Task: read the text, translate it into Russian in written form.

The court system is dependent upon the legal profession to make it work. Although individuals can institute cases and defend them normally lawyers do this job for them. The legal profession is the normal source of judicial personnel for any court system.

England is almost unique in having two different kinds of lawyers, with separate jobs in the legal system. The two kinds of lawyers are solicitors and barristers. This division of the legal profession is due mainly to historical causes. Each branch has its own characteristic functions and a separate governing body.

The division has a number of significant impacts upon the judicial system. It is the main reason for the separation between civil and criminal courts. It also has a significant impact upon judicial appointments.

The traditional picture of the English lawyer is that the solicitor is the general practitioner, confined mainly to the office. The solicitor is the legal adviser of the public. Members of the public are able to call at a solicitor’s office and seek his advice in a personal interview. The barrister is the specialist adviser much of whose time is taken up with court-room appearance. A barrister can only be consulted indirectly through a solicitor. Today however the lines of determination are blurred.

There is approximately one solicitor to every 1300 of the population, with considerable regional and local varieties. There is a heavy concentration in commercial centres. The ratio for barristers is about one per every 10.000. Taking the legal profession as a whole (38.500), there is one practicing lawyer per 1200 people. This compares with about one lawyer per 600 in the USA. But a lot of work in English solicitors’ offices is undertaken by managing clerks, now called “ legal executives”, who are a third type of lawyers. (Legal executives now have their own professional and examining body- “ the Institute of Legal Executives”).

 

Notes:

1 solicitor- солиситор, стряпчий (юрист, консультирующий клиентов, организации и фирмы; подготавливает дело для барристеров)

2 “ legal executives”- законные исполнители (персонал, нанимаемый солиситорами, клерки)

 

Exercises

I. Read the international words and guess their meaning. Mind the stress.

‘ system pro’fession indi’vidual

‘ barrister so’licitor demar’cation

‘ function his’torical characte’ristic

‘ specialist tra’ditional person’nel

‘ interview com’mercial concern’tration

 

II. Memorize the following pairs of derivatives:

N - Adj Adj - Adv

history - historical normal- normally

tradition- traditional main- mainly

region- regional indirect- indirectly

commerce- commercial approximate- approximately

profession- professional separate- separately

V – N

execute- execution divide- division

concentrate-concentration appear- appearance

demarcate- demarcation

 

III. Transform as in the models:

Model 1: to interpret the law- interpretation of the law

to divide the legal profession, to institute a case, to appoint judges, to select magistrates, to determine the facts;

Model 2: office of the solicitor- the solicitor’s office

advice of the solicitor, functions of the jury, summing up of the judge, Law Officer of the Government;

Model 3: system of court- court system

Judges of high Court, officers of police, departments of government, system of law.

 

IV. Match English and Russian equivalents:

1. court system a. характерные функции

2. to institute a case b. юридическая профессия

3. legal profession c. обратиться за советом

4. historical cause d. выступление в суде

5. characteristic functions e. личная беседа

6. to seek advice f. судебная система

7. legal adviser g. большое количество

8. court-room appearance h. возбудить дело

9. heavy concentration i. историческая причина

10. personal interview j. юрисконсульт, советник по правовым вопросам