Comprehension Questions
1.Which groups protect the labor law?
2.What should employers do for disabled persons?
3.What normative act regulates issues related to the termination of employment?
4.What is the difference between Labor law and Employment law?
5.What claims can be filed in the courts or in the court?
Unit 6 PUBLIC LAW
Public law sub-divisions:
-Constitutional law
-Administrative law
-Criminal law
Text 1 Public Law
To confound - cбить с толку
Enactment - принятие закона (введение закона в силу)
To circumvent - обмануть, перехитрить
To void – делать недействительным, аннулировать
To entrench – отстаивать, защищать
Public law is the law governing the relationships between individuals (citizens, companies) and the state. Constitutional law, administrative law and criminal law are sub-divisions of public law.
Generally speaking, private law is the area of law in a society that affects the relationships between individuals or groups without the intervention of the state or government. In many cases the public / private law distinction is confounded by laws that regulate private relations while having been passed by legislative enactment. In some cases these public statutes are known as laws of public order, as private individuals do not have the right to break them and any attempt to
circumvent such laws is void as against public policy. 46
Constitutional Law deals with the relationship between the state and individual, and the relationships between different branches of the state, i.e. the executive, the legislative and the judiciary. In most legal systems, these relationships are specified within a written constitutional document. However, in the United Kingdom of Britain and Northern Ireland (UK), due to historical and political reasons there does not exist one supreme, entrenched written document. The U.K has an unwritten constitutionthe constitution of this state is usually found in statutes. Despite all this, in reality, much of the constitution is a political phenomenon, rather than a legal one.
Administrative law refers to the body of law which regulates bureaucratic managerial procedures and is administered by the executive branch of a government and to the body of law that defines the powers of administrative agencies; rather than the judicial or legislative branches (if they are different in that particular jurisdiction). This body of law regulates international trade, manufacturing, pollution, taxation, and the like. This is sometimes seen as a subcategory of Civil law and sometimes called public law as it deals with regulation and public institutions.
Criminal law involves the state imposing sanctions for crimes committed by individuals so that society can achieve justice and a peaceable social order. This differs from civil law in that civil actions are disputes between two parties that are not of significant public concern
Comprehension Questions
1.What relations does the public law influence?
2.What are the features of law in the UK and Northern Ireland?
3.What does criminal law provide?
4.What are the differences between civil and criminal law?
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Text 2 Criminal Law
Wrongful conduct – противоправное поведение
Accused – обвиняемый
Attorney – адвокат
Misdemeanors – проступки
Petty theft – мелкая кража
Burglary – кража со взломом
Murder – убийство
Law enforcement agencies – правоохранительные органы
Criminal prosecution – уголовное преследование
Criminal law involves a system of legal rules designed to keep the public safe and deter wrongful conduct. Those who violate the law face incarceration, fines, and other penalties. The American criminal justice system is both complex, and adversarial in nature. With the exception of minor traffic violations, accused individuals will require the assistance of an attorney.
Specific crimes and the consequences for violating them are found in penal codes enacted by legislators at the local, state, and federal levels. Less serious crimes are classified as misdemeanors. These typically carry a maximum of up to one year in the county jail. Examples include petty theft, possession of small amounts of controlled substances, and first-offense drunk driving.
Crimes of a more serious nature are classified as felonies. These carry punishments of a year or more in state or federal prison. Felonies include violent crimes like murder, burglary, and rape, as well as white collar crimes like embezzlement and money laundering.
When questions arise as to how criminal statutes should be interpreted, judges and lawyers turn to previously issued court opinions dealing with the same issues. This principal is known as “stare decisis.” It means that once a court issues a decision involving a given set of circumstances, that ruling is binding precedent for similar disputes that come before the court on a later date.
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Law enforcement agencies have the responsibility of investigating alleged crimes. Procedural rules are in place to ensure police officers respect the constitutional rights of the citizens they investigate. When a defense attorney challenges the legality of a criminal prosecution, most times the dispute is a result of procedural violations by the police.
Comprehension Questions
1.What is the purpose of the criminal justice system?
2.What acts are criminally punishable?
3.What is the judicial precedent?
4.What organs investigate the supposed crimes?
5.What is the classification of crimes?
Text 3 Administrative Law
notion – взгляд (мнение) regard – внимание (забота) sheer bulk - массовость
to impede – препятствовать (затруднять) to reckon – считать; подводить итог ancillary – подчиненный, служебный provision – снабжение, обеспечение
to hinder – мешать, препятствовать
to frustrate – расстраивать, срывать (планы)
to assign to - приписывать
Administrative law is the body of law created by administrative agencies in the form of rules, regulations, orders, and decisions to carry out regulatory powers and duties of such agenesis. Administrative law is the legal framework within which public administration is carried out. It derives from the need to create and develop a system of public administration under law, a concept that may be
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compared with the much older notion of justice under law. Since administration involves the exercise of power by the executive arm of government, administrative law is of constitutional and political, as well as juridical, importance.
There is no universally accepted definition of administrative law, but rationally it may be held to cover the organization, powers, duties, and functions of public authorities of all kinds engaged in administration; their relations with one another and with citizens and nongovernmental bodies; legal methods of controlling public administration; and the rights and liabilities of officials. Administrative law is to a large extent complemented by constitutional law, and the line between them is hard to draw. The organization of a national legislature, the structure of the courts, the characteristics of a cabinet, and the role of the head of state are generally regarded as matters of constitutional law, whereas the substantive and procedural provisions relating to central and local governments and judicial review of administration are reckoned matters of administrative law. But some matters, such as the responsibility of ministers, cannot be exclusively assigned to either administrative or constitutional law. Some French and American jurists regard administrative law as including parts of constitutional law.
The law relating to public health, education, housing, and other, public services could logically be regarded as part of the corpus of administrative law; but because of its sheer bulk it is usually considered ancillary.
One of the principal objects of administrative law is to ensure efficient, economical, and just administration. A system of administrative law that impedes or frustrates administration would clearly be bad, and so, too, would be a system that results in injustice to the individual. But to judge whether administrative law helps or hinders effective administration or works in such a way as to deny justice to the individual involves an examination of the ends that public administration-is supposed to serve, as well as the means that it employs.
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