In 1963, a case called Gideon v. Wainwright came before the U.S. Supreme Court. In this case, a Florida man named Gideon was charged with unlawful breaking and entering into a poolroom. Gideon asked the trial court to provide him with a free lawyer because he was too poor to hire one himself. The state court refused to provide him with an attorney. It said that state law provided free attorneys only to defendants charged with capital offenses (those crimes that carry a penalty of death or life imprisonment).
The Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution says that no state may deprive a person of life, liberty, or property without due process of law. Due process means fair treatment. Gideon argued that to try someone for a felony without providing him with a lawyer violated his right to due process of law. The Supreme Court agreed with Gideon,
Taking a Car by Mistake
JoeHarper left the key in his 1990 blue mini-van. When he came back an hour later, he got into someone else's blue mini-van by mistake. This car also had the key in it. Harper, who did not notice it was a different car, started it and drove away. He was arrested for auto theft.
At the trial, the judge told the jury it was not necessary for them to consider whether Harper intended to steal the car. Instead, the judge instructed the jury that to find Harper guilty of auto theft they only had to decide whether he was caught driving a car that was not his. The jury found Joe Harper guilty.
This case illustrates an error of law that could be appealed. Auto theft law requires that the accused person must have intended to steal the car. Harper did not intend to steal the car. The guilty verdict could be reversed.
Ex. 1. Find the equivalents for the following words and expressions in the text:
общее право, суд первой инстанции, истец, апелляционный суд, особое мнение (судьи); несогласное мнение, мнение судьи, совпадающее с позицией большинства состава суда, прецедент, ошибочная трактовка закона.
Ex. 2. Match the words on the left with the correct definition on the right:
| Prosecutor | a wrong decision |
| Defendant | a decision about a particular law case which makes it likely that other similar cases will be decided in the same way |
| Error of law | a legal representative who officially accuses someone of committing a crime, especially in a court of law |
| Precedent | a person in a law case who is accused of having done something illegal |
| Appeals court | a court which has a power to change the decision of the trial court |
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| Ex. 8. Problem solving | | | Ex. 3. Fill in the gaps with the suitable words or word combinations |