University: Banja Luka
Faculty: Law
Academic year: 2016/2017
Term: Summer/II
Course: Legal English
Type of class: Lectures
Date and time: 23.02.2016., 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 it 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 else’s 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.
Negligence – failure to exercise the care that a reasonably prudent person would exercise in like
circumstances (nebriga, nemar)
Negligent conduct – falls short of what a reasonable person would do to protect another person
from foreseeable risk of harm (štetno ponašanje)
Civil law of negligence – the area of tort law that involves harm caused by carelessness, not
intentional harm (odštetno pravo)
Penalty – a punishment imposed for breaking a law, rule or contract (kazna, sankcija)
Damage – physical harm that impairs the value, usefulness or normal function of something
(šteta, povreda)
Tort – civil wrong, willful or negligent that gives rise to a legal obligation between parties even
though there has been no contract between the parties. (građanskopravni delikt)
Damages – the money a person receives to compensate for loss or injury (odšteta)
Safeguard – to protect (čuvati)
Duty of care – the responsibility of a person or business to act toward others with caution and
prudence (dužnost pažnje)
Questions:
1. What is law?
2. Explain the ways in which law prohibits, allows or limits the power of individuals.
3. Explain Ignorantia juris non excusat.
4. What is negligent conduct?
5. What is a claim for damages?
6. What is duty of care?
7. Explain Dura lex sed lex.
8. What is civil law of negligence?
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 Majesty’s Customs and Excise – a government agency which guards 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 – cold-blooded, deliberate, intentional killing
Manslaughter – provoked killing based on diminished responsibility
To elapse – to pass
To regain one’s responsibility – to recover one’s 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 – judge’s 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 certainty
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 one’s 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.
When judge John Deed took the case of a man who had killed the driver responsible for his
daughter's death, the high court judge got personally involved in the situation. Morris Haart had
applied for a shotgun licence prior to the hit-and-run accident. Although the driver responsible
for killing his daughter was tried and acquitted, Haart did not react but rather turned his emotions
inward and did not let the pain go out. After seeing the same driver driving illegally and
dangerously in the streets, he went to the Police Station; collected his shotgun licence, bought a
shotgun, and killed the driver.
Judge’s daughter took her fresher term at Sussex where she met a young environmentalist Rory,
who put her into trouble, and they ended up in prison. It turned out that Rory was a dope fiend
and conflicting kind of person, so in order not to be charged for terrorism he accused Judge’s
daughter of being involved in terrorist activities. Judge needed to pull some strings to save her,
but that gave his enemies at court a motive to ask for his retirement.
Jo, Judge’s emotional friend, was a defence counsel in the Haart case, arguing manslaughter
under provocation. The Public Prosecutor advocated premeditated murder. Haart was not
concerned about the outcome of the trial. His life without Mona was his sentence. In the first
round, the jury returned the verdict of guilty, but after Haart spoke about what had provoked him
to kill the driver, the jury changed their mind and returned the verdict of not guilty on all counts.
List of questions – first lecture
1. What is law?
2. Explain the ways in which law prohibits, allows or limits the power of
individuals.
3. Explain Ignorantia juris nocet.
4. What is negligent conduct?
5. What is duty of care?
6. Explain Dura lex, sed lex.
7. What is tort?
8. What is civil law of negligence?
9. Name main parties in the criminal trial.
10.Еxplain the role of the jury.
11.What is actus reus?
12.What is mens rea?
13.What is a non-custodial sentence?
14.Explain the difference between murder and manslaughter.
15.What is manslaughter under provocation?
16.What is premeditated murder?
17.Who assists the presiding judge in court?
18. What is an indictment?
19.What is a guilty plea?
20. What is a witness box?
21. What is surety for bail?
22. Why are High Court judges under police protection?