2018-02-13
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Constitution is the body of doctrines and practices that form the fundamental organizing principle of a political state. In some states, such as the United States, the constitution is a specific written document; in others such as the United Kingdom, it is a collection of documents, statutes, and traditional practices that are generally accepted as governing political matters. States that have written constitutions may also have a body of traditional or customary practices that may or may not be considered to be of constitutional standing. Virtually every state claims to have a constitution, but not every government conducts itself in a consistently constitutional manner.
In its wider sense, the term constitution means the whole scheme whereby a country is governed: and this includes much else besides law.
In its narrower sense, the term ‘constitution’ means the leading legal rules, usually collected into some document that comes to be almost venerated as “The Constitution”. But no country’s constitution can be compressed within the compass of one document, and even where the attempt has been made, it is necessary to consider the extralegal rules, customs, and conventions that grow up around the formal document.
Written constitutions. In most Western countries the constitution, using the term in the narrower sense, is a scheme of government that has been deliberately adopted by the people; examples are the Constitution of the United States, drawn up in 1787 and ratified in 1789 and still in essentials unchanged; the constitution of the Weimar Republic or that of the Federal Republic of Germany, brought into force in 1949; and the constitutions that France has had since the Revolution. The constitution in these countries is the basis of public law; it is usually enacted or adopted with special formalities; special processes are devised for its amendment and sometimes safeguards are inserted to ensure that certain provisions are unalterable.
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The English constitution. In England there is no one document or fundamental body of law that can be described as a “constitution” in the sense that has been discussed above. The absence of any such document or of any distinction between public and private law has led to the suggestion (perhaps first made by Alexis de Tocqueville) that there is in England no constitution. Certainly the English constitution has no existence apart from the ordinary law; it is indeed part of that very law. Magna Carta, the Petition of Right act, the Habeas Corpus Act, the Bill of Rights, and the Act of Settlement are the leading enactments; but they are in no sense a constitutional code; and, without a host of judicial decisions, scores of other statutes of much less importance, and a mass of custom and convention, these statutes would be unworkable. The sources of English constitutional law are diffuse – statutes, judicial precedent, textbooks, lawbooks, the writings of historians and political theorists, the biographies and autobiographies of statesman, the columns of every serious newspaper, the volumes of Hansard, the minutiae of every type of government record and publication. This is what is meant by saying the English constitution is “unwritten”: it is not formally enacted; its rules have to be sought out in a dozen fields, not in any one code. Similarly, it is flexible, and here the contrast is with a rigid constitution. There are no special safeguards for constitutional rules; constitutional law can be changed, amended, or abolished just like any rule of private law; there is no field in which Parliament is forbidden to legislate.
From «Britannica».
1. Read and translate the text in writing
2. writedown 10 keywords from the text and make up your own sentences with them
3. Give resume to Russian (Ukrainian) newpaper article in English
GRAMMAR TASK
Задание №1. Перепишите предложение, подчеркните причастия, укажите их функцию. Переведите предложения письменно.
1. The sales manager showed us the list of goods exported by the company
2. Inform us as soon as possible when you intend to deliver the goods ordered
3. Not receiving letters from her, he sent a telegram
4. When asked to take part in the talks, he agreed at once
5. I have just bought a book containing information about taxation
6. Being a foreigner, she couldnt get used to the life in this country.
Задание №2. Перепишите предложения, выбрав верный вариант сказуемого. Определите его время и залог.
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1. When he arrived in the city the bridge across the river ____ a) was still being built b) was still built c) has still been built
2. Every year the lectures of the Professor _____ with great interest/ a) had been listened to b) are being listened to c) are listened to
3. The automatic devices ______ by the end of the last month. a) had been installed b) have been installed c) are installed
4. The works of this physicist ______ in the years to come. a) are referred to b) will be referred to c) have been referred to
Задание №3. Выберите верный ответ. Перепишите и письменно переведите предложения.
1. Can you give me______ to drink? a) something b) anything c) nothing
2. If you find_____ interesting in this magazine, send it to me, please. a) something b) anything c) everything
3. They had a very hard day, thats why _____ of them came to the party. a) anyone b) nobody c) none
4. I dont expect _______ tonight. a) anybody b) nobody c) everybody.
Задание №4. Перепишите предложения, подчеркните объектный инфинитивный оборот. Переведите предложения письменно.
1. We expect the company to work at a loss next year. 2. We believe him to be one of best specialists in this field. 3. I would like him to be promoted soon because he deserves it. 4. I heard him speak on the phone.
Задание №5. Выберите верный вариант. Перепишите и письменно переведите предложения.
1. Nobody is _____ than Mike a) happier b) as happy c) more happier 2. His job is_____ than his friends. a) much important b) much more important c) most important 3. He is punctual and never comes _________. a) lately b) late. 4. He knows French _______ of all. a) worse b) badly c) worst
