Choose the right item or items to complete the sentences.

a) (Lawyers, barristers, judges, doctors, solicitors, ordinary citizens) may be coroners.

b) Coroners investigate (all types of death, limited types of death, all unusual types of death).

c) The main tasks of coroners are to find out (the reason of the death, the name of the dead, the name of a suspect).

d) The coroner may decide a case (with other judges, alone, with a jury).

4. Decide which of the following cases a coroner will hear:

1) a man was found dead in his flat;

2) a woman of 84 years old died in her sleep at home;

3) the sudden death of a governor;

4) a death of a person after an operation;

5) a broken arm as a result of car accident;

1) a death in a car accident;

2) suicide of an official.

5. a) The adjectives below are related to both positive and negative traits of a person’s’ character. Divide them into two groups.

Hard-working, just, punctual, lazy, friendly, emotional, clever, responsible, calm, talkative, absent-minded, intelligent, well-educated, respectful, serious, formal, tolerant, reserved, highly-qualified, polite, reasonable, tactful, wise, resolute, cruel.

b) Choose those

- a judge as a lawyer should possess and make up a sentence with each of them

e.g. A judge must be fair to decide cases fairly.

- a judge should not possess

e.g. A judge should not be absent-minded at the trial, otherwise he can miss something important.

- you have and speak about yourself.

e.g. I am punctual, so I am never late.

You may use other adjectives if you wish.

Agree or disagree with the following statements. Use the expressions given below.

I agree. I suppose so. That’s right/not right/true. That’s not what I’ve heard. That’s what I’ve heard. I’m not sure. I think so.

- There must be respect for the law on the part of every Ukrainian regardless of rank and position.

- It is not very easy for an ordinary citizen to refer a case to a court of law because the procedures for filing claims are very complicated.

- There are so many discrepancies (розбіжність, суперечність) in the current legislation that even the professional lawyers sometimes find it difficult to determine the jurisdiction of a case: e.g. to be handled by the administrative or the economic court.

- Our courts must serve our citizens, but in fact they serve the state.

- Ukraine will become a law-governed state only if legal punishment becomes unavoidable for everyone without exceptions, including judges and prosecutors.

You are participants of the International Seminar on Judicial System. Be ready to give a talk on one of the issues given below or of your own choice.

1) Powers of Judges: too many or too few?

2) Role of People’s Assessors in Judicial Proceedings.

3) Judges Immunity: pros and cons.

4) Judicial Reform: what should be done to improve justice?

5) Protection of Judges from Interference in their Work.

 

IV. WRITING

Write a letter to your friend in the UK or the USA about

a) the judicial system of Ukraine; or

b)judges in Ukraine.

V. OVER TO YOU

QUIZ

How many of these questions can you answer?

1. What are the two main areas of jurisdiction in the English judicial system?

2. Ordinary people play two important roles in the administration of justice in the UK and the USA. What are their roles?

3. What was the role of the House of Lords in the British judicial system?

4. Can a precedent be too old to be a binding precedent today?

5. You ask Mr Cole’s job and he tells you he is an attorney. Is he American or British?

6. If the US House of Representatives is equivalent to the British Commons, what is the British equivalent to the Senate?

7. What is the Old Bailey?

8. Do British judges always wear wigs in court?

 

Find 28 legal terms hidden in the square below: 16 read across and 12

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Unit 2 Judiciary in the UK and USA Section 1 Judicial System in the USA

I. WARMING-UP

Which nouns related to courts that you already know can be used with the following adjectives?

Judicial, appellate, federal, original, civil, criminal.

 

2. Match the English words and phrases with their Ukrainian equivalents:

1) judicial review 2) error of law 3) county 4) claim 5) legal issues 6) to override 7) overlapping jurisdiction 8) under the authority of

a) позов b) частково збіжна юрисдикція c) на підставі, в силу d) судовий перегляд e) відхиляти, не брати до уваги f) помилка у праві g) правові спори h) округ

Group the following words according to the stress on the first or second syllable. Two words can be both a noun and a verb and it depends on the stress (in a noun on the first and in a verb on the second syllable).

Senate, authority, permit, justice, judicial, approve, appellate, power, review, dispute, error, supreme, issue, conflict.

 

Read the text to find the following information:

a) Six names of federal courts.

b) Three names of state courts.

c) The number of federal circuits.

d) The number of federal districts.

e) The name of the person who appoints federal judges.

f) All abbreviations and give their meanings.

TEXT 1

The USA Court System

Being the federal republic, the USA has both a federal and a state court system. The federal court system is responsible for interpreting and applying the laws created by the federal government under the authority of the US Constitution. Article III of the US Constitution requires the establishment of a Supreme Court and permits the US Congress to create other federal courts, and place limitations on their jurisdiction.

The Supreme Court is the highest judicial body, the court of last resort and leads the federal judiciary. It meets in Washington, D.C. It is mainly an appellate court and hears only federal appeals which it has chosen. Most of the cases involve the interpretation of the Constitution. It also has the “power of judicial review ”, i.e. the right to declare laws and actions of the federal, state, and local governments unconstitutional. Besides, the Court has limited original jurisdiction in cases involving foreign diplomats and in those, in which a state is a party. In practice, the only original jurisdiction cases heard by the Court are disputes between two or more states. It consists of the Chief Justice and eight Associate Justices, who serve “during good behaviour”, that is while they obey the law. Cases are decided by majority vote of the Justices.

The federal Courts of Appeals (or circuit courts) are the intermediate appellate courts, and must hear all appeals from the district courts within their federal judicial circuits, and in some cases from other designated federal courts and administrative agencies. Now there are thirteen judicial circuits with one court of appeals. They review decisions of trial courts for errors of law and their decisions are binding precedents. An appeal is almost always heard by a panel of three judges who are selected from the available judges but in some cases all judges decide an appeal.

The District Courts are the federal trial courts. They hear both civil and criminal cases, and often decide claims based on state law. There are 94 federal judicial districts with at least one district court for each state, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico. There is a US bankruptcy court as a unit of the district court.

Besides, some federal courts of special jurisdiction, such as the Tax Court, the Court of International Trade, Courts of Federal Claims and others administer justice in the country.

All federal judges are appointed for life by the President with the approval of the Senate.

Each state has an independent system of courts operating under the constitution and laws of the state. The names and jurisdiction of the courts differ from state to state but as a rule they have general jurisdiction. The highest court is the state supreme court (known by various names in various states), which hears appeals of legal disputes. In most states the lowest courts are the magistrates’ courts or police courts.

The relationship between state courts and federal courts is quite complicated. Although the United States Constitution and federal laws override state laws where there is a conflict between federal and state law, state courts are not subordinate to federal ones. Rather they are two parallel sets of courts with different often overlapping jurisdiction.

 

II. COMPREHENSION

1. Read the text to answer the following questions:

1. What are the tasks of the federal court system?

2. What types of courts have been created according to the US Constitution?

3. What body created other federal courts?

4. What types of cases does the US Supreme Court hear?

5. What do the federal Courts of Appeals do?

6. What is the jurisdiction of the federal District Courts?

7. What is the term of office for federal court judges?

8. Are state courts inferior to federal courts or not?