Reading tasks

A Comprehension check.

1 Markthese statements T (true) or F (false) according to the information in the text.

a Japanese prefer written agreements to informal ones.

b There are more lawyers in the United States than in Japan.

c Contracts and courts of law are a part of ordinary people`s daily life in all

industrialized countries.

d There are increasing attempts to internationalize legal standards.

2 Give examples of the growing uses of law throughout the world.

B Answer these questions.

1 What do people think of law?

2 In what circumstances do people think of their everyday activities as legal matters?

3 Are laws for lawyers or for ordinary people?

4 What will you do if your neighbour plays loud music at night? Will you go to the court?

5 How do people solve problems in the United States and in Japan?

6 Why do multinational companies employ expensive experts in law?

7 In your opinion, is law merely a function of political power?

8 Can ordinary citizens challenge the decisions of their governments? How?

9 Why do people increase attempts to internationalize legal standards?

10 When is law regarded as a bad thing?

11 Are there any laws in Russia that you would like to change or introduce?

Language focus

Put the verb in brackets into the correct form, present simple, past simple or present perfect.

It is obvious to everyone that, in a community such as the one in which we 1) _______ (live), some kind of law is necessary. When the world was at a very primitive stage, there 2) _____ (be) no such law. But, for a very long time now, members of every community 3) _______ (make) laws for themselves in self-protection.

Every day of our lives we are restrained and guided by law. It 4) _______ (protect) us while it 5) _________ (restrict) us. Sometimes it 6) _______ (punish) us. It 7) _______(determine) the registration of our births and the distribution of our possessions at death. It tells us how fast we 8) _______ (can) drive and how long we 9) ______ (must) attend school.

Every country 10) _______ (try), therefore, to provide laws which will help its people to live safely and as comfortably as possible. This is not at all an easy thing to do, and no country 11) _______ (be) successful in producing laws which are entirely satisfactory. But we are far better off with the imperfect laws which we 12) _______ (have), than if we had none at all.