University: Banja Luka

Faculty: Law
Academic year: 2013/2014
Term: Summer/II
Course: Legal English
Type of class: Lectures
Date and time: 20.2.2014, 09.00 13.00
1st week of lectures/15 weeks
09.00 10.00
Introduction into Law
Everyone is affected by law every day. No one can live in a modern society without
meeting the law in many different ways each day.
Every time we drive a car we must pay attention not only to the criminal law but also to
the requirements of the civil law of negligence. Every time a visitor enters our homes we become
legally responsible for his safety we owe him what lawyers call a duty of care, whether we
know if or not.
Even the most private and natural parts of our lives birth, marriage and death have
significant legal aspects. In all these ways the law is a framework for the actions of citizens. In
its most familiar form it tells us not to do something. The criminal law supports these
prohibitions by an elaborate system of threatened penalties: and civil law often has a similar
purpose it compensates the person injured by someone elses negligence, and so indirectly
discourages negligent conduct.
But law is more than a network of rules saying Thau shalt not. It also enables people to
do the things they wish to do getting married or divorced, adopting a child or making a will, for
instance. It lays down the requirements for licences a licence to drive a car, for example, or a
licence to sell wines and spirits in a restaurant. It provides the rules for the relationship between
manufacturers and the people who use their products, between estate agents and the people who
wish to buy or sell houses.
The law marks out the limits of the power of individuals to control their affairs. A man
may play a musical instrument provided he does not play it too loudly. A woman may marry a
man of her choice provided he is not too closely related. A family can enlarge their home
provided they can show in the application for planning permission that their plans will not
diminish the value of their neighbours homes or damage the environment.
It is well known that ignorance of the law is no excuse (Ignorantia juris non excusat);
but in our modern society, where the law touches so many steps of our daily lives, ignorance of
the law is also a positive risk for it often deprives people of their legal rights. Tenants leave
their homes in response to a notice to quit unaware that they may have legal protection.
Consumers fail to appreciate that they have legal remedies against the retailer who has sold them
defective goods; they sign guarantees which deprive them of their legal rights.
People injured in accidents refrain from taking proceedings against the person
responsible because they do not know that it is possible to get damages for pain and suffering.
Knowledge of the law, therefore, is not merely an agreeable social and intellectual
advantage. Knowledge of the law is the way in which we can safeguard ourselves, our families
and our possessions, by assuring ourselves of the rights and remedies which the legal system
provides. (Dura lex, sed lex)
The most common definition of the law in English legal textbooks is: rules of conduct
imposed by a state upon its members and enforced by the courts. Thus, law has a social purpose,
to regulate human behavior and establish social order in a manner defined by the interests of the
rulers of society.

10.00:11.00

Case study - synopsis

Judge John Deed (British legal drama television series),
Episode 1: Exacting justice (1h:28min)

Exacting oppressive, harsh

To purchase to buy
To keep something under lock and key keep it in a safe place
To stipulate define, determine
Licence permit
Fresher term first year at the Faculty
To adjourn to make a break
Adjournment (n.)
HMCE Her Majestys Customs and Excise a government agency which guard the borders of
the UK from smugglers
Custody detention
All rise! showing respect to the presiding judge upon his entering the courtroom
Guilty plea the defendant pleads guilty as charged
Prosecution judicial body which raises charges against the defendant
To read law to study law
Premeditated murder bold-blooded, deliberate, intentional killing
Manslaughter provoked killing based on diminished responsibility
To elapse to pass
To regain ones responsibility to recover ones reason
Non-custodial sentence suspended sentence; a legal term for a judge's delaying of a
defendant's serving of a sentence after they have been found guilty, in order to allow the
defendant to perform a period of probation. If the defendant does not break the law during that
period, and fulfills the particular conditions of the probation, the judge usually throws out the
sentence
Defence barrister counsel for the defence
To return the verdict to pronounce the verdict
Clerk of the court judges legal assistant
Taxing master independent person appointed by the government to assess the legal costs of a
party to a legal matter
To serve justice to make the right court decision
Mandatory life sentence long-term prison sentence
To prove beyond reasonable doubt to prove with absolute certainity
The deceased the dead
Actus reus actions carried out that killed a person
Mens rea criminal intent, deliberate intention
Provocation doing or saying something which causes a person to temporarily lose his reason
Shotgun licence permit to carry a gun
Hit-and-run driver a driver who has hit a person in the street and escaped from the scene
Criminal record official record of ones criminal history
Surety for bail a promise by one party to assume responsibility for the debt obligation of a
borrower
To pervert justice to distort justice
To overturn a bad judgment to reject a bad judgment
Inference conclusion
Hospice a care centre for the terminally ill
Prosecution will fall at committal it will go for a minor offence

11.00 13.00 Video presentation of the Hart v. UK case.

Questions:
1.
2.
3.
4.

Who is judge John Deed?

Name main parties in the trial.
The role of the jury.
Which government agency is responsible for guarding the borders of the UK against
smugglers?
5. What is actus reus?
6. What is mens rea?
7. What do you need to apply for to be permitted to carry a gun?
8. What is a non-custodial sentence?
9. Explain the difference between murder and manslaughter.
10. Who assists the presiding judge in court?
11. Who is a taxing master?
12. What is an indictment?
13. What is a guilty plea?
14. Explain provocation as a statutory or common law possible defence or an offence.
15. What is a witness box?
16. Who issues a copy of a criminal record?
17. What is surety for bail?
18. What kind of a criminal act is breaking into a facility?
19. What possible charges can be raised against a person who has allegedly set fire to a
warehouse?
20. What does perverting justice mean?
21. What is a prima facie case?
22. What is a synonym for ignominiously?
23. What is a hospice?
24. How did Hart reacte to the jurys verdict of not guilty?
25. Why did the juror address one of the protestors in spite of being cautioned not to?
26. Why are High Court judges under police protection?

N.B. These questions may appear in the final written test.