Legal system of Great Britain

Although the United Kingdom is a unitary state England and Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland all have their own legal systems, with considerable differences in law, organisation and practice. In Scotland, for instance, there is a separate system for the prosecution of offences and different prison and police services.

Northern Ireland, too, has its own police and prison services, although the general criminal law there has come more closely into line with that in England and Wales. On the other hand, crime prevention policy and non-custodial treatment for offenders is similar throughout Britain. There are different civil court and civil law systems in England and Wales and in Scotland; the system in Northern Ireland is in many ways similar to the English and Welsh model.

The most common type of law court in England and Wales is the magistrates’ court. There are 700 magistrates’ courts and about 30,000 magistrates.

V. Поставьте письменно 4 вопроса к тексту.

Вариант 19

I. Перепишите предложения и преобразуйте их из прямой речи в косвенную. Письменно переведите предложения на русский язык.

1) “The constitution of the USA was adopted in 1789”, the student said.

2) “Are magistrates paid salaries?” Steve asked.

3) “Don’t argue with me”, my father asked.

II. Перепишите и письменно переведите на русский язык предложения, обращая внимание на перевод условных предложений.

1) If it rains tomorrow, our game will be cancelled.

2) If she hadn’t missed the bus, she would not have been late for work.

3) If a robber attacked him in a dark street, he would defend himself.

III. Перепишите и письменно переведите на русский язык предложения. Обратите внимание на перевод инфинитива и инфинитивных конструкций, подчеркните их (в англ. предложении).

1) They heard the plaintiff give evidence.

2) The arrest of the criminal is reported to have been affected.

3) It was difficult for her to drive a car.

IV. Прочитайте, перепишите и письменно переведите текст:

Crime.

Crime in categorized as a part of public law - the law regulating the relations between citizens and the state. Crimes can be thought of as acts which the state considers to be wrong and which can be punished by the state.

In many legal systems it is an important principle that a person cannot be considered guilty of a crime until the state proves he committed it. The suspect himself need not prove anything, although he will of course help himself if he can show evidence of his innocence. The state must prove his guilt according to high standards; and for each crime there are precise elements which must be proven. In codified systems, these elements are usually recorded in statutes. In common law systems, the elements of some crimes are detailed in statutes; others, known as "common law crimes", are still described mostly in case law. Even where there is a precise statute, the case law interpreting the statute may be very important since the circumstances of each crime may be very different.