1. In England and Wales civil proceedings are instituted by the aggrieved person.

2. A decree of divorce must be pronounced in open court.

3. County court proceedings are initiated by a summons served on the defendant by the court; subsequent procedure is simpler than in the High Court.

4. Civil proceedings, as private matter, can usually be abandoned or ended by compromise at any time.

5. An action in a magistrates’ court is begun by a complaint on which the court may serve the defendant with a summons.

6. Proceedings in Northern Ireland are similar to those in England and Wales. County court proceedings are commenced by a civil bill served on the defendant, there are no pleadings in the county court.

7. In Scotland proceedings in the Court of Session or ordinary actions in the sheriff court are initiated by serving the defender with a summons.

8. Most judgments in civil cases are for sums of money and may be enforced, in cases of default.

9. Domestic proceedings are normally heard by not more than three lay justices including, where practicable, a woman; members of the public are not allowed to be present.

Task 5. Answer the questions:

1. 1.What kinds of institutions are included into the structure of the Supreme Court in England and Wales?

2. What divisions do the Supreme Court and Court of Appeal consist of?

3. What do you know about the judges’ function duties in different divisions of the Supreme Court and the Court of Appeal? Name certain examples of their activities.

4. What kinds of judicial cases doe the Crown Court deal with? In what way does the session of the court proceed?

5. What is the procedure of making the accusatory sentence?

6. Can the judge consider the cases in the Crown Court himself?

7. Who can act as a judge in the Crown Court? 

Vocabulary

bring suit – подавать иск

burden of proof – бремя доказывания

claim – требование, заявление, жалоба

complaint – жалоба

counterclaim – встречный иск

defendant – ответчик

deter – удерживать от совершения чего-либо

plaintiff – истец

preponderance of evidence – наличие более веских доказательств

LESSON 8

GRAMMAR: REVISION OF TENSES, COMPLEX SUBJECT, COMPLEX OBJECT, FUNCTIONS OF THE VERBS “TO BE” AND “TO HAVE”

TEXT A: THE LAW AND THE FAMILY (MARRIAGE LAW)

TEXT A:

Before reading the text learn to pronounce the following words correctly:

MARRIAGE LAW

In some societies the family is thought to be so important that there is very little legal intervention in family life. But in many parts of the world, the law now promotes the rights of individuals within the family unit, and regulates family relations through legislation.

In Sweden, parents can be prosecuted for physical punishing their chil­dren and children have a limited capacity to divorce their parents. In Brit­ain, as in many countries, there are special family courts with very strong powers to control and transfer private property in the interests of children. Much of the work of other courts is also directly relevant to family life.

The laws in most countries place more emphasis upon marriages le­gally rincstered than social arrangements whereby people live together. In Japan, some couples prefer not to register their marriage because the law requires one of them to give up his or her name in favor of the other. The birth and residence documentation of children born to such marriages is different from that of other children and sometimes leads to discrimina­tion. In Britain, children born outside legitimate marriages have fewer rights to financial support from estranged fathers than legitimate children. In addition, if they are born outside the UK, they are less likely than legitimate children to be granted British citizenship. Their fathers have no automatic right to have contact with them. Some welfare payments are calculated on a different basis according to whether recipients are married or not, and more procedures are available to a married woman than an unmarried one in seeking protection from domestic violence.

In English law, some marriages may be readily dissolved, or nullified — for example: if the couple never consummated the marriage are blood re­lations, or they are under the legal age of sixteen, are both women, or, de­spite a surgical sex change, and both men. In other cases, a couple may seek a divorce. The procedure may be lengthy, especially if one does not want to get divorced or if there are children. In no case will English law allow divorce proceedings to start within a year of the marriage, since it is thought this is too soon for the marriage to have tested itself. It is also feared that people would get married without serious thought if it were quick and easy to get a divorce.

Divorce is the dissolution of a marriage, otherwise than by death, nor­mally permitting each party to remarry.

Divorce proceedings in England take place in certain County Courts known as divorce county courts. Some matters are also dealt with in the Family Division of the High Court. It is necessary for one of the parties to convince the court that the marriage has broken down without any chance of reconciliation. To do this the person seeking for divorce must prove one of five things: that the other party, or respondent, committed adultery (had sex with someone else); that the respondent’s behavior has been unreason­able; that the respondent deserted the petitioner at least two years previ­ously; that the couple has lived apart for two years and both agree to di­vorce; or that they have lived apart for five years. A divorce will not be issued until satisfactory arrangements have been made for any children of the marriage, including determining who is to have custody of the children.

In the case of property, the courts have to find a balance between two rinceples. One of that any division should fairly reflect how much each party contributed to the property they held together. In the past, some wom­en suffered when they separated from their husband because the house they lived in was bought with his money and registered in his name. Nowadays, courts look beyond legal ownership and cash contributions. Work done in the home, time spent caring for the family, even emotional support, are all considered as giving some rights to property.