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Exercise 8. Translate from Russian into English.

1.Британский парламент образуется из двух частей: Палаты лордов и Палаты общин.

2.Представителями Палаты общин являются простые люди.

3.Члены парламента, входящие в состав Палаты лордов, могли получать свое место в наследство.

4.Палата общин сейчас имеет большую политическую силу, чем Палата лордов.

Unit 5. Legislative and executive powers

Exercise 1. Read and give Russian equivalents of the following words and word combinations. Use them in your own phrases.

To sign, to obtain, currently, to refer, the basis, a chamber, a custom, a session, to postpone, to tend, the entry into force.

Exercise 2. Before you read remember some information about legislative and executive powers in your country. Ask your friend what he/she can tell about it.

Exercise 3. Read the text and translate it. Give a summary of what you have read.

Legislative power in the UK is implemented by the Parliament (the oldest in the world, it was established in 1265). The Parliament consists of the monarch, the House of Lords (750 members) and the House of Commons (currently 646 members). In practice, in the Parliament there are only two chambers, and in ordinary usage – the lower one, which carries out legislative functions. The king (or the queen) signs all laws, and on the basis of constitutional custom, he (or she) has not used his veto for almost 300 years.

A simple majority of votes inthelowerhouse can overcomethe vetoof the House of Lords, but in another session of the Parliament. It means that when the session is convened once a year, the upper house can postpone the entry into force of the law for a year. Indeed, the House of Lords tends to raise very few objections to bills passed by the House of Commons. The dominant function of the Parliament is lawmaking. Bills go through three readings. As a rule, they must be passed by both houses and obtain

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the royal assent before they can become law. Although the draft law could be introduced in any house, in practice the bill was first considered by the House of Commons and then referred to the House of Lords.

More than 44 million people have the right to vote. Voting is held in single-member constituencies according to the majority system of the relative majority. Since 1998–1999, the election of a new legislature in the regions, as well as the election of the Mayor of London, has been based on a proportional voting system: the elections of the Scottish Parliament, the assemblies of Wales and Greater London – the «additional vote», the elections of the Mayor of London – the «substitute» vote, the elections of the Assembly of Northern Ireland – the «single transitional vote». Proportional voting system (regional party lists) was used since 1999, in elections to the European Parliament.

Executive power is vested in the Government. The highest instance of the Government is the Cabinet, which is appointed by the sovereign. The head of the Cabinet is the Prime Minister selected by the monarch taking into account the unwritten conventions (the candidate must be a member of the House of Commons and have the support of the communities, sufficient for the purpose). The Prime Minister then chooses the remaining Ministers, who constitute the Government and are the political heads of Departments. Approximately 20 of the most important Ministers form the Cabinet.

As in the other systems of government, the Executive is responsible to the Parliament: after receiving a vote of no confidence from the Parliament, the government will be forced either to resign or to try to dissolve the Parliament and hold general election. In practice, members of all major parties in the Parliament are strictly monitored to ensure that their votes are in line with the policies of their parties. If the government has an overwhelming majority, it is unlikely that they will not be able to pass the bill through a vote.

In November 2005, Tony Blair's government suffered its first defeat (a proposal to extend the detention of terrorists to 90 days). Prior to it, the last time the bill passed through the House of Commons in 1986 (one of three cases in the XX century). Governments with a small margin, as well as coalition governments, are more at risk of defeat. Sometimes they have to resort to extreme measures, such as bringing sick Members of

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Parliament to the hospital couch to get a majority of votes. Margaret Thatcher in 1983 and Tony Blair in 1997 came to power with such a margin that if they disagree with the other parties, they are guaranteed to win almost all the votes of the Parliament and could implement radical electoral reform programs.

Exercise 4. Answer the questions to the text.

1.What are the main functions of the legislative power?

2.Who can use his veto? Can the veto be overcome?

3.Where is vested the executive power?

4.What parts is the Government composed of?

5.Who is Prime Minister nowadays?

Exercise 5. Explain the meaning of the words and word combinations.

The Cabinet – The veto –

A proportional voting system – The unwritten conventions – General elections –

Exercise 6. Match the words and their translation.

Exercise 7. Finish the sentences.

1.The Cabinet is appointed by … .

2.Regional party lists are … .

3.The government can be forced to … .

4.During General elections all major parties strictly monitored … .

5.The candidate for the Prime Minister’s position must be … .

Exercise 8. Make a report about one of the British Prime Ministers, discuss it with your groupmates.

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Unit 6. Judicial power

Exercise 1. Read and give Russian equivalents of the following words and word combinations. Use them in your own phrases.

A judge, a procedure, the competence, a division, archives, civil cases, per year, to complain, a solicitor, the assistant referee.

Exercise 2. Before you read tell about judicial power in your country. Ask your partner what he/she can tell about it.

Exercise 3. Read the text and translate it. Give a summary of what you have read.

The Supreme courts consist of several parts: the High court, the Crown court and the Court of appeal.

80 judges form the High court that has three divisions: the Royal bench (with the Lord chief justice as a head), the Chancellor (with the Vice – Chancellor as a head), and the family court (headed by the President of the division). All the cases are divided between branches by the specialization of the judges and the characteristics of the procedure; in fact, each branch may hear any case within the competence of that court. The judges are appointed from the barristers. The cases which are heard in the first instance must be heard by a single judge. The Queen's bench division hears matters governed by the general rules, trade law, etc. The area of the Chancellor’s jurisdiction deals with the cases not covered by the common law (such as copyright, patent law). Appeals against decisions of the High court are lodged with the Court of appeal.

18 judges known as Lord Justices form the Court of appeal headed by the custodian of the court archives. The case is considered by a panel consisting of three judges. One of the collegiums of the court deals only with criminal cases. This is the criminal division of the Court of appeal. In contrast to the panels dealing with civil cases, it is not accepted that the opinion of judges who remained in the minority, became known. The decisions of the Court of appeal may be appealed to the Appeals Committee of the House of Lords (in some cases it has been possible to appeal directly against the decisions of the High court). Such an appeal is exceptional: the House of Lords makes no more than 30–40 decisions per year. Cases are heard by at least three lords on appeal. Each judge expresses his own opinion on the case. The judges of the House of Lords,

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as such, or together with the judges of the overseas territories, form the judicial committee of the Privy Council. At this level, complaints against the decisions of the Supreme courts of the overseas territories and the Commonwealth member States are considered, as these States do not exclude the filing of such a complaint.

The Crown court is a new entity created by the court acts in 1971. It deals with criminal cases. Its composition is diverse. Depending on the type of crime, the case may be considered by:

1)a district judge (special court district judge in a County or group of counties);

2)a judge of the High court (it is based in the capital, but his members organize visiting sessions of the court);

3)a lawyer with special education and authority (barrister or solicitor);

4)an acting judge.

Barristers – lawyers who have the exclusive right to speak in higher courts (also they have the right to speak in lower courts). Solicitors are a larger category of lawyers, give advice to their clients, prepare for the hearing of civil and criminal cases in the interests of their clients, act on behalf of the prosecution or defense, as well as representatives of the interests of the parties in the lower courts. If the accused does not plead guilty, a jury will sit on the case.

In addition to the high courts in England, there are a variety of lower courts, which handle about 90 % of all cases. The most important inferior courts in civil cases are the courts of the counties. They hear cases with claims up to 1,000 £. Minor cases (the price of the claim is less than 11£) can be considered by the assistant referee. Minor criminal cases are subject to the jurisdiction of magistrates, ordinary citizens who are assigned the role of justices of the peace. Their total number is about 20 000; they are not professional lawyers; they do not receive remuneration.

There are administrative courts (tribunals) in the UK, but they operate under the Executive branch and are not administrative justice. The tribunals are specialized according to the profile of their «own» Executive: they deal with issues related to taxes, health care, labour disputes, other cases, including some civil cases. They do not consist of civil servants (judges), but of public figures and lawyers. The work of the

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