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07.10.2020 22:22 •  Английский язык

Переведите текст и выберите правильный ответ: Civil law countries, such as the continental European systems, are code-based law systems. In other words, laws are statutory and are not based on case law created in courts. At this point then it would appear that in the nineteenth century the US law was moving in the direction of a civil code: there was a central federal authority that could create legislation, declare state laws invalid, and enforce its decisions. Indeed, the citizens of the United States thought it important to put both the Constitution and universal civil liberties in a written form, something that the United Kingdom has never done. However, the crucial principles and approaches that the United States inherited from its British origins have kept the traditions of common law alive today in which case law does carry authoritative weigh.

Even through the nineteenth century, US judges, attorneys, and legal scholars relied on British law; today, however, British law is no longer as influential as it once was. There are a few British cases that are still mentioned in American law schools today, but far more importantly, there are fundamental concepts inherited from the English tradition that are still flourishing and continue to separate the English and American systems from other legal systems, such as the civil law systems of Germany and France. Three of the most important concepts that the Americans have inherited from the English are supremacy of law, precedent, and the idea of the trial as a contest.

1. The fact that both the executive and legislative branches of the government are required to follow the law as set down in the US Constitution is an indicator of the supremacy of law in the United States.

2. Precedent is the tradition that requires that courts follow the law as stated in decision by earlier courts.

3. Finally, we all know from watching infamous American cases or courtroom dramas on television that the American trial is an adversarial proceeding, like chess, in which the opposing attorneys seem to be more concerned with winning than arriving at the truth. What is not clear from the televised cases or TV dramas is that in the US 90 precent of the cases do not proceed to trial but are settled out of court. In other words, in most cases all sides work together to arrive at the truth. The cases that one sees on television, whether actual cases or TV drama, are the exception rather than the rule in the American system.

Televised cases are not a fair depiction of the American legal system. Too often it looks as though the person with the most money to hire the cleverest attorney wins the contest. In these contests, the judge is often a referee who must wait for one of the attorneys to cry, “Objection” before he or she can step in to decide if a piece of evidence or the questioning of a witness is valid. Normally, American judges don’t gather evidence as judges do in many systems; instead they look only at what the attorneys bring them, so the evidence may only be as good as the attoneys care to make it.

Unfortunately, TV trials rarely show that in the American system, judges can and do step in to ask for additional information or to limit questioning of a witness. It is true that the system is adversarial and that most of the questioning is done by the attorneys; however, to compare television courtroom drama to real life would be like comparing a pocket calculator to a powerful computer.

1. Most European countries

a) have laws that look much the same

b) have adopted a unified civil code

c) are civil law countries

2. In the nineteenth century the US legal system

a) managed to keep some traditions of common law

b) had no centralized federal authority

c) was definitily on the way to a civil code

3. The citizens of the United States aimed to

a) have the Constitution in a written form

b) cherish the UK legal tradition

c) rely on the basic principles inherited from British origins

4. Today US legal system

a) is strongly influenced by British law

b) is based on case law

c) together with the English system is still separated from others

5. Courtroom dramas make people believe that in the USA

a) the parties are ready to settle their case out of court

b) a trial is a competition of attorneys

c) attorneys are eager to arrive at the truth

6. In the USA almost all the cases

a) proceed to trial

b) are settled peacefully

c) are reconsidered

7. Television shows the cases that are

a) based on real facts only

b) always TV drama

c) not typical

8. In the USA judges …….. the evidence.

a) are not involved in gathering

b) are not concerned about

c) must collect evidence as judges do in many systems

9. In the American system a judge

a) interferes in hearing of witnesses

b) is just a referee

c) participates in a rather passive way