The notion of law

Task 9. Use the information given in the text to answer the questions. Discuss your answer with other members of the group.

1.Why did people tend to form tribes in primitive times?

2. What formed English Law?

3. Are legal rules and actions distinguished from other means of social control?

4. Do people suffer any penalty when they break moral rules and ethics?

5.Who formed rules and laid down laws in ancient times?

6. What factors brought changes into the law?

7. What are the main functions of the law?

8. Who develops the law in Great Britain nowadays?

9. Who is to ensure passing of wise laws in a democracy?

Task 10. Discuss your ideas in pairs & then exchange opinions with the whole group.

1. Can any society do without laws?

2. It is the business of citizens in a democracy to ensure that wise laws are passed.

Task 11. Read & translate the text.

The English word “law” refers to limits upon various forms of behaviour. Some laws are descriptive: they simply describe how people usually behave. Other laws are prescriptive - they prescribe how people ought to behave.

In all societies, relations between people are regulated by prescriptive laws. Some of them are customs - that is, informal rules of social and moral behaviour.

If people break these rules they do not suffer any penalty, but they may be criticized by other members of the society. Moreover, the people who do not observe these unofficial rules of behaviour can remain in isolation as the people around them may refuse to deal with them.

Laws are rules that are supported by the power of government. The whole system of punishment exists for those who do not wish to obey these official rules.

The person who breaks the law is called an offender or a law-breaker.

There are offences against international law and order, offences against property, against public order, against the person, against the state, etc. Laws may be written and unwritten. These traditional terms are misleading, because the expression “written” law signifies any law that is formally enacted or passed by Parliament, and the expression “unwritten” law signifies all unenacted laws, that is the laws not passed by Parliament.

On the Continent the volume of written law is more than the volume of unwritten. It can be explained by the fact that under the influence of the Napoleon Code many continental countries have codified their law.

In England in accordance with the tradition many laws have never been enacted, they have derived from judicial precedent. That is why in Great Britain unwritten law is predominant.

This does not mean that none of English law is codified. It only signifies that though Parliament “produces” a lot of acts, there is no whole system of codification, which prevails in many continental countries.

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