Private law

This is usually called civil law and has many different branches. The main ones are contract, tort, family law, law of succession, company law and employment law. It is sensible to have some ideas of what types of dispute may be involved in these areas of law, so look at the following situations.

· The family complain that their package holiday did not match what was promised by the tour operator and that they were put into a lower grade hotel than the one they had paid for.

· A woman has bought a new car and discovers the engine is faulty.

All these situations come under the law of contract. There are, of course, many other situations in which contracts can be involved.

Now look at the next list of situations; they are also civil matters, but of a different type.

· A child passenger in a car is injured in a collision (the tort of negligence)

· A family complain that their health is being affected by the noise and dust from a factory which has just been built near their house (the tort of nuisance)

· A woman is injured by faulty machinery at work (the tort of negligence, but may also involve occupiers’ liability and/or employer’s duty under health and safety regulations).

All these cases come under the law of tort. A tort occurs where the civil law holds that, even though there is no contract between them, one person owes a legal responsibility of some kind to another person, and there has been a breach of that responsibility. There are many different types of tort, and the above examples demonstrate only some of them. Many cases arise from road traffic crashes, since drivers owe a duty of care to anyone who might be injured by their negligent driving.

Other divisions of private (civil) law concentrate on particular topics.

Family law covers such matters as whether a marriage is valid, what the rules are for divorce and who should have the day-to-day care of any children of the family.

The law of succession is concerned both with regulating who inherits property when a person dies without making a will, and also what the rules are for making a valid will.

Company law is very important in the business world: it regulates how a company should be formed, sets out formal rules for running companies, and deals with the rights and duties of shareholders and directors.

Employment law covers all aspects of employment, from the original formation of a contract of employment to situations of redundancy or unfair dismissal.

As well as these areas of private law, there are also laws relating to land, to copyright and patents, to marine law and many other topics, so it can be seen that civil law covers a wide variety of situations.

It is important to realize that civil law is very different from criminal law. Criminal law is part of public law while civil law is the separate category of private law. The reason that criminal law is part of public law is that crime is regarded as an action against the state and society as a whole. Civil law is called private law because the issues it deals with are between two individuals. The two types of law have different aims and are dealt with in different courts.

9. Find in the text English equivalents for the following Russian words and expressions.

спорный вопрос, рассматривать дело, решение суда, преступление, совершить преступление, обвинение (сторона в судебном процессе), преследовать судебным порядком, обвиняемый, судебный пересмотр решений исполнительных органов (судебный контроль), наследственное право, деликт (гражданское правонарушение), признать виновным, правила безопасности, нарушение, обязанность соблюдать осторожность, действительный (имеющий законную силу), контракт, небрежность, составить завещание, ответственность.

10. Read the sentences and mark them as T (true) or F (false).

1. There aren’t often big differences between the laws of particular countries because of treaties which have been agreed by the governments of these countries.

2. The law and legal system which operate in England and Wales and Scotland is different.

3. Criminal law, constitutional law and administrative law make the parts of public law.

4. If a burglary happens it is possible for the victim to bring a private prosecution if the State does not take proceedings.

5. If there is a private prosecution, the State has no right to intervene.

6. If the defendant is found guilty the court will punish him for the offence and the victim will necessarily be given a compensation.

7. Сivil law and has many different branches.

8. The equivalent of tort in civil law jurisdictions is delict.

9. Family law covers such matters as making a valid will.

10. Company law deals with unfair dismissal in a company.

11. Answer the Questions:

1. How can types of law be classified?

2. What is the most important distinction between international and national law?

3. What is the key difference between public law and private law?

4. What types of law can public law be divided into?

5. What types of law can private law be divided into?

Grammar In Use Revision: Present Simple, Present Continuous, Relative Pronouns, Adverbs of frequency

12. Put the words below into the correct box in the 3^rd person singular, as in the examples.

Divide, classify, express, put, explain, concern, stay, agree, apply, try, involve, commit,pay, punish, allow, match, die, cut.

+s	divides
ss,sh,ch,x,o,+es	expresses
vowel+y+s	stays
Consonant+/y/=ies	applies