Предисловие

Обучение иностранным языкам рассматривается как составная часть вузовской программы высшего образования, как органическая часть многоуровневой подготовки высококвалифицированных специалистов, активно владеющих иностранным языком как средством общения.

Предлагаемое пособие «English and law» содержит современные, профессионально ориентированные материалы, касающиеся права и юридические системы в целом. Пособие построено на принципе взаимосвязанного обучения видам речевой деятельности на профессионально ориентированном материале.

Данное пособие состоит из двух частей, каждая из которых состоит из нескольких разделов (Units). Первая часть пособия направлена на изучение различных ветвей права, включая международное и торговое право. Первая часть состоит из разделов: «Право», «Международное право», «Международное торговое право» и др. Каждый раздел (Unit) содержит определенное количество текстов способствующих прочному усвоению юридической лексики. Каждый текст пособия снабжен комплексом упражнений, целью которых является усвоение лексики данного текста, контроль за пониманием содержания прочитанного, развития навыков чтения и устной речи. Правовая лексика вводится, тематически закрепляется в разнообразных подставочных, трансформационных и дифференцированных упражнениях.

Тематическое наполнение пособия обусловлено учебным планом по специальности «Международное право». Текстовый материал подобранный из оригинальных источников (книг, действующих правовых документов, а также Интернет-ресурсов) способствует повышению уровня владения студентами юридической лексикой и терминами. Пособие снабжено словарем, что позволяет работать с ним самостоятельно.

Unit 1: law text 1. What is law?

The question «What is law? » has troubled people for many years. A whole field of study known as jurisprudence (the study of law and legal philosophy) is devoted to answering this question. Many definitions of law exist.

1. Law is any single rule or a branch of such rules.

2. Law is a rule of action or procedure.

3. Law is such rules as a subject of study or the basis for the legal profession.

For our purposes law can be defined as the rules and regulations made and enforced by the government that regulate the conduct of people within a society. Law is the set of enforced rules under which a society is governed.

As a child, you learned about rules first at home and later at school. At home, your parents made and enforced rules concerning issues like chores and bedtimes. Rules made and enforced by the government are called laws. The government makes laws that affect almost every aspect of daily life.

One thing is certain: every society that has ever existed has recognized the need for laws. These laws may have been unwritten, but even pre-industrial societies had rules to regulate people’s conduct.

Native American societies, for example, were governed by unwritten laws. When Europeans first arrived on the North American continent, each of the native American nations or tribes maintained order through a system of unwritten rules. Today, some native American groups are still governed, at least in part, by traditional unwritten law.

Nowadays no society could exist if all people did just as they pleased, without regard for the rights of others. Nor could a society exist if its members did not recognize that they also have certain obligations toward one another.

The law establishes the rules that define a person’s rights and obligations. The law also sets penalties for people who violate these rules. The laws enforced by government can be changed. Laws frequently are changed to reflect changes in a society’s needs and attitudes.

In most societies, various government bodies, especially police agencies and courts, see that the laws are obeyed. Because a person can be penalized for disobeying the law, most people agree that laws should be just. Justice is a moral standard that applies to all human conduct. The laws enforced by government have usually had a strong moral element, and so justice has generally been one of the laws guiding principles. But governments can, and sometimes do, enforce laws that many people believe to be unjust. If this belief becomes widespread, people may lose respect for the law and may even disobey it. But in democratic societies, the law itself provides ways to amend or abolish unjust laws.

Laws generally reflect and promote society’s values. Our legal system is influenced by our society’s traditional ideas of rights and wrongs. For example, laws against murder reflect the moral belief that killing another person is wrong. Most people would condemn murder regardless of what the law said. However, not everything that is immoral is also illegal. For example, lying to a friend may be immoral but is seldom illegal.

We expect our legal system to achieve many goals:

• protecting basic human rights,

• promoting fairness,

• helping resolve conflicts,

• promoting orders and stability,

• protecting the environment,

• representing the will of the majority,

• protecting the rights of minorities.

Many of society’s most difficult problems involve conflicts among these goals. Laws must balance rights with responsibilities, the will of the majority with the right of the minority, the need for order with the need for basic freedom. Reasonable people sometimes disagree over how the law can protect the rights of some without violating the rights of others.

As values change, so can laws. But law should be based on moral, economic, political and social values.