Reading tasks

Answer these questions.

1 What are four main sources of American law?

2 How do American sources of law differ from the sources of English law?

3 What is the difference between the Civil Law and the common law?

4 What does American common law include?

5 What does term “code” mean in the Civil Law system and in the common law system?

6 What are the special problems of American constitution as a source of law?

7 What are statutes?

How does the role of the judge in your system differ from his or her role in the American system?

Text E

Continental Systems

Continental systems are known as codified or Civil Law legal systems. They have resulted from attempts by governments to produce a set of codes to govern every legal aspect of a citizen’s life. Thus it was necessary for the legislators to speculate quite comprehensively about human behaviour rather than simply looking at previous cases. In codifying their legal systems, many countries have looked to the examples of Revolutionary and Napoleonic France, whose legislators wanted to break with previous case law, which had often produced corrupt and biased judgements, and to apply new egalitarian social theories to the law.

For You to Remember Civil Law, or code law, is one of two major legal systems currently in use in the Western world. It is based primarily on the written codes of Justinian and Napoleon. The predominant feature of civil law is the attempt to establish a body of legal rules in one systematized code, a single comprehensive legislative en­actment. In this system, judicial decisions, case law, are not a source of law, although judicial precedents may be useful in the decision of cases. Civil Law remains the basis of the legal system in Italy, France, Spain, Germany, and other parts of the Western world that were once included in the Roman Empire.  

Vocabulary

biased adj предвзятый; пристрастный; предубеждённый

canon law n каноническое право

citizenry n гражданство; граждане

consenting adj согласный

corrupt adj коррумпированный; продажный

egalitarian adj эгалитарный; уравнительный

impact n влияние, воздействие

inconsistent adj 1 непоследовательный; 2 противоречивый

judgement n 1 судебное решение; 2 мнение; суждение

judiciary n судебная власть

landmark adj знаковый (документ в истории); поворотный (в истории)

latitude n свобода действий

lawgiver n законодатель; законодательная власть

lawmaker n законодатель

legislature n законодательная власть; легислатура

lex talionis лат. “ the law of retaliation ” (an eye for an eye) “закон равного возмездия”, т.е. закон, основанный на принципе: око за око, зуб за зуб

speculate v размышлять; делать предположения

Дата добавления: 2015-11-14