UNIT 1

Name these professions. Use the first letter as a clue.

JUDGE

LAWYER

POLICE

Let’s read.

WHAT IS A LAW?

Where people live together they usually agree on rules about conduct and procedures.
They do this so that the group may better achieve its objectives and to ensure the rights of its
individual members are respected and protected. Schools have rules specifically for these
purposes. Families too might have rules, determined by parents, to ensure the safety and
security of younger members. Society has certain unwritten rules that reflect social and
cultural values, such as an expectation that individuals display courtesy and good manners,
observe things like queues and keep to the left on escalators.

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 A law is the highest form of rule and protects individuals by determining what is
acceptable behavior and conduct. Laws are considered a fundamental element of civilized
society: maintaining order, ensuring good conduct and protecting the human and civil rights
of individuals. Without a system of laws, society would most likely degenerate into
disorder and anarchy.
The law is fundamentally important – but it is not perfect. The law is only as fair and
effective as those who develop, implement and oversee it. Martin Luther King correctly
observed that “everything that Hitler did in Germany was ‘legal” and everything the Hungarian
freedom fighters did in Hungary was “illegal.” It was “illegal” to aid and comfort a Jew in Hitler’s
Germany. At the beginning of the 1930s, Adolf Hitler’s Nazi Party exploited widespread and
deep-seated discontent in Germany to attract popular and political support so that hitler is
protected by the law at the time. The law is not above debate, criticism or challenge. The law
must be flexible, receptive to suggested reform and capable of change. As people and society
changes, so too must the law.
Adapted from Anonymous. 2014. What is law?. Lawgovpol.

Glossary:
anarchy (n) : chaos
courtesy (n) :
kindness
degenerate (v) : become worse in
quality disorder (n) : confusion
display (v) : show
oversee (v) :
watch protected (v)
: kept

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Task 1
Use the clues in the box to complete the crossword. One is done for you as an example.

H F A E L S H H U M O S T A T B G

U A C H A O L E V G S D F F I E F

M S E O Y C O L H A O I F A G S I

A A S D N I T U L E C L H N U L E
N O T U T E E F A I I O E Y D N A

I C O C P T E S W O A L R A T E N

D I S T I Y L N C F L E X I B L E

R V A R I G H T S A R O P A T S G

R I A N C O M P H E S S O R K O E

F L U I D R T C R I T I C I S M R

No Words Cl
ue
1. Law the whole system of rules that everyone in a
country or society must obey.

2. Rights a moral or legal entitlement to have or obtain

something or to act in a certain way

3. Human a man, woman or child

4. Society a large group of people who live together in an

organized way

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5. Criticism the act of expressing disapproval or/and opinions
about their faults or bad qualities/a statement
showing disapproval

6. Criticism protest or objection

7. Flexible able to change or be changed easily according to

the situation