LESSON № 1 THE COURTS AND THEIR FUNCTIONS
The court is a state organ that administers justice on the basis of the laws of the state.
There are courts of first instance (original jurisdiction) and second instance. A court of first instance is one which first examines a case in substance and brings in a sentence or decision. Any court, from the district court to the Supreme Court of the state, may sit as acourt of firstinstance. A court of second instance is one which examines appeals and protests against sentences and decisions of courts of first instance.
The basic judicial organ is the district court. District courts try both criminal and civil cases. It is also the duty of the district courts to protect the electoral rights oi citizens. The higher courts hear and determine cases of major importance.
The Supreme Court is the highest judicial organ of the state. It has the power of supervision of the activities of all the judicial organs of the state. The Supreme Courts consists of Collegiums: a Criminal, a civil and a military collegium. The Supreme Court gives the court guiding instructions on questions of court practice. It tries the most important criminal and civil cases and likewise hears appeals against the judgements and sentences of othercourts, as well as appeals against the judgements and sentences of the military courts of the state.
The court consists of a judge and two people's assessors who have all the rights of judges when the court is sitting. They each sit for only two weeks a year and during this period receive their average earnings from their places of work. Then other people's assessors relieve them.
According to the Constitution judges arc elective and subject to removal. Judges are subject to the law.
In all courts cases are tried in public and proceedings, are oral. The participants in the trial (the prosecutor, the accused, the plaintiff, the defendant and the others) speak in open court, the press having the right to bepresent. The accused is guaranteed the right to defense.
During the hearing of a case any citizen may enter the courtroom and be present during the trial from beginning to end.
Vocabulary. Study these words and word combinations:
1. judicial— судебный
2. to administerjustice — отправлять правосудие
3. a court of first / second instance — суд первой / второй
инстанции
4. to examine a case in substance — рассматривать дело по
существу
5.to bring in a sentence / a decision, a judgement /
вынести приговор /решение/
6. an appeal — жалоба
7. a protest — протест
8. a case of major importance — более важное дело
9. the power of supervision over — право надзора над...
10. a collegial — коллегия
11. to be subject to removal — подлежать отзыву
12. an assessor — заседатель
13. to sit (sat) — заседать в суде
14. (average) earnings — (средний) заработок
15. to receive — получать
16. in public — открыто
17. proceedings— судопроизводство
18.oral — здесь: гласный
19. a participant — участник
20. a prosecutor —обвинитель
21. an accused — обвиняемый
22. a de` fendant — ответчик
23. defense — защита
EXERCISE I. Read and translate the following words:
to act (поступать, действовать) — an act; just (справедливый) — justice;
basis (основа) —basic; to guide (руководить)—guidance; to instruct — instruction;
to try (рассматривать дело) — trial (суд); present (присутствующий) — presence; interest — interested (причастие).
EXERCISE II. Match up these lines:
1. a criminal case зал судебных заседаний
2. higher courts Верховный Суд
3. a civil case государственная власть
4. court practice открыто
5. state power вышестоящие суды
6. in public уголовное дело
7. courtroom гражданское дело
8. the Supreme Court судебная практика
EXERCISE 111. Correct the following sentences:
1. There are courts of first instance and second instance.
2. A court of first instance examines appeals and protests
against sentences and decisions of other courts.
3. Any court, from the district court to the Supreme Court of
the state, may sit as a court of first instance.
4. Higher courts hear and determine cases of major
importance.
5. The basic judicial organ is the Supreme Court.
EXERCISE IV. Answer these questions:
1. On what basis does the court of the state administer justice?
2. What is the function of a court of first instance?
3. What is the function of a court of second instance?
4. What is the basic judicial organ of the state?
5. What cases does the district court consider?
6. What is the highest judicial organ of the state?
7. What are the functions of the Supreme Court?
8. How do the people's assessors work?
9. What is the status of judges?
10. May the public be present in the courtroom during the
trial?
11. What are the participants of the trial?
EXERCISE V. Speak on the following topic: "The highest judicial organ".
The highest judicial organ is ...
its functions:
It has the power of supervision of ...
It gives guiding ...
It tries the most ...
It hears appeals against ...
The basic judicial organ is ...
There are courts of first ...
The court of first instance examines ...
A court of second instance examines ...
EXERCISE VI. Finish these sentences:
1 The court is an organ of the state that administers ...
2 The basic judicial organ of the state is ...
3 The highest judicial organ is ...
4 The court consists of ...
5 People's assessors have the rights of ..
6. Judges are ...
7. Cases are tried in ...
8. Proceedings are ...
9. The participants of the trial are ...
10. The participants of the trial speak in ...
11. Courts examine cases in (he presence ...
COURTS AND TRIALS TOPICAL VOCABULARY
1. Courts: trial courts, common pleas courts, municipal and
county courts, mayors courts, courts of claims, courts of appeals,
the State Supreme Court. The Federal courts, district courts,
the US Supreme
Court, juvenile court.
2. Cases: lawsuit, civil cases, criminal cases, framed-up cases.
3. Offences: felony, misdemeanor, murder, manslaughter,
homicide, rape, assault, arsun, robbery, burglary, theft / larceny, kidnapping, embezzlement, bribery, forgery, fraud,
swindling, perjury, slander, blackmail, abuse of power, disorderly conduct, speeding, petty offence, house-breaking, shoplifting, mugging, contempt of court, subpoena.
4. Participants of the legal procedure: 1) parties to a lawsuit:
claimant / plaintiff (in a civil case); state (criminal case);
defendant, offender (first / repeat); attorney for the plainliff (in
a civil case); prosecutor (criminal); attorney for defense; 2) jury,
Grand jury,1 to serve on a jury, to swear the jury, to convene;
3) witness-a credible witness; 4) a probation officer; 5) bailifi.
5. Legal procedure: to file a complaint / a countercomplaint,
to answer/challenge the complaint; to notify the defendant of
the lawsuit; to issue smb a summons; to issue a warrant of
arrest (a search warrant); to indict smb for felony; to bring
lawsuit; to take legal actions; to bring the case to court; to
bring criminal prosecution; to make an opening statement; the
prosecution / state; the defence; to examine a witness — direct
examination, cross-examination; to present evidence (direct,
circumstantial, relevant, material, incompetent, irrelevant,
admissable, inadmissable, corroborative, irrefutable,
presumptive, documentary); to register (to rule out, to sustain)
an objection; circumstances (aggravating, circumstantial,
extenuating); to detain a person, detention; to go before the court.
The US Court System
The courts are the overseers of the law. They administer it, they resolve disputes undef it, and they ensure that it is and remains equal and impartial for everyone.
In (he United States each state is served by the separate court systems, state and federal. Both systems are organized into three basic levels of courts-trial courts, intermediate courts of appeal and a high court, or Supreme Court. The state courts are concerned essentially with cases arising under state law, and the federal courts with cases arising under federal law.
Trial courts bear the main burden in the administration of justice. Cases begin there and in most instances are finally resolved there. The trial courts in each state include: common pleas courts, which have general civil and criminal jurisdiction and smaller in importance municipal courts, county courts and mayors' courts.
The common pleas court is the most important of the trial courts. It is the court of general jurisdiction — almost any civil or criminal case, serious or minor, may first be brought there. In criminal matters, the common pleas courts have exclusive jurisdiction over felonies (a felony is a serious crime for which the penalty is a penitentiary term or death). In civil matters it has exclusive jurisdiction in probate, domestic relations and juvenile matters. The probate division deals with wills and the administration of estates, adoptions, guardianships. It grants marriage licenses to perform marriages. The domestic division deals with divorce, alimony, child custody.
The juvenile division has jurisdiction over delinquent, unruly or neglected children and over adults, who neglect, abuse or contribute lo the delinquency of children. When a juvenile (any person under 18} is accused of an offence, whether serious or minor, the juvenile division has exclusive jurisdiction over the case.
The main job of courts of appeal is to review cases appealed from trial courts to determine if the law was correctly interpreted and applied.
The supreme court of each state is primarily a court of appeal and the court of last resort.
The federal court structure is similar to the structure of the state court system. The trial courts in the federal system are the United States district courts. The United States courts of appeal are intermediate courts of appeal between the district courts and the United States Supreme Court.
The US Supreme Court is the highest court in the nation and the court of last resort. It consists of a chief justice and eight associate justices, all of whom are appointed for life by the President with the Advice and Consent of the Senate. The duty of the Supreme Court is to decide whether laws passed by Congress agree with the Constitution. The great legal issues facing the Supreme Court at present are Government involvement with religion, abortion and privacy rights, race and sex discrimination.
EXERCISE I. Answer the following questions;
1. What is the dual court system existing in the USA? What
three levels of courts does it consist of?
2. What is the jurisdiction of the trial court? Define the
jurisdiction of the common pleas court.
3. What kind of civil matters are brought to common pleas
courts? Elaborate on probate, domestic relation and juvenile
matters.
4. Speak about the jurisdiction of state and federal courts of
appeals and state supreme courts. 5. What is the duty of the US Supreme Court?
EXERCISE II. Summarize the text in 3 paragraphs, specifying the following:
1) the dual system of US courts;
2} trial courts — courts of general jurisdiction;
3) the US Supreme Court — the court judging the most explosive issues in American life.
EXERCISE III. Study the following text, a) Extract the necessary information about law enforcement in the USA:
A criminal case begins when a person goes to court and files a complaint that another person has committed an offence. This is followed by issuing either an arrest warrant or a summons. A criminal case is started when an indictment is returned by a grand jury before anything else happens in the case. Indictments most often are felony accusations against persons who have been arrested and referred to the grand jury. After an accused is indicted, he is brought into court and is told about the nature of the charge against him and asked to plead. He can plead guilty, which is the admission that he committed the crime and can be sentenced without a trial. He can plead not guilty and be tried.
As a general rule the parties to civil suits and defendants in criminal cases are entitled to trial by jury of 12 jurors. But a jury is not provided unless it is demanded in writing in advance of the trial; in this case a civil or a criminal case is trial to the judge alone, greater criminal cases are tried to a three-judge panel.
In trial by the jury the attorneys for each party make their opening statements. The prosecution presents its evidence based on the criminal investigation of the case.
The attorney for the defence pleads the case of the accused, examines his witnesses and cross-examines the witnesses for the prosecution. Both, the prosecution and the defence, try to convince the jury. When all the evidence is in, the attorneys make their closing arguments to the jury with the prosecutor going first, Both attorneys try to show the evidence in the most favourable light for their sides.
But if one of them uses improper material in his final argument the opponent may object, the objection may be ruled out by the judge who will instruct the jury to disregard what was said or may be sustained. After this the judge proceeds to instruct the jury on its duty and the jury retires to the jury room to consider the verdict.
In civil cases at least three fourths of the jurors must agree on the verdict. In a criminal case there must not be any reasonable doubt as to the guilt of the accused, the verdict must be unanimous.
The next stage is for the judge to decide, in case of a verdict of guilty, what sentence to impose on the convict.
Use the material of the text and the topical vocabulary in answering the following questions:
1. Who are the participants in the legal procedure?
2. In what way docs a legal procedure start a) in civil cases,
b) in criminal cases?
3. Describe the procedure of the trial in the American court
of common pleas.
4. What kind of offences are known to you? Specify the felony
and misdemeanor. 5. What penalties and sentences are imposed
in the US courts?
EXERCISE IV. Do library research and a) speak about the structure of the Russian courts. The following terms might be useful:
the electivity of the people's court; social lawfulness; city courts; regional courts; supreme courts; people's courts; hearing of cases in courts of law; people's judge; people's assessor; courts of first instance; legal assistance; presumption of innocence