort
of democratic Parliament. True, it was responsible for the election of the king -qualification for
kingship of the royal family and the Witan chose from within that membership the most
suitable successor, not necessarily the son of the previous king -and also advised him on
matters of government, but in the long run the king, once elected, was free to act much as he
chose.
Successful rule, then, depended greatly on the personality of the king, who, to begin with,
had no fixed court, but travelled around with his followers, mainly in order to collect his rents,
which, being paid in food, had to be eaten on the spot. A king of no fixed abode, he could
summon his Witan when he required it (to approve new laws, for example) to whichever real
estate he happened to be occupying at the time.
Later, as kingdoms became bigger, royal representatives were created to administer local
justice. These, earldormen attended and supervised the meetings of the local court and the
process whereby the handling of regional affairs passed from the freemen to the king, was
under way.
By the time of the Norman Conquest this process was so complete and efficient for royal
purposes that William made little attempt to change it, so well did it to strengthen his hold of
the country as a whole and enable him to establish a firm feudal superstructure on society.
The old popular assemblies remained in existence -the 'hundred' (most likely, to begin
with any rate, meetings of groups of a hundred families); above this, the 'shire-moot'; and above
this still, the 'folk-moot' -but these moots or courts, were now controlled by the king's officers.
The shire-reeve (the origin of the present-day sheriff) was one of the most vital figures in the
system, personifying royal authority to lord and peasant alike, delivering the king's writ and
ensuring his wishes were carried out in the area.

27
 This process of change in local government was a slow gradual one, only dearing in
outline in the 10-th and ll-th centuries, when the Danish invasions undoubtedly added impetus
to it, hustling the development of this near feudal state by forcing the poor into the hands of the
lord. In addition, many of the institutions of government were most likely Danish innovations.
We have already noted the 'husting'; it may be that the 'hundred' (in Danish areas, the
'wapentake') was likewise a Danish introduction, or at least a refinement of an earlier Saxon
idea.
In London, by the end of the Saxon period, local government was much more complex,
with a larger number of courts, one for each of the wards into which the city had been divided.
There were also the 'sokes' privileged areas that came under private iurisdiction. But public
authority was the general rule, and the court of highest authority remained the folk-moot, which
met three times a year, attended by every citizen (in theory, at leastL in the open air on the
highest ground in the city -beside St. Paull s Cathedral.
LAW AND ORDER
On the basis there is the Saxon law of compensation to the injured party by payment of
his 'wergild' to his kinsfolk. Some crimes were considered, of course, beyond compensation -
witchcraft, arson and predictably, treachery to one's lord or king. The punishment for this was
hanging. But in the crimes of the first category it was legal for the kindred 10 refuse payment of
the wergild and take revenge into their own hands. This meant of course, retaliation of the
kindred of the original criminal and the blood feud thus embarked on could continue for many
years.
Later kings tried to stamp out his practice with his inherent danger that a kindred might
grow too powerful and set itself above the law. But passing laws is one thing ensuring they are
observed is another, especially in an age when a police source as we know it was non-existent.
Maintenance of law and order was in the hands of people themselves. That it worked at all
shows the genius for cooperation that the Saxons possessed. When a crime was committed
there followed a 'hue and cry' - all freemen were called out to pursue and catch the criminal.
Once captured, the criminal was brought to trial - a trial that bore little resemblance to the
court procedures today. It was, in fact, a Trial by Ordeal, provided, this is, the accused failed to
get through the early stages which consisted in swearing on oath -'By the Lord, I am not guilty
of the act or pact in the crime with which I am charged -backed by his helpers' who swore, 'By
the Lord, the defendant'soath is true and not false'. This was preceded by an oath made by the
accuser, swearing that he was justified in bringing the charge. If this was successful and the
defendant's was not, the Trial by Ordeal commenced.
In the ordeal by fire, the accused took a bar of red-hot iron in his hand and walked for a
fixed distance, or he walked over red-hot ploughshares set unequally apart. In the ordeal by
water, he plunged his hand into boiling water to draw out a stone. The part affected was
wrapped in linen (in Christian times, by a priest) and if on removal after three days the wound
was healed, the accused was found not guilty. The idea behind the Ordeal was that in heaven
might intervene the pass-judgement. Maintenance of law and order remained for a long time the
task of the people themselves, co-operative but unorganised. The first appearance of anything
resembling a police force seems to have been made in London in the early 10-th century where
a peace-gild was formed. Composed of groups of ten men, combining to form groups of one
hundred under a headman, its aim was not only to create more organised action against
criminals, but also to make available out of the common property of the gild money to
compensate the iniured party. It was a police 'force', then, but it remained a voluntary
organisation run by the people, not a state-run institution.

From ''The Conqueror's London", by Derek Brechin

28
 METHODS OF JURIDICAL INQUIRY

The methods of inquiry used for juridical sciences are adapted and taken over from other
sciences about society. Some of these are: the logical method, the method of sociological
inquiry, the quantitative method, the method of the experiment, the systemical method and the
structural and functional method.
Speaking about the logical method, we can say that it represents the summing-up of all
the methodological proceedings and operations which make possible the cognition of the
structure, and of the dynamics of the relations between the various components of the judicial
system in society. There is a system of elements, rules and types of general formal logic needed
in order to explain the law. Among these we can mention: the inductive arguments, the
deductive arguments, syllogisms, the demonstrative elements, the analysis, the synthesis.
The comparative method is used in studying law by the simultaneous approach of the
same kind of juridical institutions that exist at the same time or successively within the same or
different societies or law systems. The essence of this method consists in comparing some
phenomena, like the institution of property, marriage, family, punishment, in order to reveal the
similitude, and much more, the difference of substance and contents between the compared
factors. The comparative study of some contemporary juridical institutions allows the sharing
of legislative experience within the way of settlement of social relations (commercial societies,
tariff system, juridical protection, human rights).
The historical method consists in the progressive analysis of the juridical phenomena, in
time and space, in their historical development and, of course, connected to the socio-political
moment. It reveals the causes and the circumstances in which some juridical institutions
appeared or vanished (take for example a type of law, like the Roman private law).
The method of sociological inquiry consists in making direct investigations, by the
agency of sociological inquests (descriptions, interviews, questionnaires) in order to achieve a
better cognition of the juridical phenomena. The use of this method enables us to formulate
conclusions and assessments regarding the utility and the social efficiency of the juridical
institutions and the juridical regulations.
The quantitative method is used to analyse some commensurable juridical phenomena
(the frequency and the repartition of the criminal phenomena) in order to formulate
observations and conclusions regarding the causes and tendencies of the respective
manifestations of the phenomena. The statistical methods are frequently used in law; moreover,
they determine the appearance of computer sciencies in the juridical systems.
The method of the experiment has a larger and larger applicability in the field of
economic organisation, of retribution, of establishing prices, or taxation on turnover.
The systemic and functional method is based on the fact that the juridical phenomena
represent assemblies of systems and complex actions, as well as stable and organised actions,
forming part of the socio-political environment.

BASIC VOCABULARY. IDIOMS

method = a particular way of doing something; orderly arrangement of ideas; scheme of
classification
science = study of the nature and behaviour of natural things and the knowledge that we
obtain about them through observation and experiment
society = 1. people’s way of life the customs and organization of a civilized nation; 2. the
upper classes of a community, whose doings are socially distinguished and well-to-do; 3.
association of persons united by a common aim, interests or principles

29
 logical = 1. of logic or formal argument; 2. not contravening the laws of thought,
correctly reasoned; 3. reasonably to be believed or done; 4. capable of correct reasoning
experiment = 1. test, trial; 2. trying out of a new idea or method in order to see what it is
like and what effect if has
structure = the way in which a thing, a building, an organisation or other complete whole
is constructed, supporting framework, or whole of the essential parts of something
cognition = action or faculty of knowing, perceiving, conceiving, as opposed to emotion
or volition
dynamics = moving forces, physical or moral, in any sphere
component = contributing to the composition of a whole based on induction
to analyse = to examine minutely
simultaneous = occurring or operating at the some time
progressive = moving forward
to reveal = to make known, to divulge
to asses = to estimate value
syllogism = form of reasoning in which from two given or assumed propositions called
the premisses, that have a (ammon or middle ferm, a third is deduced, called the conclusion,
from which the middle term is absent
synthesis = combination, composition, putting together, building up of separate elements,
especially of propositions, facts or conceptions, into a connected whole, especially a theory or a
system

SYNONYMS
inquiry – investigation
logical – deducible
experiment – test
tendency – inclination
component – part
similitude – likeness
to reveal – to let appear

ANTONYMS
analysis - synthesis
logical - illogical
possible - impossible
inductive - deductive
progressive - regressive
to appeor - to vanish
stable - unstable

1. Answer the questions:

1. Can you give examples of methods of inquiry?

2. What can we use the logical method for?
3. What is the comparative method used like?
4. How can the historical method help us?
5. Make a difference between the method of the experiment and the method of
sociological inquiry.
6. What is the quantitative method used for?

30
 2. Fill in the blank spaces with the missing words:

a) In order to explain the law are needed all the ........., the ......... and the ......... of general
formal logic.
b) The comparative method presumes the ......... of some phenomena.
c) The historical method reveals the ......... and the ......... in which
some juridical institutions appeared or vanished.
d) The quantitative method is used to analyse some ......... juridical phenomena.

3. Explain the following terms: syllogism, analysis, cognition and synthesis.

4. Use the following words in sentences of your own: science, cognition, inductive,
deductive, to reveal.

5. Form sentences with the two meanings of the word 'trial'.

APPEALS FROM COLONIAL COURTS (USA)

In the latter part of the 17-th century the new colonial charters propietary and royal,
reserved for the king in council the right to hear cases on appeal from provincial courts where
the sum litigated exceeded 300 sterling. In the New England colonies particularly the appellate
authority was at best grudgingly conceded, as the Connecticut Rhode Island charters made no
provision for judicial review. At times, as in the case Frost v. Veighton (1739) an order of the
Privy Council was deliberately ignored by the Massachusetts authorities. Pending appeals,
executions of the colonial courts were suspended. Such appeals were both costly and
protracted.
Through this appellate procedure the Privy Council sought to bring the legal systems of
the colonies into conformity with that of England, particularly in such matters as the rules of
evidence and jury system. Major issues on colonial policy were reviewed in litigation brought
on appeal, notably Indian relations, the colonial currency lawsand interstate succession.
Currency practices in the colonies were more generally dealt with by the Privy Council under
its authority to disallow colonial legislation or by Parliament. In the suit of the Virginia clergy
instituted to recover back salaries resulting from the disallowance of the 'two penny act', the
Council, in view of the constitutional storms raised by the Stamp Act, was prompted by the
political considerations to dismiss the appeal on a technicality. In the notable case of Winthrop
v. Lechmere the Council held the Connecticut custom of divisible descent of the estates invalid
as contrary to the common law, but reversed itself in Clark v. Tousey and in the Massachusetts
case of Philips v. Savage, a great victory for egalitarian property concepts in New England.

Adapted from "Concise Dictionary of American History"

31
 THE LAW

Generally speaking, by law we understand any normative act issued by a legislative body
of a state, following a pre-established procedure. But, what we understand by law is only the
normative act passed in Parliament, following, of course, a pre-established procedure.
Constitution makes provision for three types of laws: constitutional laws, organic laws
and ordinary laws.
The constitutional laws establish the organisation of the political powers and the
principles of government of one state, regulate the rules, the fundamental civil liberties and
some important social relations, which are the juridical basis of the other laws.
The constitutional law has to be adopted with a majority of at least two thirds from the
total number of the members of the Parliament and it is approved by referendum.
The constitution is the fundamental law of a state, consisting of a system of juridical
standards invested with a superior juridical force. The Constitution is the mirror of the
economic structures, of the forms of property, of the organization of a state.
The organic laws have the second juridical force after Constitution and after the
constitutional laws. These two establish: the electoral system, the organization of the
government, the organization of the Supreme Council of Defence and of the political parties, of
the referendum and of the local administration, of the education and of the culture. These laws
deal with the statute of the civil servants, the administrative disputed claims office, the criminal
actions, the punishment and its execution, the conciliation on amnesty and the collective
pardon, too. The organic laws are adopted with the absolute majority of the members of the two
Houses of Parliament.
The ordinary laws are adopted with the absolute majority of the members who are present
in each House of Parliament. The ordinary laws represent the development of the principles
formulated in the constitutional laws and cannot confute or cannot limit these principles. They
establish the most various social relations.
The law has three major characteristics: it is general, compulsory and permanent. The law
is a conscious act of will, which is made to reach some aims and to realise some social ideals. It
is general because it is valid for all the members of a society (an exception is represented by the
ind ividuallaws, which are adopted for certain specific acts). The law is compulsory because its
observance does not depend on the option of those asked to conform themselves to its
disposals. As a rule, the law is permanent; itis in operation until it is -if it is abrogated. The only
exception is represented by the temporary laws, which are in operation up to a certain
established date or an event foreseen by that law itself.

WORD STUDY
to issue = to emerge from a condition; to result, to be derived (from); to end, to result (in);
to come out; to be published
constitution = body of fundamental principles according to which a state is governed
organic = inherent, fundamental, structural
to regulate = to control by rule, to adapt to requirements, to moderate
liberty = being free from captivity, imprisonment, slavery or despotic control
liberties = privileges, immunities or rights
civil = people or things in a country that are not connected to its armed forces
civil law = the law of a state related to private and civilian affairs
to approve = to confirm, to sanction, to pronounce satisfactory, to accept
referendum = a vote in which the people in a particular country are all asked to say
whether they agree or disagree with a particular policy

32
 will = a document in which you declare what you want to happen to your money and
property after you die
valid = legally acceptable, having legal force, effective, executed with proper formalities
invalid = having no legal force
disposal = disposing of, getting rid of, settling, dealing with, assignment; control;
disposition, arrangement
to foresee = to see beforehand, to predict, to exercise foresight
property = owning, thing owned, possession
to claim = to demand as being due or as one's property; to assert as a fact, maintain
against denial
to conciliate = to overcome the hostility of; placate; win over; to win or gain, especially
by making friendly overtures
conciliation = the act or process of conciliating, especially the involvement of a third
party in an industrial dispute to assist the parties in reaching a settlement
amnesty = intentional overlooking; a general pardon, especially for offences against a
government
to confute = to prove (a person or thing) wrong, invalid or mistaken; disprove
compulsory = enforced, compelling, mandatory
to abrogate = to cancel a law or custom
aim = purpose, object, design

SYNONYMS
common = ordinary
to regulate = to moderate
aim = purpose
compulsory = enforced
liberty = freedom
to approve = to confirm
conscious = aware
property = possession
liberties = privileges

ANTONYMS
general - special
permanent - temporary
valid - invalid
conscious - unconscious
majority - minority
superior -inferior

1. Answer the questions:

1. What do we understand by law?

2. Which are the three 1ypes of laws?
3. What are the constitutional laws?
4. What is the Constitution?
5. Who votes the ordinary laws?
6. Talk about the characteristics of the law.

33
 2. Form sentences with different meanings of the following words: will, property, disposat
claim, liberty, conscious, to issue

3. Fill in the blank spaces with the missing words:

a) A law passes in Parliament following a ......... procedure.

b) There are three types of laws: ......... laws, ......... laws and ......... laws.
c) Constitution is the ......... law of a statel is the ......... of the organisation of a state.
d) The ordinary laws ore adopted with the ......... majority of the members ......... in each
House of Parliament.
e) The law is the conscious act of ........ ..
f) The law is valid for all the members of the ........ ..

4. Explain the following terms: referendum, wilt to foresee, amnesty

5. What do you call the laws which:

a) establish the organisation of the political powers?

b) establish the referendum?
c) represent the development of the principles of the constitutional laws, but cannot
confute them?

6. Use the following words in sentences: to regulate, liberties, conscious, disposal to

claim, amnes1y

ADMIRALTY IN LAW AND COURTS IN THE USA

In the 17-th century American colonies, admiralty iurisdiction was generally exercised by
the ordinary common law courts, although governors had the right to commission courts of vice
admiralty; but by the end of the century, royal patents were being issued for the establishment
of vice admiralty courts, beginning in New York in 1696.
In addition to the English jurisdiction of the English admiralty courts over such matters as
prize, wreck, salvage, insurance, freight and passenger contracts, bottomry charter parties and
seamen's wages, the colonial vice admiralty courts enforced the Acts of Trade. Piracy, which
originally was under the jurisdiction of the admiralty, was in the colonies normally dealt with
by courts specially commissioned by the crown to deal with particular cases. Procedure in vice
admiralty was in rem rather than in personam. As the vice admiralty courts exercised summary
jurisdiction and did not have trial by jury, they attained a considerable degree of unpopularity
among that element in the colonies opposed to the Acts of Trade, and in some colonies writs of
prohibition were frequently issued by the common law courts again on the vice admiralty on
the ground that the latter court was incompetent to act in particular litigation. As a rule, such
writs were obeyed. Common law courts throughout the colonial period, as, for example, the
Mayor's Court of New York City, continued to exercise a good deal of admirality jurisdiction.
After the Revolution, most of the states erected their own courts of admiralty, really
continuing the provincial courts, but the Federal Convention gave to the federal courts "all the
cases of admiralty and maritime jurisdiction". Among the anachronisms surviving to the 20-th
century in American admiralty law had been the privilege of the shipowner to limit liability
after a disaster to whatever the value of the vessel or wreckage may be after the occurrence of
the act.

34
 The Titanic and the Marro Castel are two notorious examples of the application of this
rule. The evolution of the doctrine of the continuous voyage by the federal courts during the
Civil War provided Great Britain during World War I with a convenient precedent to justify the
seizure of the ships bound for neutral ports on the ground that their ultimate destination was
Germany.

ABOLITION MOVEMENT
The first recorded vote against slavery in the United States was that on February 18-th,
1688, by the Monthly Meeting of the Germantown, Pa., Society of Friends. Long before that,
even in 1624, protests were heard against slavery in the colonies, both in the South and in the
North. When the Revolution came, it was plain to increasing number that slavery was
inconsistent with the sentiments of the Declaration of Independence. In Jefferson's first draft of
the document, the slave trade was described as a "cruel war against human nature itself,
violating its most sacred rights of life and liberty". Negroes were freed on enlisting in the
Continental armies, in which many of them served.
The early Formation of the antislavery societies during and immediately after the
Revolution showed the strength of the opposition to slavery which waxed until the invention of
Eli Whitney's cotton gin in 1793 enthroned King Cotton, made slaves valuable and, together
with the Missouri Compromise, caused the dying out of antislavery sentiment. With each year
of cotton prosperity, the bitterness against all who attacked the human property of the South
rose.
For the corresponding appearance in the North by 1830 of a militant antislavery
movement there were various reasons, like the general awakening of a more humanitarian spirit
as shown by the reforming of the jails, hospitals and orphanages, the growth of the temperance
movement and the beginning of the agitation for women's rights and suffrage. At this time there
appeared a number of leaders and agitators. William Lloyd Garrison was the founder of the
'Liberato' with his determined announcement: "I will be as harsh as truth and as
uncompromising as justice... ". Within a year the legislature of Georgia offered a reward of
5,000 for Garrison's "arrest and conviction".
The Garrison wing was uncompromisingly for immediate emancipation, it refused to act
politically, violently denounced all who disregarded his policies, had little to do with the
Middle Western and political movements and was as offensive to the moderate wing as to the
slaveholders. At first, the Church was against the Abolitionists from North. But gradually, there
appeared a group of great preachers to expose the cause of the slaves. Other outstanding leaders
(John Quincy Adams) refused to ally directly to the Abolition Movement. Soon, Abolitionists
entered Northern state legislatures and congress, in which, prior 1835, there was only one
William Slade of Vermont.
Thereafter, Abolition was in politics to dominate everything until Emancipation. To this
end the annexation of Texas, the war with Mexico, the Fugitive Slave Law, the Kansas -
Nebraska Ad, the "Bleeding Kansas", the determination of the slaveholders to extent their
"peculiar system", all contributed and gave the Abolitionists their opportunity to appeal to the
conscience of the nation and keep the country in a turmoil. To this, two books contributed
enormously, Harriet Beecher Stowe's 'Uncle Tom's Cabin' and Hinton Rowan Helper's 'The
impeding Crisis of the South'. From 1850 on, the history of Abolition is the history of nation.

Adapted from "Concise Dictionary of American History"

35
 THE CIVIL LAW

The civil law is the branch of the law system that establishes some patrimonial relations,
in which the parts are subjects equal in rights and some nonpatrimonial individual relations,
connected with the person's individuality. It also establishes the juridical terms of the physical
persons and of other collective subjects in their quality as parts in the juridical civil relations.
The civil law contains all the juridical standards, having the roots in the code of Civil law.
The patrimonial relations deal with the real relations (the right of property and other real
rights) and with the law of contract (the law of credence). The non-patrimonial relations
contain: the relations regarding the existence and the integrity of the subjects of the civil law
(the right to life, to health, to reputation); the relations regarding identification (the right to a
name, to a residence); the relations generated by the intellectual creation (the copyright).

The institutions of the civil law

The civil juridical relation is a social relation established by the norms of civil law; it
turns the parts into holders of rights and of legal obligations. The premises of the arising of the
civil juridical relations are: the existence of a standard of the civil law, the existence of the parts
(subjects of law) and the existence of a juridical fact.
The elements of this relation are: the subjects (physical or juridical persons) the contents
(the subjective rights of the active subject), the object (actions or abstentions of committing
certain facts connected with the subjective rights and with the parts' obligations in the juridical
relation).
The juridical facts: events and actions (licit or illicit); among the licit actions, the juridical
act has an important place.
The juridical act -is that licit action committed in order to create, to assign, to modify or
to cancel a juridical relation. The juridical acts have power of law between the parts that
concluded them.

The prescription
a) the extinctive prescription - which has the effect of losing the possibility of obtaining
certain rights by coercion.
b) the acquisitive prescription - which has the effect of acquiring certain rights on
immovable property (landed property) by performing the possession over that estate, during a
period of time established by law.
The major real rights establish the right of property in its various forms (private and
public) and the dismemberments of the right of property (the usage, the usufruct, the
occupancy, the easement).
The civil obligations have the following sources: the contract, the unilateral act of will,
the illicit and injurious act, the enrichment without fair ground. The right over the intellectual
creation: the right of the author and the right of the inventor, the right of the innovator. The
successions (the succession bestowed by will) with two categories: the legal successional
devolution and the testamentary successional devolution.
The civil law is the general guarantee of a fair juridical consciousness, of the observance
of the civil ethics, of the protection of the patrimonial and nonpatrimonial values.

BASIC VOCABULARY

relation = 1. laying of information before Attorney - General for him to take action upon
what one person or thing has to do with another; 2. way in which one stands or is related to

36
another; 3. kind of connection, correspondence or feeling that prevails between persons or
things
individuality = separate existence, individual character, especially when strongly marked.
to establish = 1. to set up (Government, houses of business) on permanent basis; 2. to
make legally national; 3. to secure permanent acceptance for something
standard = 1. measure to which other conform or by which the accuracy of others is
judged; 2. thing serving as base of comparison
code = body of laws so arranged as to avoid inconsistency and overlapping
copyright = exclusive right given by law for term of years to author, designer or his
assignee to print, publish, sell copies of his original work.
identification = establishing identity of
holder = owner, tenant of (property, stocks, land)
premise = the aforesaid, the foregoing
correlative = having a mutual relation, analoguous
abstention = keeping oft especially not using one's vote
illicit = unlawful, forbidden
to cancel = to obliterate, to cross out, to annut to abolish, to neutralize
prescription = positive: uninterrupted use or possession from time immemorial or for the
period fixed by law as giving title or right; negative: limitation of the time within which action
or claim can be raised; fig. ancient custom viewed as authoritative, claim founded on long use
immovable = 1. that cannot be moved; motionless; not subject to change; 2. (law)
consisting of land, houses
estate = 1. person's interest in landed property (real estate) of movable property (personal
estate); 2. one's collective assets and liabilities
usage = habitual but not necessarily immemorial practice
usufrut = right of enjoying the use and advantages of another's property, provided the
property itself remains undiminished and uninjured in any way
easement = right of way or similar right over another's ground; supplementary building
succession = 1. right of succeeding to the throne or any office of inheritance set or order
of persons having such right; 2. law of succession: regulating inheritance especially in cases of
interstate decease
to bestow = to deposit, to provide with lodging
devolution = descent of property by due succession lapse of unexercised right to ultimate
owner
ethics = science of morals, treaties on these moral principles, rules of conduct, whole field
of moral science

SYNONYMS
standard = illegal
to cancel = to annul
fair = honest

ANTONYMS
private - public
evolution - devolution
active - passive
to lose - to obtain
rich - poor

1. Answer the questions:

37
 1. What does the civil law establish?
2. Enumerate the institutions of the civil law.
3. Which are the juridical facts?
4. Give the definition of the juridical act.
5. Which are the two kinds of prescriptions and what do they deal with?
6. Which are the sources of the civil obligations?

2. Fill in the blank spaces with the missing words:

a) The patrimonial relations deal with the ......... relations.

b) The relations regarding the ......... and the ......... of the subjects of the civil low are non-
patrimonial relations.
c) The right of properly belongs to the ......... relations.
d) The elements of the civil juridical relation are: the .........f the ......... and the .........
e) The ......... prescription has the effect of acquiring certain rights on immovable
property.
f) The right of property can be ......... and ........ ..

3. Group the following under two headings:

- patrimonial relations and non-patrimonial relations:

a) the right of private property

b) the right to health
c) the right to reputation
d) the right of public property
e) the right to life
f) the low of credence
g) the copyright
h) the right to a name

4. Which of the following sentences are true and which are false? Correct the false ones.

a) The juridicalacl is that illicit action committed in order to cancel a juridical relation.
b) The acquisitive prescription has the effect of acquiring certain rights on immovable
property by coercion.
c) The usage, the usufruct, the occupancy are established by the non-patrimonial
relations.
d) The juridical facts are events and actions (licit or illicit).
e) The civil obligations have as sources the contract, the unilateral oct of will, the licit act,
the enrichment without a fair ground.

5. Explain the following terms: code, prescription, succession, usufruct

6. Use the following words in sentences of your own: devolution, to bestow, estate,
copyright.

THE JUDICIARY IN THE UNITED STATES (Part one)

The judiciary of the United States has its historical background in the legal and political
institutions of England. The tribunals set up in the colonies were similar to those of the mother

38
country and acts of Parliament and the principles of the common law and equity were enforced
in the new country as the old, with the added responsibility on colonial courts of enforcing the
enactments of colonial assemblies. The office of justice and peace, for dealing with minor civil
matters and minor offences, was well established. Above this office was the court usually
known as the country court, having original jurisdiction in more important matters. A right of
appeal to the colonial assembly existed in some colonies, analogous to the House of Lords in
England. There was in some cases a right of appeal from colonial courts to the judicial
committee of the Privy Council in England.
After the colonies became independent states, the courts remained fundamentally the
same, except for the development of courts of appeals full-time professional judges.
Constitutions prescribed the governments of the states, pursuant to which state laws were made
and enforced. The application of the common law and equity principles was continued.
No provision for an adequate Federal judiciary was included in the Articles of the
Confederation. Congress was given the power, however, to set up commissions to settle
disputes among the states. This power was infrequently exercised, but the Confederation
Congress did set up a court of appeals to decide cases appealed from state courts involving
prizes of war and piracies and felonies on the high seas. The lack of an adequate judiciary was
one of the maior defects of the confederation. All the proposed plans of government submitted
to the Constitutional Convention of 1787 provided for a national judiciary, distinct from the
judicial system of the states.
The first three articles of the constitution provided respectively for the establishment of
the legislative, executive and judicial branches of the Government. The judiciary article
provided that the judicial power of the United States should be vested in a Supreme Court and
in such inferior courts as Congress might ordain and establish. All federal judges were to hold
office during good behaviour, and their salaries were not to be diminished during their
continuance in the office. By article II, dealing with the executive, the President was authorised
to nominate, and, by end with the advise and consent of the Senate, to appoint Supreme Court
judges and certain specified officers. It also defined the original jurisdiction of the Supreme
Court and prescribed the content of Federal judicial power. The jurisdiction of particular
Federal courts, however, was left to congressional determination. The sixth article established a
basis for review by the Federal judiciary of state court decisions involving the Federal
Constitution, laws or treaties by providing that state judges should be bound by them, not with
standing any contrary provisions in the constitutions and laws of the states. The first ten
amendments, added in 1791 to meet criticism voiced in the ratifying conventions, included
additional prescriptions with respect to the court. Among them, suits at common law involving
more than twenty dollars were to be tried by jury; criminal trials, with certain exceptions, were
to be presided by indictment by great jury; the resort to excessive bail, excessive fines and cruel
and unusual punishments was prohibited.
The judiciary provisions of the Constitution were given effect in the Judiciary Act, 1789,
enacted after eleven states ratified the Constitution. The judicial system was headed by a
Supreme Court consisting of a Chief Justice and five Associate Justices. Below the Supreme
Court were three circuit courts which had no judges of their own, but were conducted by two
Supreme Court judges and a district judge. Below the circuit courts were thirteen district courts,
for each of which a district judge was to be appointed by the President in the same manner as
Supreme Court judges.

Adapted from "Concise Dictionary of American History"

39
 TAX EVASION. BRIBERY AND CORRUPTION

The evasion
Business organizations have the same motivation to avoid paying their taxes as individual
citizens. But there is one essential difference between individual and corporate tax payers:
because the latter have vastly more political influence, they are able to obtain specific industry -
by industry tax breaks and loopholes to make most corporate tax avoidance completely legal.
The bewildering complexity of the tax laws is a major ally of corporate tax dodgers. It often
takes years of litigation to determine if a new corporate tax strategy is legal or not. As a result,
most corporations are shielded from criminal prosecution even when their actions are
apparently intended to defend the Government.

Bribery and corruption

Bribery is a universal phenomenon with roots that stretch far back into human history.
The code of Hammurabi, created by the king who founded the first Babylonian empire, held
that if a man was bribed to give false witness against another, he must bear the penalty imposed
in the case. An edict by one Egyptian Pharaoh proclaimed the performance of his judicial
duties. References in Greek and Roman laws, as well as in the Bible, show that bribery was
condemned with harsh penalties in other ancient societies as well.
Many criminologists classify individual bribery case on the basis of the intended target.
Thus, they distinguish bribery directed at private firms and individuals from bribery directed at
government employees. From a sociological standpoint, however, it makes more sense to
include in bribery the payoffs made to win private business, for the motivations and modus
operandi of the offenders are often identical. Accordingly, we will distinguish between
commercial bribery intended to promote sales or obtain confidential business information, and
political bribery, intended to influence government policy.
The concept of commercial bribery is a more recent legal development. And although it is
often condemned, many more people are willing to brush it off as a normal business practice
that causes little real harm. Supporters of this position argue that the total amount of money
paid out in bribery cases is relatively small and has little effect on the average consumer. Critics
charged that even if the total amount of money involved in commercial bribery is small, the
practice creates a climate of corruption and disrespect for the law and gives. major corporations
with vast financial resources an unfair advantage over their smaller competitors in the USA.
When firms attempt to buy sales for their products, their first targets are oftem the purchasing
agents who are paid to make such decisions. Corporate payoffs are often made through dummy
firms set up specifically to act as conduits for illegal transactions. Under this arrangement, the
parent corporation can write off bribe money as a legitimate business expense and claim it
knew nothing about the payoffs.
Sometimes, businesses distribute payoff money through sale agents. Because many
multinational corporations find it difficult and expensive to set up an office in every country in
which they do business, they often employ local sales agents who know the people involved in
making major purchases. Such agents also provide an excellent conduit for the distribution of
bribe money, as they know who is likely to accept bribes and what kind of inducements they
prefer. In addition, the use of local sale agents allows foreign multinationals to avoid direct
involvement in the illicit payments.
Regarding political bribery and corruption, there are special-interest groups that use a
host of different techniques to bend the government's actions to their ends. Despite their
corrosive effects upon the democratic process, many of those techniques are completely legal.
The most popular legal method of purchasing political influence is still through campaign

40
contributions. Recent restrictions on direct corporate contributions to political candidates have
created some problems and led to many illegal attempts to skirt the law.
Corporations sometimes provide free services directly to sympathetic candidates, in the
hope that such assistance will be less obvious than illegal monetary contributions. Other
corporations make large loans to candidates that mayor may not be paid back, or secretly pay
campaign expenses by shifting part of a candidate's advertising bills to their own accounts.
Corporations have not always been content to operate through such indirect methods, and
there have been numerous relations of direct corporate payments to finance election campaign.

BASIC VOCABULARY
tax payer = 1. a person who pays a tax or is subject to taxation; 2. a temporary building
that yields rent suffident only to pay the taxes on the property on which it stands
dodger = 1. a person who changes position suddenly as to avoid a blow or get behind
something; 2. a shifty person, especiolly one who persistently evades a specific responsibility
(taxdodgers)
loophole = 1. a small or narrow opening, for looking through; 2. a means of escape or
evasion, a means of evading a rule, law
to shield = 1. to protect (someone or something) with or as with a shield; 2. to serve as a
protection for; 3. to hide or conceal; to protect by hiding
payoff = the poyment of a salary, debt, wage
corruption = 1. the act or state of corrupting or being corrupted; 2. perversion of integrity;
3. dishonest proceedings
(to) purchase = 1. to acquire by the payment of money or its equivalent; to buy; 2. to
influence by a bribe; 3. acquisition by the payment of money or its equivalent; buying, or a
simple act of buying
dummy = a representation or copy of something, as for displaying to indicate oppearance;
counterfeit, fictitious
inducement = 1. act of leading or moving by persuosion or influence a stote of mind,
aelion; 2. something that induces, motivotes, persuades
fo skirt = to avoid, to go around the edge of, or keep distant from

SYNONYMS
motivation = incitement
to shield = to ovoid
dummy = fictitious
inducement = incentement
employee =worker
obvious = plain

ANTONYMS
corruption - honesty
complete - incomplete
sympathetic - repugnant
secret - well-known
obvious - hidden
employee - employer

1. Answer the questions:

1. What is the difference between individual and corporate tax-payers?

41
 2. What is the result if you try to determine if a new corporate tax strategy is
legal or not?
3. What do you mean by bribery?
4. Which are the roots of bribery?
5. Is there any difference between individual bribery and private firms bribery?
6. Is the commercial bribery a normal business practice?
7. Which is the critics' opinion on bribery?
8. What can you tell about political bribery and corruption?
9. Do the elections have a special place in the bribe problem?

2. Fill in the blank spaces with the missing words:

a) The ......... have vastly more politital influence.

b) The bewildering complexity of the tax laws is a major ally of corporate ..........
c) Bribery is a ......... phenomenon.
d) Many ......... classify individual bribery case on the basis of the intended target.
e) The concept of ......... is a more recent legal development.
f) Sometimes, business distribute payoff money through ..........
g) Corporations sometimes provide free services directly to ......... candidates.

3. Which of the following statements are false and which are true. Correct the false ones:

a) Business organizations have the same reasons to ovoid paying their faxes as individual
citizens.
b) It often takes months of litigation to determine if a new corporate strategy is legal or
not.
c) An edict of one Greek emperor proclaimed the performance of his judicial duties.
d) The criminologists distinguished bribery directed at individuals.
e) Critics charged that even if the total amount of money involved in the commercial
bribery is small, the theory creates a climate of corruption.
f) Sometimes, businesses send payoff money through sale agents.

4. What do you mean by:

a) multinational corporations
b) commercial bribery
c) corruption
d) payoffs
e) payment
f) payment
g) campaign

BRIBERY SCANDALS
The international bribery scandals of the 1970s revealed numerous incidents in which sale
agents made large payments to encourage the purchase oftheir employers' aircraft. The
Grumman Corporation used sales agents to negotiate its deals in Iran. In internal company
correspondence, at least one Grumman executive referred to these sales agents as "bagmen" and
the agents

42
 described themselves as "errand boys" for high officials in the Iranian military. In 1975,
Grumman paid its sales agents $ 2.9 million, most of which was given out to various officials in
the Iranian Airforce. But Grumman was not the only corporation involved in Iranian bribery. At
least seven different American companies are known to have paid large "fees" to the Air Taxi
Company, a Teheran sales agency that was partially owned by the commanding general of the
Iranian Airforce.
The first of the international bribery scandals and the one that offered some of the most
spectacular revelations, involved the Lockheed Aircraft Corporation, involving the $ 25 million
that Lockheed admitted giving out in "questionable payments". But no other firm seemed to
have fostered corruption in such high circles as Lockheed. Among those named in bribery
charges were former Prime Minister of Japan -Kakuei Tanaka and Prince Bernhard of the
Netherlands. The CIA personnel checked out the matter and found the sales agent of Lockheed
Aircraft Corporation, to be well connected with the new regime in Indonesia. Other documents
show that Lockheed's bribes may have reached all the way to Sukarno himself, and later to his
successor, President Subarto. Lockheed memos show that the company tried to convince the
officers of the need to take the bribes through agents because of the "significant protection
provided for them as well as for us". Officials in Iran, the Philippines, Italy, West Germany,
Turkey, Mexico, Columbia and Venezuela also received bribe money. But the biggest scandals
involved Lockheed's illegal activities in Netherlands and Japan. Although an investigative
committee appointed by the Dutch government did not find sufficient grounds for a criminal
indictment, numerous serious charges were made. Lockheed's criminal activities in Japan
involved much larger sums of money and a wider network of corruption which led to the arrest
of Tanaka, his secretary and two top executives of the Marubeni Trading Corporation
(Lockheed's national trading agent) for accepting bribes.

Adapted from "The Sociology of White Collar Crime", by J. W Coleman

43
 FALSE ADVERTISING AND FRAUD

Few events have had a more profound effect upon the pattern of modern life than the
growth of bureaucracy. The unprecedented size and complexity of the modern state and the
enormous number of tasks it has assumed have wrousht profound changes in our social
structure. But the most revolutionary transformation has come in economic organization. Even
democracy itself has a different meaning in a society in which public opinion is shaped by the
bureaucracies of mass communication and the growth of economic concentration has placed so
much power in the hands of the few.
No matter how skeptical they may be about the reasons of big business, few see corporate
executives and managers as violent criminals. It is easy to believe that a vast reservoir of
violence lies behind the defiant visages of the young blacks trapped in the ghettos or the
haggard features of heroine addicts, but corporate executives would seem to be another story
entirely. But the differences between the criminals of the upper world and those of the
underworld are as much matters of form as of substance. Although the techniques may be
different, the results are often the same. The young robber, who accidentally kills a store clerk
displays the same disregard for human life as shown byengineers who falsify test results to
conceal a deadly Aaw in an automobile or airplane manufactured by their employer.
The legal response to this organisational revolution has been slow and ineffectual.
Traditionally, the law has been based upon the principle that criminal responsibility rests with
autonomous individual actors. But in many ways the organisations themselves are the real
perpetrators of organisational crimes.

False advertising
It represents one of the best known forms of fraud and deception. Who hasn't seen an
advertisement that seems patently false or bought a product whose performance fell far short of
the claims of its promoters? Although common sense would tell us that false advertising
consists of the use of untrue statements in advertising, the law uses a different standard. It is not
falsity, but deception in advertising that is illegal. According to Section 5 of the Federal Trade
Commission Act, deceptive advertisements are those that are "misleading in material respect",
which has been interpreted by the courts to mean that the deceptive advertisements must
somehow affect the purchasing decisions of the customer. Although there often is little doubt
about what makes a statement true or false, determining whether or not a statement is deceptive
this is a much more complex business, because one must not only examine the nature of the
statement, but also judge its potential effect upon the listener. You think some product is
extraordinary, but it isn't. Such deceptions can be devastating to small competitors who cannot
afford major advertising campaigns of their own, but the vast majority of the victims are
consumers deceived into thinking that an expensive brand name product is better than less-
expensive substitutes.

Fraud
In contrast to false advertising, more blatant frauds are usually handled as criminal
offences, but the severity of the punishment varies greatly with the type of offence and the size
and influence of the company involved.
The "commercial underworld" - small and medium-sized firms that operate on the fringes
of the law, typically prey on the poor and on minorities through door-fo-door sales schemes,
high·pressure credit sales and other marginal ventures. One typical approach involves the sale
of cheap merchandise or promised home repairs on "easy credit" terms to low-income buyers.
The loans then are quickly sold at a discount to finance companies and by the time the
customers realise that they have not got their money's worth, it is too late. According to the law,

44
"a holder in due course" of a note is entitled to collect on it, even if the original holder did not
keep up his agreement with the borrower.
But those with low incomes and little education are not the only victims of the
commercial underworld. Land fraud schemes, for example, prey on more affluent victims.
These schemes typically involve high-pressure sales of retirement or vacation lots that are
described in lavish brochures as having all utilities and being set in beautiful locations.
Unsuspecting customers are often persuaded to buy the property sight unseen, and when they
finally visit their property, they find barren desert or swampy marshland.

BASIC VOCABULARY
democracy = government by the people; a form of government in which the supreme
power is held by the people and exercised directly by them or by their elected agents under a
free electoral system
skeptical = inclined to skepticism; having (showing) doubt
defiant = characterised by a daring or bold resistance to authority or to any opposing
force, or by antagonism
visage = aspect, appearance
ghettos = a section of a city, especially a thickly populated slum area, inhabited
predominantly by Negroesl Puerto Ricans, or any other minority group, often as a result of
social or economic restrictions
haggard = wild-looking; having a wasted or exhausted appearance, as from prolonged
suffering, exertion, anxiety
(to) addict = a person who is addicted to a practice or habit; to give (oneself) over, as to a
habit or pursuit
disregard = lack of due or respectful regard
to conceal = to hide; to withdraw or remove from observation; to cover or keep from
sight; to keep secret; to prevent or avoid divulging
promoter = a person who initiates or takes part in the organising of 0 company,
developing a project; one who presents (o product) for consumer acceptance, especially through
advertising
perpetrator = the one who performs, commits or executes a crime, wrong
to mislead = to lead or guide wrongly; to lead into error of condud, thought or judgement
blatant = obtrusive; brazenly obvious
retirement = withdrawal into privacy and seclusion

SYNONYMS
enormous = prodigious
wrought = elaborated
skeptical = doubtful
defiant =refractory
haggard =drawn
disregard = disrespect
ineffectual = pointless

ANTONYMS
defiant -obedient
haggard - robust
disregard - regard
to conceal - to divulge
ineffectual – useful

45
 1. Answer the questions:

1. Which are the effects of the growth of bureaucracy?

2. How has the demouacy been changing in the new society?
3. Can the corporate executives and managers be violent criminals?
4. How do the differences between the upperworld and the underworld affed the rate of
criminality?
5. What do you understand by false advertising?
6. Does false advertising have any effect upon the small competitors?
7. What about the buyers?
8. What are the effects of the "cheap merchandise" or promised home repairs?

2. What is the difference hetween false advertising and fraud?

3. Fill in the hlank spaces with the missing words:

a) Even ......... itself has a different meaning in a society in which public opinion is shaped
by the ......... of moss communication.
b) But the ......... between the criminals of the upperworld and those of the underworld are
as much matters of form as of substance.
c) The false advertising is one of the best known forms of fraud and ........ ..
d) In contrast to ........., more blatant ......... are usually handled as criminaloffences.
e) The ......... are quickly sold at a discount to finance companies.
f) According to the low, "......... in due course" of a note is entitled to collect on it.

4. What do you mean by:

- criminal
- underworld
- upperworld
- disregard
- misleading
- advertising

VIOLATIONS OF CIVIL LIBERTIES

Assaults on individual liberty take many forms. In authoritarian regimes, they involve
direct and often violent repression of dissenting views. In the liberal democracies, political
repression assumes more subtle guises. Corporations commonly hire investigators and
informants to spy on their political opponents. Government agents work behind the scenes and
out of public view, often violating the laws and claiming to be obeying them. This paradox is a
reflection of the fact that the ruling elite in most contemporary industrial societies do not have
unlimited power to control the legal definition of criminal behaviour. The strength of tradition,
public opinion and opposing political groups has been sufficient to define many of the abuses
committed in the interest of the powerful, as criminal offences.
The mere concentration of economic control has transformed some long·standing
business practices into new threats of civil liberties. While uncovering information about
corporate violations of civil liberties is no easy matter, the problem is vastly more difficult
where the Government is concerned. The Government Agencies involved in domestic spying
wrap themselves in a cloak of secrecy and often claim that "national security" is being

46
threatened whenever attempts are made to strip away their cover. It is clearly illegal for the
Government to engage in any sort of political harassment or of dirty tricks against its citizens.

Adapted from "The Sociology of White Collar Crime", by J.W. Coleman

47
 THE COERCIVE LAW

The coercive law is a branch of the system of laws consisting of all the legal standards
which establish the action highly dangerous for the society called penal offences and, of course,
the penalties for the persons who did such actions, called offenders.
The object of the coercive law stands in the social relations regarding the activity of
coercion ('penal repression') and, on the other hand, in the activity of prevention of the
infractional phenomenon. These relations exist between the members of a society and derive
from the necessity of defending the essential values of the society and their safe development,
as an indispensable condition for the existence and for the normal evolution of a society.
By the concrete regulation of this process of social defence, there are created the juridical
coercive relations, having a separate speciffic character.
The members of a society have the duty not to harm or to endanger by their acts the social
values of a society or the other members who are title holders of these. On the other hand, they
have the right to receive the same attitude from the other members of the society, towards the
values they themselves are titulars of.

The necessity of the coercive laws

The social life, with its various phenomena and causal actions, cannot exist if there is not
a system of defence against the acts determined by individual motives and purposes, that put it
in danger.
The totality of the acts of antisocial conduct, of the criminal acts (offences) is a social
phenomenon with serious and grave implications in the evolution of the society, called
criminality or infractional phenomenon.
Criminality is the object of study for criminology as a science. It studies the causes of the
infractional phenomenon, the conditions that lead to offences, the structure and its legislation.
Beside the characteristic methods, criminology resorts to the methods used by socio-humanistic
sciences in order to reveal the character of criminality, often very complex.
In order to put into practice the duties of the coercive law, there are: the criminal
processuallaw, which regulates the coercive action, the trial and the punitive sanctions; the
criminal execution of the coercive penalties, as well as their application, according to the norms
of penal procedure.

VOCABULARY PRACTICE

offence = aggressive action, attacking; transgression, misdemeanour, illegal oct

infraction, breaking / infringement of the law
offender = infringer of the low, delinquent
penal = of punishment, concerned with inflicting this
penal law = punishable by law
penalty = punishment, for breach of low, rule of contract
coercion = constraint, compulsion, restraint
duty = moral or legal obligation, what one is bound or ought to do; binding force of what
is right
attitude = settled behaviour, as indicating opinion
to endanger = to couse danger to, to imperil, to put in danger, to jeopardise
implication = involving in
necessity = constraint or compulsion regarded as a low prevailing through material
universe and governing all human action; constraining power of circumstances, state of things
compelling to certain course

48
 motive = what induces a person to oct, reason, incentive, cause, ground
aim = direction of a missle at an object, design, purpose, goal
conduct = manner of life, behaviour
sanction = 1. law decree; 2. penalty (also vindictive or punitive) or reword for
(dis)obedience attached to a low, douse containing this; 3. confirmation or ratification of law by
supreme authority

SYNONYMS
coercive = criminal
offence =infraction
offender = delinquent
coercion =constraint
to endanger = to imperil
necessity = need
motive = reason
aim = purpose

ANTONYMS
high -low
normal- abnormal
to reveal - to cover
punitive -vindictive
complex -simple
often -seldom

1. Answer the questions:

1 What does coercive low deal with?

2. How can you describe the object of the coercive law?
3. Define criminality.
4. What does criminality study?
5. What does the criminal processuallaw and the criminal executory law regulate?

2. Try to define in your own words the coercive law.

3. Translate into English:

a) Între două state vecine a izbucnit un conflict puternic.

b) Procesul dintre soț și soție a durat două luni.
c) Este mai important să se urmărească prevenirea accidentului decât să fie pedepsiți cei
vinovati.
d) Securitatea socială este pusă în pericol din cauza creșterii criminalității.
e) Pentru că nu s-a oprit la somația polițistului, hoțul a fost impușcat.
f) Viața socială, cu diversele sale fenomene și acțiuni cauzale, nu poote exista dacă nu se
instituie un sistem de apărare impotriva manifestărilor determinate de motive și scopuri
individuale care o pun în pericol.

49
 THE JUDICIARY IN THE UNITED STATES (Part two)
The district courts were given original jurisdiction in minor offences against Federal laws
and in a wide range of admiralty cases, the latter making up the burden of their work in early
years. In some cases, right of appeal lay to the circuit courts. The circuit courts had original
jurisdiction in cases involving larger amounts and more serious offences. The major portion of
their work in earlier years was with cases involving state laws in which Federal jurisdiction
depended on the fact that the parties were citizens of different states. The Suo preme Court was
given the jurisdiction allotted to it by the Constitution and to appellate jurisdiction in certain
cases from decisions of the circuit courts and the highest state courts.
The history of the Federal judiciary has been the history of the steady expansion of
business and the consequence of this expansion. The expansion has been one of territory, an
increase in the settled area requiring judicial service. It has been one of population, in that
growth of population within given areas has added to the work of the courts. It has been one of
legislation, in that the bulk of Federal legislation to be applied by the courts has grown with the
growth of the country and the increasing complexity of the conditions of liVing.
Although the district courts survived and increased in number, they underwent drastic
jurisdictional changes by which they were crowded into the field originally occupied by the
circuit courts. The circuit courts had a more difficult task of survival. Modified early in 1801 by
on oct of Congress creating a number of circuit judgeships and abolishing the requirement that
Supreme Court judges ride circuit, the old circuit court system was restored within a few
months. In 1869, Congress provided for the appointment of nine circuit judges for the circuits,
thereby relieving the judges of the Supreme Court of port of their circuit responsibilities. The
increase in the appellate work of the Supreme Court led to demand for future relief. Congress
responded with a new measure in 1891. This measure added a new circuit judge to each circuit,
withdrew all appellate jurisdictions from the circuit courts and by implication relieved Supreme
Court judges of the obligation to ride circuit. The some oct provided for the creation of a circuit
court of appeals in each circuit. Upon these courts was conferred the appellate jurisdiction
hitherto exercised by the Supreme Court. The circuit courts were finally abolished in 1911
because of the extent to which their work overlapped with that of the district courts.
The Federal juridical system, therefore consists now of the district courts, the circuit
courts of appeal and the Supreme Court. The Federal district courts are the bottoms of the
regular judicial hierarchy. Between the district courts and the Supreme Court there is a court of
appeal in each of the eleven circuits into which the United States is divided. By an act of
Congress of 1948, the former circuit courts of appeals were renamed United States Courts of
Appeal and the District of Columbia was recognized as constituting one of the eleven circuits).
Provisions with respect to appellate jurisdiction of the Federal courts are exceedingly
complex. For example, some cases are taken directly from the district courts to the Supreme
Court. Some go from the district courts to the courts of appeals and thence to the Supreme
Court. Some cannot go beyond the courts of appeals. The purpose of Congress in prescribing
the appellate jurisdiction of the several courts is to provide for the expeditious appeal to the
highest court of cases of greatest importance, while limiting or cutting off altogether the right of
appeal in those of lesser importance.
The appellate jurisdiction of the Supreme Court is almost entirely discretionary. By the
Judiciary Act of 1925, the court itself was constituted by the judge, with only a few exceptions,
of what cases it will hear on appeal.
The Federal judiciary, in a narrow sense consists only of these several courts, which are
created pursuant to the provisions of the third article of the Constitution. In the exercise of the
other powers conferred upon it, however, such as the powers as the govern territories, to grant
patents, and to appropriate money to pay claims against the United States. Congress may create
other tribunals to exercise judicial functions. These are known as legislative courts, in contrast

50
with the so-called constitutional courts organized under Article Among them are the courts
established in the territories of the United States, the Court of Claims and the Court of Customs
and Potent Appeals. Bearing some resemblance to legislative courts, there are independent
agencies such as the Interstate Commerce Commission, the Federal Trade Commission, the
Notional Labour Relations Boord and other agencies within some of the departments of the
Government, which exercise iudicial functions, but which are not usually classified as iudicial
tribunals.

Adapted from "Concise Dictionary of American History"

51
 THE PUBLIC INTERNATIONAL LAW

The public international law of conflicts is the totality of the standards and principles that
regulates the relations between subjects of the international law -the states and the
intergovernmental organizations. In this system governed by the standards of international law
of conflicts, the interstate relations have to be ones in which the states are titular of their
sovereign rights.
The fundamental principles of the international law contain general rules of conduct,
whose observance is essential to the development and co-operation between states, to the
maintaining of the international peace and security.
In the Chart of the United Nations, adopted in 1970, there are seven principles:
1) not to resort to force and to threat by force;
2) the settlement of the international conflicts by peaceful means;
3) not to intervene in the internal affairs of one state;
4) international co-operation;
5) equality of rights for all the nations and the right of nations to selFdetermination;
6) sovereign equality of states; 7) the good faith accomplishment of the assumed duties.
To these principles, there were other three more added at the Conference for security and
co-operation held at Helsinki, in 1975:
1) the inviolability of the frontiers;
2) the territorial integrity of states;
3} the observance of the human rights and of the Fundamental liberties.
These fundamental principles are the peremptory norms of the internationallaw. The
states cannot depart from these principles in their agreements, in their local or bilateral
relations. This proves the importance that all the states confer to these principles in the
settlement of their relations.
The fundamental principles have no absolute character. They establish some of the limits
of the actions and of the rights of the states. In their co-operation, the states take upon
themselves new mutual obligations. Every principle has to be understood properly and has to be
applied in connection with the other principles.
There are some standards which aim at rights concerning all the states, but which are not
the object of their sovereignty (the liberty of seas, the interdiction of piracy); there are also
some other humanitarian standards, considered by all states indispensable in order to guarantee
the respecting of the elementary rights of life and of human dignity (the interdiction of
genocide and of slavery, the rules and the manners of the war).

VQCABULARY. IDIOMS

public = concerning the people as a whole; done by or for, representing the people
international = existing, carried on between different nations
conflict = fight, struggle, collision; dashing (of opposed principles)
inter = express mutual or reciprocal action or relation, or with sense 'among', 'between'
organization = organized body, system or society
to govern = 1. to rule with authority, to conduct the policy actions and affairs of state,
subject, despotically or constitutionally, to regulate proceedings of; 2. to rule, to influence, to
regulate, to determine (a person, his acts, course or issue of events), to be the predominating
influence; 3. to conduct oneself in some way; 4. to constitute a low, rule, standard or principle,
to serve to decide
security = 1. thing that guards or guarantees; 2. organization for preventing leakage of
information to enemy

52
 co-operation = working together to the some end, to concur in producing an effect
threat = 1. declaration of intention to punish or hurt; 2. such menace of bodily hurt or
injury to reputation or property as may restrain person's freedom of action; 3. indication of
coming evil
affair 1. thing to be done; concern, business, matter 2. pl. ordinary pursuits of life
self-determination = a nation's right to determine its own policy
accomplishment = 1. fulfilment, completion; 2. thing done or attained, achievement
inviolable = 1. not to be violated; 2. (of laws, persons, places): to be kept sacred from
infraction, profanation
to confer = 1. to grant to bestow; 2. to afford, to accord, fo give
integrity = wholeness, uprightness, honesty
peremptory = imperious, final, imperative, absolutely fixed, dogmatic, dictatorial
agreement = 1. mutual understanding, covenant, treaty; 2. contract legally binding on
parties; 3. accordance in opinion
to interdict = to prohibit (action); to forbid use of; to restrain (person from doing)
interdict = injunction
piracy = sea-robbery, sea roving
genocide = extermination of a race

SYNONYMS
mutual = reciprocal
in connection with = in conjunction with
interdiction = prohibition
manner = habit
settlement = regulation
conference = congress, meeting
observance = respecting
indispensable = essential
co-operation = concurrence-assistance
to assume = to take upon oneself

ANTONYMS
internal - external
prohibited - free
agreement - disagreement
essential - trivial, worthless, unimportant
absolute - relative
to affirm - to deny
to consider - not to consider
faithful - unfaithful
national - international
peace -war

1. Answer the questions:

1. Define the public international law.

2. Which are the fundamental principles adopted in 1970?
3. Which are the added principles from Helsinki Conference?
4. Which of the standards are essential in the relations between states?

53
 5. What do the interstate relations have to be?

2. Translate into English:

a) Dreptul fiecărei ţări este să fie suverană.

b) Principiile dreptului international asigură relaţiile bilaterale şi cooperarea între state.
c) Aceste principii constituie normele fundamentale ale dreptului international.
d) Procuratura a trimis probele la laborator pentru a fi analizate.

3. Explain the following terms:

-international
-threat
-agreement
-to govern
-self-determination

4. Use the antonyms of the following words in sentences of your own: external, relative, to
consider, war, peace, national.

5. Fill in the blank spaces with the missing words:

In the ......... of the United Nations there are ......... principles:

1. not to resort to ......... and to threat by ..........
2. ......... of rights and the right of nations to ........ .
3. sovereign ......... of states
4. the good faith accomplishment of the ......... duties
5. international ........ .
6. nof to ......... in the internal affairs of one state
7. the settlement of the international ......... by peaceful means

THE JUDICIARY OF THE UNITED STATES (Part three)

Since the business of the Federal courts is clearly deFined, like the Constitution and the
acts of Congress, state and local courts handle most law cases in the United States. In every
state the courts are organized in a progressive series. At the bottom of the scale is the justice of
the peace, an office of ancient origin which was early established in the United States and
which has persisted to the present day. The jurisdiction of the court of justice of the peace is
confined to petty civil disputes and breaches of the peace. In cities, this jurisdiction is exercised
by police courts and municipal civil courts rather then justice of the peace. Above the petty
courts are the trial courts, which hear most of the civil and criminal cases, arising in the states.
These intermediate courts are variously called "county courts" (usually of limited jurisdiction),
"superior courts" and"circuit courts". At the head of the juridical system of every state there is a
court of last resort (known as Supreme Court or Court of Appeals) for all cases arising under
the state Constitution and laws. The states, finally, usually have special tribunals for particular
purposes. There are, for example, probate courts, small claim courts, children's courts, chancery
courts, administrative courts, such as industrial commissions.
The state judicial systems differ greatly among themselves and from the Federal system
in matters of appointment and tenure. In the early years, the

54
 selection of judges was made largely by the legislature or indirectly under its control. The
Jacksonian period saw a movement toward popular election, particularly in the newer states. In
some of the states, including a number of the original thirteen and other older states, judges of
appellate courts and courts of general jurisdiction are selected by legislatures or governors or by
co-operation between governors and legislatures or senates. The other states resort to election
by the people, in more than one half the states on a partisan ballot. The latest method is
generally regarded as defective as it involves the judiciary in politics and often fails to result
result in the best selection of the personnel.
Tenure varies greatly from state to state and from court to court. The term is usually
shortest in the lower courts and longest in those of higher rank. In a few states (Maryland,
Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, New HampshireL judges of the higher courts have long terms
that often are tantamount to life tenure. Removal of a judge before the expiration of a term is
difficult. The machinery of impeachment is available, but is cumbersome and hard to use. A
few states authorize removal by the governor on address of both houses of the legislature
without resorting to impeachment procedure.
Complexities of procedure have embarrassed the states, as well as the Federal
Government. In the middle of the 19-th century, a movement was started for the codification of
the procedure with the elimination of the unnecessary technicalities. It was carried forward
under the leadership of David Field, of New York, and spread to many other states. A similar
movement was started for the codification of the substantive law. Codes were adopted in a
number of states and have been satisfactory in part, but they have never entirely fulfilled their
intended purpose. More recently, the American Law Institute has attempted to achieve
simplification by a restatement of law in the several fields.
Although there is no complete separation of powers in any state or in the Federal
Government, the several judiciaries have maintained their strength against legislative and
executive departments.
There has been little interFerence with the personnel on the bench, once the personnel
have been chosen. There has been little interference with the work of the courts through the
alteration of their jurisdiction. On the other hand, the courts have strengthened their position
down through the years by resort to judicial review, making themselves final authorities as to
the meaning of state and Federal Constitutions. By keeping their interpretations in harmony
with conservative sentiments of the times they maintained a prestige which has given added
authority to their interpretations. There have been popular outbursts against particular courts at
particular times, but seldom against the courts as institutions.

Adapted from 'The Concise Dictionary of American History"

55
 THE BRITISH PARLIAMENT

The Parliament is the legislative body in any country's political system. In Britain, the
Parliament consists of two Houses: the House of Lords and the House of Commons.
The House of Lords is the highest Court of Appeal in Britain and it is lead by the Lord
Chancellor, who is also the head of the judiciary. The House of Commons is lead by the
Speaker, who has the role of announcing the members of parliament who want to make a
speech with the phrase: "I call upon the honourable member for ... ", naming the constituency
for which the man is a member.
The number of parliamentary constituencies in Britain is 640 and each of these contains
between 60.000 and 100.000 electors. People are allowed to vote in Britain over the age of 18.
The job of the members of Parliament in Britain is to take care of the general running of
the country as a whole. A member of Parliament (M.P.) is also directly responsible to his
constituents, who are usually helped by them in problems of bureaucracy and injustice at a local
government or even at ministerial level. The link between the member of Parliament and his
constituents is very close, meaning that a well-liked candidate from the area may take away
votes from his opponent, even though the latter belongs to the party which has the greatest
support. This situation is even more relevant at the by-elections, caused by the resignation or
death of a member, than in the case of general elections, where everybody wants his party to
win as many seats as possible, so that it might form the basis of the next government.
The general elections in Britain are held every five years, except the cases when the
Prime Minister wants to make the elections sooner.
The main role of the Parliament is to make laws and this is done in the following way: the
Government and the opposition send bills before the Houses of Parliament, which debate them
and reach a decision, in favour or against that bill. Usually, the bill is improved by the Houses
of Parliament and passed on to the Queen. The bill only becomes a law when the Queen agrees
on it and gives the Royal Assent to it.
In Britain, the members of Parliament have also posts in the Government and in various
departments and Ministries. So, they also have the power in the administration of the country,
besides that of making and approving laws in the Parliament. The most important one is the
Cabinet, which is a committee of advice for the British Prime Minister.
The Parliament is also the place where the administration can be criticised, or the
Government policies can be challenged. The ministries can be asked embarrassing questions by
the opposition, about specific shortcomings or injustices. This is called a motion of censure on
Government.
The Parliament has always been described as "the finest debating club in the world",
because it is flexible at allowing time for discussions of immediately important issues, but it is
obvious that it is much more than that.

BASIC VOCABULARY
Parliament = counsel forming with the Sovereign the supreme legislative of the United
Kingdom, consisting of House of lords and House of Commons
judiciary = the judges of a state collectively
chairman = person chosen fo preside meeting, permanent president of a committee
Court of Appeal = courf hearing cases previously tried in inferior courts
government = 1. the state as an administration or ministry; 2. body or successive bodies
of persons governing a state
Cabinet = 1. council room of inner circle of ministers controlling Government policy; 2.
those ministers collectively

56
 shadow cabinet = formed by opposition leaders from prospective hold-the oppositioners
of portfolios
the opposition = parliamentary party opposed to that in office
to elect = to choose a person by vote
general elections choosing, especially by vote of representatives,
by-elections = choosing of M.P. to fill vacancy
elector = one who has right of election
constituent member of a constituency
constituency = body of voters who elect a representative M.P.
appointment = naming somebody in a certain position
resignation = giving up a job, to retire, to concel
bill = draft of proposed Act of Parliament
bureaucracy = officialism
Royal Assent = sanction to sovereign to bill passed by Parliament
issue = point in question between contending parties in action
shortcoming = defect, imperfection
speaker = president officer in House of Commons charged with preservation of order and
having casting vote in case of equal division, similar officer in US' House of Representative
Lord Chancellor = lord presiding in House of lords and in Court of Appeal

SYNONYMS
constituency = electoral district
elector = voter
register of electors = electoral role
iniustice = unfairness
justice = fairness
to describe = to set forth in words
member = part

ANTONYMS
justice - injustice
appointment - resignation
to criticise - to praise
direct - indirect
over - under
highest - lowest
to ask - to answer

1. Answer the questions:

1. What is the British Parliament?

2. What does it consist of?
3. What is the Lord Chancellor?
4. What are the duties of the Speaker?
5. How many constituencies is Britain divided into?
6. What are the duties of an M.P.?
7. How often are general elections held?
8. When are by-elections called?
9. Who has the right to bring bills before the House?

57
 10. What are the stages the bill passes through?
11. When does a bill become a law?
12. Who is responsible for the administration of the country?

2. What do you call a person who:

a) is in charge of the House of lords

b) calls upon M.P.-s who are eager to speak
c) is able to vote
d) is directly responsible to his constituents

3. What is the difference between:

the government - the opposition

a general election - a by-election
a bill - a law

4. Explain the terms:

-legislative body
-constituency
-opponent
-judiciary

5. Fill in the blanks with the missing words:

a) The chairman of the House of Commons is called the ........ …….

b) Britain is divided into 640 parliamentary .... ……. each containing between 60,000 and
100,000 ..........
c) A candidate well-liked in the area may take votes from his ..........
d) .................must be held every five years.
e) After the Queen gives the Royal Assent, the ......... becomes ......... .
f) Both the ......... and the ......... bring bills before the House of Commons.

THE PARLIAMENT DURING THE REIGN OF CHARLES I

Charles I, who inherited the financial diFficulties which started during his father's reign,
James I, tried to overcome them by summoning Parliament in three instances in order to vote
new taxes and loans as well as the levying of tonnage and poundage.
Charles, a weak monarch and politician, provoked and faced the op-. position of
Parliament in the form of Petition of Right denying him the right to levy taxes. The religious
policy alike proved a matter of debate between King and Parliament.
In 1640, Charles, finding no other way to raise funds, called the Parliament, but when it
met, the Commons refused to grant supplies until the King has abandoned all his parliamentary
devices for raising money. After three weeks it was dissolved to be called again.
The Long Parliament unaware of the revolutionary meaning of the decisions declared
illegal all the financial devices of Charles and abolished most of Tudor's machinery which had
been built to control state and church. The Parliament started to impose its own conditions as
far as to demand a reform of the church in a Puritan direction. Moreover, the Parliament took
the right of appointing the lord lieutenant who controlled the militia.

58
 The King gathered support from among the cavaliers and heads of leading families. The
ensuing Civil Wars, one from 1642 to 1646, the second from 1646 to 1651, divided the country
into two camps on religious grounds, the Puritans siding with Parliament, the Catholics helping
the King. The main support for Parliament came from the commercial classes and the fleet
which dealt CI heavy blow to royalty.
During the clashes, the personality of Oliver Cromwell decided the fate of the battles at
Marston Moor (1644) and at Naseby (1645) with the help of the New Model Army.
The army's demands that Charles should be executed were not unanimously accepted to
the trial which was held in Westminster Hall, on January 3D, 1649; Charles was led forth to his
execution outside the Royal Palace, which put an end to one of the most violent conflicts
between an English King and Parliament, between two religious forces.

Adapted from "British Life and Civilization" by Livia Deac, Adrian Nicolescu

59
 THE COMMERCIAL LAW

The commercial law consists of the totality of the juridical standards regarding the
interposing and the circulation of the merchandise, from the producers to the consumers. It
consists of all the operations of producing the goods by transforming the raw materials into
more valuable products, activity developed by the makers.
From the juridical point of view, the commercial law establishes not only the production
(the industry), but also the circulation (distribution) of the wares.

The Antiquity
In ancient times, the first manifestations of exchange appeared at the same time with the
emerging of the idea of property. In order to satisfy the existential necessities, people started to
exchange their products between themselves. This way appeared the barter, a primitive form of
exchange.
The continuous increase of the peoples' needs and the magnifying of their relationships
determined certain forms of organization, in which they assured the conditions for a great
number of people to meet in certain periods of time and in places already established. This way
appeared the markets. The Greeks were the first who established rules regarding traders'
activity. In the good years of Rome, there were juridical institutions, some of them consisting of
the basis of the commerce by representatives ('actio institoria' and 'actio exercitoria').

The Middle Ages

In this period of time, the collapse of the Roman Empire determined the division of the
political power and instead of a uniform law, there appeared the speciffic law for the different
state that resulted. In order to defend their rights, the tradesmen had begun to organize
themselves in corporations ('universitaria'), which gradually obtained the administrative,
juridical and even legislative aUtonomy. A corporation consisted of all the commercial men
and handicraftsmen from the same field and the leader was a consul, helped around by
councillors. The consul issued internal standards, based on customs, in order to solve the
litigations between the members of a corporation.
There was a law of the markets with regulations for all the participants, no matter of their
origin and a special procedure of solving the litigation between merchants.

The Modern Period

It was the period when the written law of commerce appeared. The first country that
passed from the common-law to the written law for the whole territory was France, starting
with Carol IX's edict in 1563. In 1807, the French Commercial Code was adopted; for the first
time the dualism of the private law (civil and commercial law) was considered legal.
By the influence of the French Revolution, a great number of countries (Italy, Holland,
Spain, Brazil, Belgium, Egypt) took over the French Commercial Code as their own. This Code
was the model that helped at the drawing uo of the Romanian Commercial Code, in 1887.
In England and the United States, the common·law is used, establishing rules both for
commercial men and non-commercial men.

BASIC VOCABULARY. IDIOMS

commerce = exchange of merchandise

merchandise = commodities for commerce, goods for sale, wares
producer = one who produces articles of consumption

60
 product = thing produced by natural process or manufacture
consumer = user of an article
consumer’s goods = things which directly satisfy human wants or desires (e.g. food or
clothing)
circulation = transmission, distribution (of things, news, coins, books)
Antiquity = ancientness, old times, time before Middle Ages, ancient times
exchange = act, process of exchanging (of goods, prisoners of war, words)
to exchange = to give, to receive (one thing) in place for another; to interchange; to be
received as equivalent for
to satisfy = 1. to meet the desires or expectations of, to come up to; 2. to give satisfaction,
to leave nothing to be desired; 3. to be content or pleased with; 4. to demand no more than, to
consider enough to do
necessity = constraint or compulsion regarded as a law prevailing through the material
universe and governing all human action, needs
barter = exchange of goods or immaterial things for other goods
to assure = to make certain, to ensure the happening of, to ensure, to secure, to make safe
trader = dealer, commercial man, tradesman, merchant
autonomy = right of self-government, personal freedom, freedom of the will (in Kantian
doctrine), a self governing community
handicraft = manual skill, art or trade or occupation
handicraftsman = man skilled in a handicraft
corporation = united body of persons, especially by one authorized to work as an
individual
statute = 1. a written low of a legislative body; 2. ordinance of a corporation, founder,
intended to be permanent
origin = derivation, beginning of rising from something, person's extraction, source,
starting point, birth, descent
edict = order proclaimed by authority, decree

SYNONYMS
merchandise = commodities
antiquity = ancientness
circulation = distribution
needs = necessities
barter = truck
magnifying = amplification
to assure = to ensure
to issue = to emit

ANTONYMS
producer - consumer
this - that
these - those
to receive - to send
the first - the last
existential - non-existential
commercial - non-commercial

1. Answer the questions:

61
 1. What is the commercial law?
2. How did the commercial law appear in the ancient times?
3. Which were the first organizations of the tradesmen in the Middle Ages?
4. When and where was the first Commercial Code adopted?
5. Is there any difference between the Commercial Codes of the states?

2. Fill in the blanks with the missing words:

a) The commercial law establishes not only the, .... …., but also the ..... …of the goods.
b) A primitive form of exchange was the ………..
c) The……….. were the first who established rules for traders.
d) In the Middle Ages the traders had begun to organize themselves in ... ………having
a ......... as leader, helped around by .. ...........
e) The French Commercial Code was adopted in ………..
f) In England and the United States, the …………. law is used.

3. Explain the terms 'producer' and 'consumer'; what is the difference between them?

4. Use at least two synonyms for the following words in sentences of your own:

- merchandise - trader
- distribution - descent
- ancientness - to ensure
- to satisfy

TYPES OF TRADE

Wholesale Trade
The wholesaler is an intermediary between the producer and the retailer. His main
functions are:
- the breaking of bulk, that is buying in large quantities from the producer and selling in
smaller quantities to the retailer;
- warehousing, that is holding stocks to meet fluctuations of demand;
- helping to finance distribution by allowing credits to retailers, although paying his own
suppliers promptly;
- sometimes preparing a commodity for sale by grading, packing and branding the goods.
Since wholesaling is an essential part of the work of distribution, the elimination of the
wholesaler simply means that the work of wholesaling must be undertaken by someone else -
the manufacturer or the retailer. Large scale retailers generally buy directly from the
manufacturers, but in the case of the multiple shop organizations this merely means that they
themselves must then undertake the business of warehousing and distribution of their stock to
their branches. Manufacturers of many brandy goods, too, prefer to undertake the distribution
of their products to retailers to ensure that they reach the maximum number of retail outlets.

Retail Trade
Increased division of labour and an expanding rage of consumer's goods have led to a
great expansion of the retail trade, which forms the final stage of distribution - the selling of
goods to the people who actually wish to use them. The most common retail outlet is the shop.
In addition, there are street traders, peddlers, hawkers, market smallholders and the expanding

62
mail-order business. Most shops are small, but an increasing proportion of retailing is in the
hands of large-scale retailers -department stores, multiple shops and societies. A recent
development has been the establishment of supermarkets and self-service stores. The main
service of the retailer is to ensure that the consumers are offered the things in the form and the
quantities they want. He should therefore carry a varied stock. Hire purchase has brought about
a large increase in the sale of the more expansive durable consumers' goods.

Auction
When a commodity is sold by auction, prospective buyers make bids, the commodity
being sold to the person making the highest bid. This is the usual method of sale on organized
commodity markets or produce exchanges, as those for wool, tea or fish, where the commodity
cannot easily be graded. The bids of the buyers are influenced by their own personal estimation
of the quality of the commodity offered for sale. Commodities that can be fairly accurately
graded, such as wheat and cotton, are more usually sold by private treaty. Auctions are not so
common at the retail stage, though rare consumers' goods, such as work of art and antiques, are
frequently sold by auction. Valuable paintings, jewelry and antiques are sold at well-known
auctions.

Essential Elements of a Sales Contract

A contract is a mutual bilateral transaction, establishing, modifying or making cease the
right and obligations to it.
As a rule, the object of a sales-contract is the transfer of property over certain goods from
the seller to the buyer, for an amount of money, called the price.
Under a contract, the vendor is obliged to deliver the goods and transfer his ownership
over them to the buyer; the buyer is obliged to take delivery and pay For the goods he has
received. The vendor has the right of cashing the price of the goods he has delivered, the buyer
-that of getting a merchandise of the quality and in the quantity agreed upon, with concomitant
observance of all other contract stipulations.
The essential elements of a contract are the following:
- number of the contract, place and date of conclusion, name of the parties and their legal
address;
- denomination of the goods that form the object of the contract;
- quantity, quality;
- packing and marking;
- price;
- means and methods of payment;
- terms of delivery (place, time); reception;
- transport, insurance;
- contingencies; claims and penalties; arbitration; jurisdiction;
-other clauses (experimental operations, guarantees, technical documentation, taxes and
customs duties, amendments and cancellation);
- signatures.
The general conditions of sale are very often printed on the reverse side of the contract
and form an integral part thereof.

63
 CRIMINAL PROCEEDINGS

Criminal law and criminal proceedings are concerned with wrongs regarded as
committed by the individual against society for which guilty individuals must be punished.
In some circumstances, even companies can commit criminal offences. As the objective of
civil proceedings is to provide a remedy for the person wronged, usually in the form of
damages, the objective of criminal proceedings is to determine the guilt or innocence of the
accused person and, if that person is found to be guilty, to punish the wrongdoer and to
protect the society.
Part of the purpose of the penalty is also seen as seeking to rehabilitate the
wrongdoer. In criminal proceedings a prosecutor, usually the police, institutes a prosecution
against the defendant or accused person (sometimes referred to as the accused). The
outcome is a determination of guilt or innocence (by verdict if trial is by jury). A finding
that the accused person is not guilty is termed on acquittal. If the offence is proved, the
court imposes a sentence (usually a fine or a term of imprisonment) or makes some other
order (such as a probation or community service order).
In criminal proceedings the prosecutor almost invariably has the burden of proof,
which is said to be beyond all the reasonable doubt. The prosecutor must adduce admissible
evidence to prove that there is no reasonable doubt that the defendant committed the
offence charged. This involves satisfying the tribunal of fact (magistrates or iury) that every
essential element of the offence is proved and that the acts of the defendant were done with
the requisite intent. When certain defences are raised, such as insanity, the defendant has
the burden of proof on the balance of probabilities. In other words, if insanity is raised as a
defence, the prosecutor does not have to prove beyond all reasonable doubt that the
defendant was sane, but rather the defendant must prove that on the balance of probabilities
he or she is insane within the legal definition of that term.
The same set of facts may give rise to both civil and criminal proceedings. The most
common example is the motor accident where someone is injured because of a driver's bad
driving. A civil action by the injured person often follows as well as a prosecution for a
driving offence. Another example of overlap might occur in the case of persons who sell
dishonesty goods, which tion of law or rule are in their possession for repair. Such action
amounts to breach of contrad (a civil wrong) or theft (a crime).
When both civil and criminal cases go on appeal, the terminology again changes. The
party appealing is called the appellant and the other party who responds to the appeal is
called the respondent. Appeals serve a variety of purposes and can be divided into those
concerned with the merits of the decision under appeal and those concerned with the
legality of the process by which that decision was reached. A litigant is entitled not only to
a fair and proper decision on the merits, but also to a decision arrived at by due process of
law.

BASIC VOCABULARY

aquittal = judicial deliverance from a criminal change on a verdict or finding of not guilly
to adduce = to bring forward in argument or as evidence
requisite = required or necessary for a particular purpose/ position; indispensable
intent = the state of a person's mind which directs his actions toward a specific object
insanity = such unsoundness of mind as affects legal responsibilily or capacity
to overlap = to coincide in port withto have in common with
appeal = 1. an application or proceeding for review for a higher tribunal; 2. a forward
question as to the correctness of a ruling by a presiding officer;

64
 3. a formal charge or accusation
proceedings = 1. the instituting or carrying on of an action at law; 2. a legal step or
measure
wrong = 1. not in accordance with what is morally right or good; 2. deviating from truth
or fact, erroneous; 3. not correct in action, judgement, opinion, method; 4. an invasion of
another's right, to this damage; a tort
wrongdoer = one who does wrong, especially a sinner or transgressor
wrongdoing = 1. behaviour or action that is wrong, evil or blameworthy; 2. an act that is
wrong, evil
punishment = 1. act of punishing; 2. fact of being punished, as for an offence or fault; 3. a
penalty inflicted for an offence; 4. severe handling or treatment
to provide = to arrange for, to stipulate beforehand, as by a provision
damage = the estimated money equivalent for detriment or injury sustained

SYNONYMS
wrongdoing = misdeed
damage =mischief
to adduce = to bring into
requisite =needed
intent = intention
insanity =dementia

ANTONYMS
damage - improvement
requisite - dispensable
insane - sane
appellant -respondent

1. Answer the questions:

1.What are the criminal low and criminal proceedings concerned with?
2.What is the objective of civil proceedings?
3. What is the objective of criminal rroceedings?
4. What is the schedule of a uimina case?
5.What is the task of the prosecutor in criminal proceedings?
6.Comment on insanity and the burden of proof.
7. What happens when civil and uiminal cases go on appeal?

2. Fill in the blanks with the missing words:

a) Even companies can commit ......... offences.

b) In criminal proceedings a prosecutor institutes a prosecution against a ………..
c) The ......... is a determination of guilt or innocence.
d) If the ......... is proved, the court imposes a sentence.
e) The party ......... is called the appellant and the other party who responds to the appeal is
called the ..........
f) ......... serve a variety of purposes.
g) A ................. is entitled to a decision arrived at by due process of law.

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 3. Make sentences of your own with the following words:

- individual
- to commit
- wrongdoer
- probation
- breach of contract

4. Which of the following sentences are false and which are true? Correct the false ones:

a) The objective of criminal proceedings is to provide a remedy for the person wronged.
b) Another objective of criminal proceedings is to determine the guilt or innocence of the
accused person.
c) In criminal proceedings the prosecutor has the burden of proof.
d) When certain defences are raised, such as insanity, the plaintiff has the burden of proof
or the balance of the probabilities.
e) In civil an criminal cases, which go on appeal, the terminology doesn't change.
f) A defendant is entitled to a fair and proper decision.

PLEADINGS
Pleadings are opened by the preparation on behalf of the plaintiff of the statement, or
particulars, of claim. This document is in practice drafted by the plaintiff's solicitor. The
statement is a brief account of the material facts upon which the plaintiff relies for the claim. It
does not set out the evidence to be adduced in support of the allegations and it contains no
argument on the law. Again in practice the statement will be drafted by reference to a standard
form precedent for such claims; counsel will suck to leave open every avenue of attack against
the defendant.
Typical personal injury statements are divided in four parts:
- a statement of the date, time and place of the accident and the persons involved
- an allegation of negligence against the defendant following a ritual formula details of the
injuries suffered by the plaintiff and of any damage to the property of the plaintiff and of his
actual loss of earnings
- a formal claim for damages
The plaintiff claiming personal injuries must also provide a medical report setting out the
nature of the injuries together with a schedule of special damages, to date and to estimate any
future expenses and losses, including earnings and possession rights, unless the court has given
leave for these to be filed at a later date. If there is any change in the plaintiff's medical
condition requiring an additional medical report, a copy of that report must be served on the
defendant together with an up-dated schedule of special damages.
On receiving the statement, the defendant must formulate a strategy for response. If some
part of the statement of claim is unclear, further and better particulars of the claim can be
requested. The Rules of the Supreme Court provide that any allegation of fad is domed to be
admitted unless it is specifically denied. If the defendant does not file a defence, then the
plaintiff can obtain judgement by default.

Adapted from "The Administration of Justice", by Robin C. White

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