CONSTITUTIONAL LAW

 

Constitutional law concerns the relationships between the individual and the state. In Great Britain law is not merely a matter of the rules which govern relations between private individual, for example between a landlord and a tenant or between a husband and a wife. Law also concerns the structure and powers of the state. The relations between the individual and the state should be founded upon and governed by law.But law does not exist in a social and political vacuum. Within a given society, the legal rules that concerns relations between a husband and a wife will reflect that society’s attitude to marriage. One branch of human learning and experience that make life in today’s world more tolerable and less brutish than it might otherwise be is constitutional law.

Within a stable democracy constitutional law reflects the value that people attach to orderly human relations, to individual freedom under the law and to the institutions such as parliament, political parties, free elections and press. Laws are the product of human decisions. Lord Acton said, ‘Power tends to corrupt and absolute power tends to corrupt absolutely’. But the weakness and imperfections of human nature are not a reason for discarding law as a means of regulating political conduct.

In most branches of law the purpose and operation of legal rules can be understood only with knowledge of the social background against which the legal rules operate: legal procedures for the resolution of disputes arising within a family, a trade union or a limited company are an incomplete guide to the role of these institutions in society.

Unlike legal system in which law is divided into a series of codes, there is no hard demarcation in Great Britain between constitutional law and other branches of law. For example, in the field of family law, important protection for family life is given by the European Convention on Human Rights and family status is an important basis for many rules of immigration control. Numerous civil liberty issues arise out of criminal law and procedure. In property law, public control of private rights is a fertile field for the emergence of disputes involving a clash between public and private interests. These examples do not mean to suggest that constitutional law comprehends the whole of the legal system but that the functioning of the legal system is of direct concern to constitutional law.

 

2. Put 10 special questions to the text “CONSTITUTIONAL LAW”.

 

3. Carry out the following assignments in grammar.

 

4) Put the verbs in brackets into the correct form of the Present Indefinite or Present Continuous.

1. You … (to want) to see my children? -Yes, I ... They (to play) in their room now? Yes, they … .

2. My working day … (to begin) at seven o'clock. I … (to get) up, … (to switch) on the radio I and … (to do) my morning exercises. It … (to take) me fifteen minutes. At half past seven we … (to have) breakfast. My father and I … (to leave) home at eight o'clock. He … (to take) a bus to his office.

3. What you … (to do) here now? - We … (to have) an English lesson now. We … (to listen) to tape-recordings.

4. Lena usually … (to prepare) her homework at the academy? - No, she ... . As a rule, she … (to work) at the hostel. - And what she … (to write) now? - Oh, she … (to write) an article for our wall newspaper.

 

5) Put the verbs in brackets into the correct form of the Past Indefinite or Present Perfect.

1. You … (to play) the piano yesterday?

2. Look at my new evening dress! I … (to make) it myself.

3. Her son is not at school today, he … (to fall) ill. - When he … (to fall) ill? - He … (to fall) ill yesterday.

4. The lecture … (not yet to begin) and the students are talking loudly in the classroom.

5. What you … (to prepare) for today?

6. At last I … (to translate) this difficult article: now I’ll have a little rest.

7. We … (to go) to the country yesterday, but the rain … (to spoil) everything.

8. My watch was going in the morning, but now it … (to stop).

9. When it all … (to happen)?

10. The policeman … (to leave) the bathroom a moment ago.

 

6) Put the verbs in brackets into the correct form of the Present Perfect, Present Indefinite, Past Indefinite or Past Continuous.

1. What the detective … (to do) when he came to the place of the crime?

2. You … (to be) to the Crimea? When you … (to be) there? - I … (to be) there in 2006.

3. He … (to play) computer games from two till three yesterday

4. When I … (to enter) the kitchen, I … (to see) that my mother … (to stand) at the table and … (to cut) some cabbage. She … (to cook) dinner.

5. The girls … (to dust) the furniture. They … (to do) it regularly.

6. My sister … (not to play) the piano she … (to play) the violin.

7. As soon as I … (to see) him, I … (to understand) that he … (to work) hard. He … (to write) something and … (not to notice) anything.

8. I … (not to sleep) at nine o'clock yesterday, I … (to sleep) only 7 hours a day.

9. When I … (to come) home yesterday, the children … (to run) and … (to sing) merrily. "We … (to learn) a new folk song!" they cried.

10. When I … (to draw) yesterday, I … (to break) two black pencils.

 

7) Put the verbs in brackets into the correct form of the Future Indefinite, Future Continuous or Future Perfect.

1. How many new articles you … (to read) by five o'clock tomorrow?

2. What you … (to do) at eight o'clock tomorrow?

3. I … (not to go) to the cinema tomorrow. I … (to watch) TV the whole evening.

4. What you … (to do) the day after tomorrow?

5. I … (to do) all my homework by the time he comes, and we … (to go) for a walk together.

 

8) Put the verbs in brackets into the correct form of the Past Indefinite Tense or Past Perfect Tense.

1. He … (to discuss) the problem with a lot of lawyers before he … (to take) a decision.

2. The boys … (to say) that they (to see) a lot during their summer vacation.

3. We … (to be) rather upset because we … (to lose) the way to the hotel.

4. They … (to hope) they … (to make) no mistakes in the examination-paper.

5. I … (to think) that the attorney … (to leave) for Kyiv.

 

9) Translate the following sentences. Mind the sequence of tenses.

1. It was clear that the young woman would never understand her mistake.

2. They were lucky to understand what film it was.

3. Did you realize that you had been trying to lock the wrong door?

4. The lawyer concluded that adults would be answering the questions without discussion.

5. I have been looking for new solutions of the problem since I had found it.

6. The revolution has influenced our lives and it has changed us.

7. The chief asked whether the policeman had been making the report for half an hour.

8. Nobody really knew when we had arrived.

 

10) Translate the following sentences. Mind the modal verbs.

1. You may change the primary data of your new reseach work.

2. We must check the final results to see whether they were really correct.

3. We need to know what makes one criminal different from others.

4. Can the policemen examine the scene of the crime?

5. Psychologists must use statistical methods for examining the results.

6. Such techniques should be avoided in our legal work.

7. He ought to predict and control the results of this experiment.

8. As he couldn’t see the colours properly he didn’t drive a car.

 

11) Define the meaning of the modal verbs in the following sentences and translate them.

1. Were the students able to read such newspaper articles without a dictionary?

2. They didn’t have to fulfil the plan by the end of spring.

3. The young sportsmen were allowed to drive the new car. They were to be attentive.

4. Are the bad results of this experiment to be discussed immediately?

5. My friends will have to translate these scientific articles, but they won’t be able to do it as they have no proper knowledge.

6. Some people are not able to remember tiny details.

7. We’ll have to tell him the real truth. His last experiment was not a success.

8. The prosecutor assistant was to do a lot of urgent work.

9. Were the witnesses allowed to do it without lawyers?

10. The cadets of the police academy were to wear uniforms.

 

12) Put the verbs in brackets into the correct form of the Active or Passive Voice.

1. Fresh bread … (to eat) in our family every day.

2. We … (to receive) her telegram by the end of the week.

3. After she … (to explain) this method thoroughly, we no longer … (to feel) worried.

4. Everybody … (to hear) his interesting report at the university conference last month.

5. Some parents … (to teach) their children to endure all hardships.

6. The students … (to find) important information about the life in Ukraine in this book.

7. The most difficult question … (to answer) yesterday.

8. This scientific article … (to read) by every lawyer.

9. His new textbook for the first-year students … (to finish) next year.

10. Many houses … (to burn) during the Great Fire of London.

 

11) Change into the Passive Voice.

1. Nobody has spoken about her great success in civil procedure.

2. The little boy cut a sheet of paper with a sharp knife.

3. The cadets thought about their winter holidays all the time.

4. The experienced doctor operated on her husband a day or two ago.

5. The young men didn’t complain about their bad living conditions.

6. The detectives have just asked the witnesses about the time of the crime.

7. Why do the senior students often laugh at the freshmen?

8. They will listen to his regular report at the university scientific conference.

9. Has he already looked for the key in the pockets of his trousers?

10. The old woman is looking at me with great surprise.

Укладач: викладач кафедри англійської мови факультету іноземних мов Скриль Оксана Іванівна.

УКРАЇНСЬКА МОВА (ЗА ПРОФЕСІЙНИМ СПРЯМУВАННЯМ)

Вид контролю

· залік

Форма контролю:

· реферат

· контрольна робота