Use the collocations you formed in Exercise 4 to complete these sentences.

1. While a crime such as murder or shoplifting is a wrong committed against society, a tort is a.........................................................committed against an individual.

2. Torts are handled in the civil courts, where the...................................................... brings an action against the wrongdoer.

3. In most cases, the injured party is entitled to remedies under the law, such as................................................

4. In medical malpractice cases, the damages awarded to the injured party may include lost wages and...................................................

 

 

COMMERCIAL LAW [27]

Commercial law is the body of law that governs trade and commerce.

Reading:

Read the text below and decide whether these statements are true (T) or false (F).

1. Commercial law is a general term for a number of diverse areas of the law which regulate trade and commerce.

2. Contentious work includes the drafting of contracts and advising clients.

3. The Uniform Commercial Code applies to commercial transactions in all of the member nations of the European Union.

4. The World Trade Organisation checks to see if countries follow the trade agreements they have signed.

 

Commercial law deals with issues of both private law and public law. It developed as a distinct body of jurisprudence with the beginning of large-scale trade, and many of its rules are derived from the practices of traders. Specific law has developed in a number of commercial fields, including agency, banking, bankruptcy, carriage of goods, commercial dispute resolution, company law, competition law, contract, debtor and creditor, sale of goods and services, intellectual property, landlord and tenant, mercantile agency, mortgages, negotiable instruments, secured transactions, real-property and tax law.

The work of a commercial lawyer may involve any aspect of the law as it relates to a firm's business clients, and the role of the lawyer is to facilitate business clients' commercial transactions. It is essential for a commercial lawyer to have not only a good knowledge of a lot of substantive law, but also a thorough understanding of both contemporary business practices and the particular business needs of each client.

A commercial lawyer may be asked to advise a client on matters relating to both non-contentious and contentious work. Non-contentious work largely involves advising clients on the drafting of contracts, whereas contentious work commonly involves the consequences of breach of contract

Many jurisdictions have adopted civil codes that contain comprehensive statements of their commercial law, e.g. the Uniform Commercial Code (UCC), which has been generally adopted throughout the USA. Within the European Union, the European Parliament and the legislatures of member nations are working to unify their various commercial codes.

A substantial amount of commercial law is governed by international treaties and conventions. The United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL) regulates international trade in cooperation with the World Trade Organisation (WTO). The WTO is responsible for negotiating and implementing new trade agreements, and is in charge of policing member countries' adherence to these agreements, which are signed by the majority of the world's trading nations and ratified by their legislatures (for example, Parliament in the UK or Congress in the USA).

 

Choose the correct word or phrase to complete these definitions.

1. ‘Agency’ is the term for the relationship of a person who acts in addition to / on behalf of / on account of another person, known as the principal.

2. Bankruptcy is when someone cannot pay what they owe / own / won, and all their property is surrendered to a court-appointed person who liquidates the property to pay the claims of creditors / owners / debtors.

3. A secured transaction is a loan or credit translation / transaction / termination in which the lender / loaner / debtor acquires a security interest in certain property owned by the borrower and has the right to repossess the property if the borrower cannot pay.

4. Negotiable instruments are documents which represent a right of charge / payment/ credit for a specified sum of money on demand or at a defined time.

 

The Perfect Crime

Alice Jackson's husband, Henry, was a man of habit. So it was that at exactly six o'clock in the evening she was in the kitchen getting a beer for him out of the fridge and watching him walk up the path.

She was smiling. Today the routine was going to be different. It was their tenth wedding anniversary, and some friends were coming round for drinks at 8.00. There was a big ice statue of a couple kissing in the middle of the table in the living room, with twenty glasses waiting for the guests. Alice was looking forward to the evening.

She was very happy. She had a beautiful baby sleeping upstairs, a lovely home, and a husband who she adored.

Henry opened the door and came into the kitchen. She turned round to kiss him and give him his beer.

''Sit down, Henry said. 'I've got something to say.''

Alice had no idea that in the next two minutes her whole life was going to change.

'I'm sorry,' he said. 'And it's our anniversary, as well. But it's just that Kathy and I are in love. Bobby won't miss me, he's too young.'

She didn't believe her cars. She was in a dream,

'I'll get ready for the party,' she said. She walked into the living room. When she returned, Henry was standing with his back to her, drinking his beer. She was carrying something heavy. He turned. 'What on earth...?' These were Henry Jackson's last words. His wife hit him over the head.

At first he didn't move, and then he fell to the floor.

Suddenly Alice began to think very clearly. She took the ice statue back to the living room, and phoned the police.

Then she turned up the central heating, and went upstairs to put on some make-up.

The police came quickly.

'Is he all right?' she asked.

'He's dad.'

Alice screamed. 'No, no, not Henry! My Henry! Oh Henry!' Through her tears she told how she put the baby to bed, and came downstairs to find Henry on the kitchen floor.

'Burglars,' said Detective Parry.

They took her into the living room.

'Sit down, Mrs. Jackson. Sergeant Taylor, get Mrs. Jackson a drink. A brandy with some ice. Phew! It's hot in this room. I hope you understand, Mrs. Jackson, that we have to search the house immediately. We must find the murder weapon.'

The room was getting hotter. Suddenly an arm fell off the ice statue onto the table. It was melting. Sergeant Taylor went to the statue and picked up the melting arm. He broke it into bits and put some into Alice's brandy.

'Phew! Can I have a glass of water, Mrs. Jackson? It's so hot in here.'

think we all need one,' said the detective. “And, with ice”. They were all very hot and thirsty.

Alice's friends arrived. 'Poor, Alice! Poor, Henry!' They cried, and they tried to comfort her.

'Oh, thank you, thank you,' sobbed Alice. 'Please... stay and have a drink. Help yourselves,'

They all had drinks – gin and tonic, whisky – and they all had ice. The statue was now nearly a pool of water on the floor.

"1 wonder what the burglar hit him with,' said one guest.

'Who knows?' said another, taking a sip of her drink. Alice heard this conversation, and smiled into her brandy.

 

Дайте ответы на следующие вопросы:

1. What is the text about?

2.  Why is it called «the Perfect crime»?

3. What is the main idea of the text?

 

After her Husband’s Death

 

Catherine now ran the inn, and the work there helped her to cope with her husband’s death. Yet, in the nine months since the bridge tragedy, she still believed that someday the door would open and Ed would cheerfully call, «Where are my girls?" Sometimes she found herself listening for the sound of her husband’s voice.

Now, in addition to all the shock and grief, her finances had become an urgent problem. Two years earlier, Catherine had closed the inn for six months, mortgaged it and completed a massive renovation and redecoration project.

One Friday afternoon Catherine was in the house, getting ready to go to the inn dinner hour. The insurance people were expected soon. But, when the two gloomy looking executives arrived, it was not to begin the process of payment. «Mrs. Collins", the older of the two said, “I hope you will understand our position. We sympathize with you and understand the situation you are in. The problem is that we cannot authorize payment on your husband’s policies without a death certificate and that is not going to be issued".

Catherine stared at him. "You mean it’s not going to be issued until they have absolute proof of his death?" But suppose his body was carried down the river clear into the Atlantic?"

Both men looked uneasy. "All the other bodies have been recovered. There isn’t too much as wheel or engine part of a Cadillac in the riverbed below the accident site".

"Тhen you’re saying..." Catherine was finding it hard to form words.

"We are saying that the executive report on the accident categorically states that Edwin Collins could not have perished in the bridge tragedy that night. The experts fell that even though he may have been in the vicinity of the bridge, no one believes Edwin Collins was a victim. We believe he was in none of the cars involved in the accident and took advantage of that favorable happening to make the disappearance he was planning. We think he reasoned he could take care of you and your daughter through the insurance and go on to whatever life he had already planned to begin in South America or somewhere else."

 

Complete the sentences:

1. Catherine was so much depressed after her husband’s death that she:

1. couldn’t work

2. started hearing Ed`s voice

3. believed he would return

4. talked to Ed through the door

 

2. Catherine needed money because she:

1 had to run the inn

2 wanted to renovate the inn

3 wanted to forget her grief

4 had wasted her money

 

3. The insurance people came to see Catherine to tell her that:

1. the company couldn’t pay the money without a document

2. the insurance company refused to issue a death certificate

3. Edwin Collin’s body had been found in the Atlantic

4. Edwin Collin’s car had been found in the river

 

4. The executive report stated that Edwin:

1. was caught in one of the cars

2. was seen in the vicinity of the bridge

3. could have died in the accident

4. could not have been a victim

 

5. The insurance people thought that Edwin Collins:

1. lived in South America

2. had organized his disappearance

3. did not care for his wife

4. had planned to return home.

 

 

Causes of Crime

1. Match the following headings with the section of the text below:

1. Psychological and psychiatrist theories

2. Biological theories

3. Multiple causation theory

4. Social environment theories

5. Theological and ethical theories

6. Climatic theory

 

(1) No one knows why crime occurs. The oldest theory, based on theology and ethics, is that criminals are perverse persons who deliberately commit crimes or who do so at the instigation of the devil or other evil spirits. Although this idea has been discarded by modern criminologists, it persists among uniformed people and provides the rationale for the harsh punishments still meted out to criminals in many parts of the world.

(2) Since the 18^th century, various scientific theories have been advanced to explain crime. One of the first efforts to explain crime on scientific, rather than theological, grounds was made at the end of the 18^th century by the German physician and anatomist Franz Joseph Gall, who tried to establish the relationships between skull structure and criminal proclivities. This theory, popular during the 19^th century, is now discredited and has been abandoned. A more sophisticated theory – a biological one – was developed late in the 19^th century by the Italian criminologist Cesare Lombroso, who asserted that crimes were committed by persons who are born with certain recognizable hereditary physical traits. Lombroso’s theory was disproved early in the 20^th century by the British criminologist Charles Goring. Goring’s comparative study of jailed criminals and law-abiding persons established that so-called criminal types, with innate dispositions to crime, do not exist. Recent scientific studies have tended to confirm Goring’s findings. Some investigators still hold, however, that specific abnormalities of the brain and of the endocrine system contribute to a person’s inclination toward criminal activity.

(3) Another approach to an explanation of crime was initiated by the French political philosopher Montesquieu, who attempted to relate criminal behavior to natural or physical environment. His successors have gathered evidence tending to show that crimes against the person, such as homicide, are relatively more numerous in warm climates, whereas crimes against property, such as theft, are more frequent in colder regions. Other studies seem to indicate that the incidence of crime declines in direct ratio to drops in barometric pressure, to increased humidity, and to higher temperature.

(4) Many modern criminologists of the 19^th century, particularly those associated with the social movement, attributed crime mainly to the influence of poverty. They pointed out that persons who unable to provide adequately for themselves and their families through normal legal channels are frequently driven to theft, burglary, prostitution, and other offences. The incidence of crime especially tends to rise in times of widespread unemployment. Present-day criminologists take a broader and deeper view; they place the blame for most crime on the whole range of environmental conditions associated with poverty. The living conditions of the poor, particularly of those in slums, are characterized by overcrowding, lack of privacy, inadequate play space and recreation facilities, and poor sanitation. Such conditions engender feelings of deprivation and hopelessness and are conducive to crimes as means of escape. The feeling is encouraged by the example set of those who have escaped to what appears to be better way of life made possible by crime.

Some theorists relate the incidence of crime to the general state of a culture, especially the impact of economic crises, wars, and revolutions and the general state of insecurity and uprootedness to which these forces give rise. As a society becomes more unsettled and its people more restless and fearful of the future, the crime rates tend to rise. This is particularly true of juvenile crime, as the experience of the United States since World War II has made evident.

(5) The final major group of theories are psychological and psychiatric. Studies by such 20^th century investigators as the American criminologist Bernard Glueck and the British psychiatrist William Healy have indicated that about one-fourth of a typical convict population is psychotic, neurotic, or emotionally unstable and another one forth is mentally deficient. These emotional and mental conditions do not automatically make people criminals, but do, it is believed, make them more prone to criminality. Recent studies of criminals have thrown further light on the kinds of emotional disturbances that may lead to criminal behaviour.

(6) Since the mid-20^th century, the notion that crime can be explained by any single theory has fallen into disfavour among investigators. Instead, experts incline to so-called multiple factor, or multiple causation theories. They reason that crime springs from a multiplicity of confliction and converging influences – biological, psychological, cultural, economic and political. The multiple causation explanations seem more credible than the earlier, simpler theories. An understanding of the causes of crime is still elusive, however, because the interrelationship of causes is difficult to determine.

 

2. Write down Russian equivalents for the words and expressions in bold type, given in the text above.

3. Find in the text the English equivalents for the following words and expressions and reproduce the context in which they were used:

1. мошенничество;

2. кража;

3. убийство;

4. кража со взломом;

5. сравнительный анализ преступников и законопослушных граждан;

6. соотнести преступное поведение с факторами окружающей среды;

7. преступления против человека;

8. преступления против собственности;

9. совершать преступления умышленно;

10. некоторые узнаваемые наследуемые черты;

11. выдающиеся ученые-криминологи;

12. ряд условий;

13. уровень преступности;

14. быть склонным к преступной деятельности;

15. пролить свет на проблему;

16. теория многообразия факторов;

17. достоверная теория.