Vocabulary tasks

A Match the following English legal expressions with their Russian equivalents.

	judicial system	a	исключительно на усмотрение
	federal district court	b	подать в суд
	district court’s judgement	c	пожизненные судьи
	bring the case before the court	d	нарушить договор
	review by appeal	e	судебная система
	violate a treaty	f	федеральный районный суд
	within the sole discretion	g	суд последней инстанции
	justices for life	h	решение районного суда
	court of last resort	i	пересмотр в порядке апелляции

B Match these terms with their definitions.

	appeal	a	a judge in a court; usually an appellate judge
	proceeding	b	a court procedure by which a will is held to be valid or invalid
	court	c	the power to hear and decide the issues in a case (subject-matter jurisdiction) and to bind the parties (personal jurisdiction)
	holding	d	the proceedings before a competent tribunal in which a civil or criminal case is heard and adjudicated
	justice	e	a government body intended to apply the law to controversies brought before it and to administer justice
	litigant	f	a request that a higher court review the decision of a lower court
	trial	g	a party to a lawsuit
	jurisdiction	h	a determination of a matter of law that is pivotal to a judicial decision
	probate	i	the process of using a court to settle a disagreement or to deal with a complaint

C At trial

The climax of the legal proceedings is the trial. Read the following text about the trial and the answer the true/false questions below the text.

A trial may be defined broadly and comprehensively as a judicial examination of the issues between the parties. Although some variations may exist, trials are usually held before a judge sitting alone, a referee, or a judge and jury. The counsels for the prosecution and for the defence make opening statements to the jury, outlining what each sees as the nature of the case and what each hopes to prove as the trial proceeds. Next, the counsel for the prosecution presents his case by calling witnesses, questioning them, and permitting them to be cross-examined by the counsel for the defence. The counsel for each side then makes a closing argument to the jury, summarizing the evidence in a light most favourable to their respective clients. The function of the jury is to determine the facts of the case, whereas the function of the judge is to determine the applicable law and to oversee the parties' presentation of the facts to the court. After the judge has instructed the jury on the applicable law, the jury will retire to deliberate in private until it reaches a just verdict, which will then be announced in open court. The verdict of a jury terminates the trial. In a case tried before a judge sitting alone, the decision of the judge constitutes a termination of the trial.

	Criminal trials are always held in front of a jury.	False
	A judge may sit alone to hear a legal case.	______
	At the beginning of the trial both counsels outline their case.	______
	The counsel for the defence may cross-examine prosecution witnesses.	______
	The function of the jury is to decide the applicable law.	______
	The judge may intervene if the counsels on either side fail to observe the court procedures.	______
	The judge advises the jury on the law relevant to the case.	______
	The jury discusses their verdict in open court.	______

D Complete the following statements with the appropriate expressions from the Text B.

The Supreme Court of the USA consists of 1) _______. They are appointed by 2) _______, and must be approved by 3) _______. A decision of the Supreme Court 4) _______ to any other court. The Supreme Court has direct jurisdiction in the following kinds of cases: 5) _______. All other cases are 6) _______. Each 7) _______ may include any number of judges, one of whom will hear a 8) _______.

If a party wishes to appeal 9) _______, he/she brings the case before the appeals court, the circuit court, for that district.

Generally, a lawsuit is to be brought 10) _______.

E Complete the following text with the words from the box.

district (3) federal appellate state resort appeals trial Supreme (2)

The federal courts have three tiers: 1) _______ courts, courts of 2) _______ and the 3) _______ Court. The 4) _______ Court was created by the Constitution; all other 5) _______ courts were created by Congress. Most litigation occurs in 6) _______ courts. The structure of 7) _______ courts varies from state to state; usually there are 8) _______ for less serious cases, 9) _______ for more serious cases, intermediate 10) _______ courts and courts of last 11) _______. State courts were created by state constitutions.

Text C

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