Text A. Criminal law

КОНТРОЛЬНАЯ РАБОТА №2

Вариант 7

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1. Crime is categorized as a part of public law – the law regulating the relations between citizens and the state. Crimes can be thought of as acts which the state considers to be wrong and which can be punished by the state. There are some acts which are crimes in one country but not in another. For example, it is a crime to drink alcohol in Saudi Arabia, but not in Egypt. It is a crime to smoke marijuana in England, but not (in prescribed places) in the Netherlands. In general, however, there is quite a lot of agreement among states as to which acts are criminal. A visitor to a foreign country can be sure that stealing, physically attacking someone or damaging their property will be unlawful. But the way of dealing with people suspected of crime may be different from his own country.

2. In many legal systems it is an important principle that a person cannot be considered guilty of a crime until the state proves he committed it. The suspect himself need not prove anything, although he will of course help himself if he can show evidence of his innocence. The state must prove his guilt according to high standards, and for each crime there are precise elements which must be proven. In codified systems, these elements are usually recorded in statutes. In common law systems, the elements of some crimes are detailed in statutes; others, known as «common law crimes,» are still described mostly in case law.

3. There are usually two important elements to a crime: (I) the criminal act itself; and (II) the criminal state of mind of the person when he committed the act. In Anglo-American law these are known by the Latin terms of (I) Actus Reus and (II) Mens Rea. The differences between these can be explained by using the crime of murder as an example. In English law there is a rather long common law definition of murder: «The unlawful killing of a human being under the Queen’s Peace, with malice aforethought, so that the victim dies within a year and a day». Malice aforethought refers to the mens rea of the crime and is a way of saying that the murderer intended to commit a crime. The rest of the murder definition refers to the actus reus. The prosecution must show that the suspect did in fact cause the death of someone. If the prosecution fails to prove either actus or mens, the court must decide there was no crime and the case is over.

4. But even if actus and mens have been proved, a defendant may still avoid guilt if he can show he has a defense – a reason the court should excuse his act. Different systems of law recognize different and usually limited sets of defenses. For example, English law sometimes allow the defense of duress – being forced to commit a crime because of threats that you or someone else will be harmed if you don’t. Another defense is that of insanity.

5. In most countries a person cannot be found guilty of a crime if in a doctor’s opinion he cannot have been responsible for his actions because of mental illness. But this defense requires careful proof. If it is proven the defendant will not be sent to a prison, but instead to a mental hospital. It might be argued that a person is not responsible for his actions if he is intoxicated – drunk or under the influence of drugs. In fact, an intoxicated person may not even know what he is doing and thus lacks mens rea. However, in Britain and many other countries, there is a general principle that people who knowingly get themselves intoxicated must be held responsible for their acts. Consequently, intoxication is not a defense.

6. Nearly every system of law recognizes the defense of self-defense. In English law, a defendant can avoid guilt for injuring someone if he can convince the court that the force he used was reasonable to protect himself in the circumstances.

7. Although most criminal laws in the world refer to acts of violence or theft, there are laws regulating almost every kind of human behavior: for example, what we do with our land, what we say and write, how we run our businesses. Sometimes governments «create new crimes» by identifying a form of behavior and passing a new law to deal with it. In most industrialized countries existing theft laws were not adequate to deal with computer crimes where complex kinds of information are stolen, altered or used to deceive other, and, thus, new laws have been passed.

8. Technical change is one reason criminal law is one of the fastest growing areas of the law. Another reason is that the number of crimes committed in some countries seem to be increasing rapidly – although sometimes it is not clear whether people are breaking the law more, being caught more, or reporting other people’s crimes more. One more reason is that different societies – or perhaps it is different governments – continually review their ideas of what should and shouldn’t be considered crime. Homosexual acts and suicide were once crimes in all European countries, but have now mostly been decriminalized. On the other hand, discrimination against someone on the grounds of race or sex was not acknowledged as a crime until relatively recently, and is still not recognized in some countries.

2. Выпишите из текста английские эквиваленты следующих слов и выражений: незаконный; совершить преступление; уголовно наказуемое деяние; намерение совершить преступление; злое предумышление; виновный в совершении преступления; доказать вину; обвинение (сторона в судебном процессе); ответчик; физическое принуждение; невменяемость; защита (возражение) ответчика; насильственное деяние.

3. Найдите в тексте и выпишите 3 предложения, содержащие инфинитив. Определите формы и функции инфинитива. Переведите предложения на русский язык.

4. Найдите в тексте и выпишите 3 предложения, содержащие причастие. Определите формы и функции причастий. Переведите предложения на русский язык.

5. Найдите в тексте и выпишите 3 предложения, содержащие герундий. Определите формы и функции герундия. Переведите предложения на русский язык.

6. Переведите письменно 2, 3 абзацы.

7. Напишите аннотацию к тексту, используя следующие клишированные словосочетания (3-5 предложений): the precis deals with …; the abstract is devoted to …; the work is concerned with … (bears on …, gives explanation of …, is intended to demonstrate certain phenomena, is designed to provide some information about …); the subject of the paper under review is …; the author touches upon the problem of …; … is (are) described; special attention is given (paid) to …; the chief aim (main purpose) of the work is …; the main result of the work is … (that it has given a clue to …).

8. Составьте свое жизнеописание (C.V.), используя образец на стр. 29.

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