Task 3. Match English words and word combinations with their Russian equivalents

a) committee 1. комитет

b) commission 2. Федеральное Собрание

c) the Federal Assembly 3. комиссия

d) supreme body 4. Генеральный Прокурор

e) the General Prosecutor 5. высший орган

f) the Federation Council 6. Совет Министров

g) the deputy Chairman 7. Совет Безопасности

h) the Council of Ministers 8. Счетная Палата

i) the Accounts Chamber 9. Совет Федераций

j) the Security Council 10. заместитель председателя

 

Task 4. Put the missing verbs into these sentences

1. The Federation Council... two representatives from each region.

2. The Federation Council and the State Duma ……. separately but they have the right ……. the decision... closed sessions.

3. The Federal Council ….. decisions on changes of borders between the constituent entities.

4. The State Duma... charges against the President and gives suggestion on his impeachment.

5. Should the selected candidate be rejected three times, the President ……… the Chairman of the Government himself... the State Duma and ……… new elections.

Task 5. Scan the text to choose the best ending to these incomplete sen­tences

1. The Parliament consists of... (one branch only, two chambers, several committees).

2. The Federation Council and the State Duma sit... (separately, together, with other governmental subcommittees).

3. Military forces cannot be used outside the country without the approval of... C The State Duma, the Federation Council, the President).

4. Appointment of the Supreme body of the judicial branch is within the competence of... (the Chairman of the Government, the Federation Council, the Treasury).

5. Charges against the President can be issued by... (the government, the deputy chairmen, the State Duma).

6. The Chairman's candidate is appointed by... (the deputy Chairman, the Federation Council, the President).

Task 6. Say if it is True or False

1. The Federal Council doesn't approve decisions on changes of borders between the constituent entities.

2. It is within the competence of the State Duma to appoint and dismiss the Chairman of the Central Bank.

3. The government consists only of the federal ministers.

4. The Chairman's candidate is not to be approved by the State Duma.

5. Should the selected candidate be rejected three times, the President appoints the Prime Minister himself.

6. A draft budget is to be discussed by the State Duma.

7. Measures to ensure state security are carried out by the govern­ment.

Task 7. Answer the following "Whose-right-is-it” questions

1.... to approve the President's appointment?

2.... to appoint the Accounts Chamber?

3.... to have the final decision on the impeachment of the President"?

4.... to dissolve or decline the power of the Government or dissolve the State Duma?

Task 8. Read the text in detail to answer the following questions

1. What kind of a functioning body is the Federal Assembly?

2. Are there clear limitations of competence in each chamber in the Federal Assembly?

3. What chamber has the right to conduct closed sessions?

4. What chamber is responsible for the consideration of financial problems?

5. In what connection does the word "impeachment" appear in the text?

 

For the next session (Bachelor’s Programme)

Variant I.

Task 1. Read and translate the text

The Question of Law

Jurisprudence* is the philosophy of law, or the science which deals with positive law and legal relations. The study of jurisprudence asks questions such as: What is law? Where does it come from? Why do we have it? When do we first meet it? Where have you met it? In my opinion, no nation that does not have an informed populace in jurispru­dence can be strong and free.

Fundamentally, law may be called rules governing behavior between people.

Purposes for law include: to regulate human relations; to determine ownership/control of property; to fix parameters of freedom in community and relationships by restraining anarchy (for without law there is only anarchy); to produce justice. But so long as we agree and live out our agreements, we do not need written law. But when we disagree, we must have a system designed to restore us to agreement or decide be­tween us so we do not fall into blood feuds. To have a system we must recognize need for a Rule of Law*.

But who decides what is or is not justice? A legislature* passing laws? Public opinion directing legislators? Judges? Juries? Money? Lawyers? Yes, but No - each individual will decide, inside him, when in conflict, whether he will accept the outcome as justice or not.

Law can be spoken of in many different ways: Political*, Criminal, Civil, and Equitable*, or Constitutional, Statutory* and Procedural*. Or case precedent (stare decisis * ) or local custom (tradition); or in a vertical manner - international, then national, then district, then city, etc.; or re­pressive, democratic, autonomous, common, etc. Yet all law will, at times, seem arbitrary and capricious. That is because people make the decisions, not the law - the law is not self-acting. Rule of Law asks the question: "Are these decisions of people made in a framework of law, or a framework of no law?"

The problem always was, and is: What is an adequate base for law? What is adequate so that a human desire for freedom can exist without anarchy and yet be gentle enough to provide a form that will not become arbitrary tyranny?

Jurisprudence has to do with administration, or weighing of justice, ' or right values. All pronouncements of right and wrong are moral concerns, at their base religious. In recent years we have witnessed numerous marches on Washington in which one group or another demanded new "rights"; not freedom from state control but entitlement to state action, protection, or subsidy. In creating rights a state inevitably enlarges its bureaucracy. As a state creates new rights, it necessarily diminishes some rights for others. The modern secular view holds that individuals have just such rights as laws give them. Rights must have a reference point and specific context or they are meaningless; reference point determines the nature of the right exercised, defines who possesses it and sets limits to others who must respect it.

When we fail to live at peace, we need compulsion - so the law exists to compel. It does this by punishment.

Man's methods of law place two people in combat against each other, using advocates (lawyers) who, in the normal setting, keep the parties separate from one another. In this, we say that we search for the truth of the case.

Vocabulary notes

 

jurisprudence юриспруденция, правоведение

rule of law принцип господства права, правовая норма, за­конность

legislature законодательная власть, законодательный орган

Political Law государственное право

Equitable Lawправо справедливости

Statutory Law право, выраженное в законодательных кодифицированных актах, статутное право, statute - закон в письменном виде, принятый законодательной властью, в отличие от неписанных законов и прецедентных решений судов - устных и письменных

Procedural Law процессуальное право

stare decisis (Lat.) судебный прецедент, обязывающая сила прецедентов, букв, «стоять на решенном»