What is law текст the english word law

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WHAT IS LAW?

The English word law refers to limits upon various forms of behaviour. Some laws are descriptive: they simply describe how people, or even natural phenomena, usually 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. Some are rules we accept if we belong to particular social institutions, such as religious, educational and cultural groups. And some are precise laws made by nations and enforced against all citizens within their power.
What motives do governments have in making and enforcing laws? Social control is undoubtedly one purpose. Public laws establish the authority of the government itself, and civil laws provide a framework for interaction among citizens. Without laws, it is argued, there would be anarchy in society (although anarchists themselves argue that human beings would be able to interact peacefully without laws if there were no governments to interfere in our lives).
Another purpose is the implementation of justice. Justice is a concept that most people feel is very important but few are able to define. Sometimes a just decision is simply a decision that most people feel is fair. But can we create a just society by simply observing public opinion? If we are always fair to majorities, we will often be unfair to minorities. If we do what seems to be fair at the moment, we may create unfairness in the future. Many philosophers have proposed concepts of justice that are much more theoretical than everyday notions of fairness, and sometimes governments are influenced by philosophers. But in general, governments are guided by more practical considerations such as rising crime rates or the lobbing of pressure groups.
Sometimes laws are simply an attempt to implement common sense. It is obvious to most people that dangerous driving should be punished; that fathers should provide financial support for their children if they desert their families; that a person should be compensated for losses when someone else breaks an agreement with him or her. But in order to be enforced, common sense needs to be defined in law, and when definitions are being written, it becomes clear that common sense is not such a simple matter. Instead, it is a complex skill based upon long observation of many different people in different situations. Laws based upon common sense do not necessarily look much like common sense when they have been put into words.
In practice, governments are neither institutions solely interested in retaining power, nor clear-thinking bodies implementing justice and common sense. They combine many purposes and inherit many traditions. The laws that they make and enforce reflect this confusion.

Task 7. Подготовьте устный пересказ прочитанного текста на английском языке (10-15 предложений)

The English
word “law” refers to limits upon various forms of behaviour. Some
laws are descriptive: they simply describe how people, or even
natural phenomena, usually behave. An example is the rather
consistent law of gravity; another is the less consistent law of
economics. Other laws are prescriptive — they prescribe how people
ought to behave. For example, the speed limits imposed upon drivers
are laws that prescribe how fast we should drive. They rarely
describe how fast we actually do drive, of course.

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. Some
are rules we accept if we belong to particular social institutions,
such as religious, educational and cultural groups. And some are
precise laws made by nations and enforced against all citizens within
their power.

Suppose a
member of a rugby club is so angry with the referee during a club
game that he hits him and breaks his nose. At the most informal level
of social custom, it is probable that people seeing or hearing about
the incident would criticise the player and try to persuade him to
apologise and perhaps compensate the referee in some way. At a more
formal level, the player would find he had broken the rules of his
club, and perhaps of a wider institution governing the conduct of all
people playing rugby, and would face punishment, such as a fine or a
suspension before he would be allowed to play another game. Finally,
the player might also face prosecution for attacking the referee
under laws created by the government of his country. In many
countries there might be two kinds of prosecution. First, the referee
could conduct a civil action against the player, demanding
compensation for his injury and getting his claim enforced by a court
of law if the player failed to agree privately. Second, the police
might also start an action against the player for a crime of
violence. If found guilty, the player might be sent to prison, or he
might be made to pay a fine to the court, that is, punishment for an
offence against the state, since governments often consider
anti-social behaviour not simply as a matter between two individuals
but as a danger to the well-being and order of society as a whole.

What motives do governments
have in making and enforcing laws? Social control is one purpose.
Public laws establish the authority of the government itself, and
civil laws provide a framework for interaction among citizens.
Without laws, it is argued, there would be anarchy in society.

Another purpose is the
implementation of justice. Justice is a concept that most people feel
is very important but few are able to define. Sometimes a just
decision is simply a decision that most people feel is fair. But will
we create a just society by simply observing public opinion? If we
are always fair to majorities, we will often be unfair to minorities.
If we do what seems to be fair at the moment, we may create
unfairness in the future. What should the court decide, for example,
when a man kills his wife because she has a painful illness and begs
him to help her die? It seems unjust to find him guilty of a crime,
yet if we do not, isn’t there a danger that such mercy-killing will
become so widespread that abuses will occur?

Sometimes
laws are simply an attempt to implement common sense. It is obvious
to most people that dangerous driving should be punished; that
fathers should provide financial support for their children if they
desert their families; that a person should be compensated for losses
when someone else breaks an agreement with him or her. But in order
to be enforced, common sense needs to be defined in law, and when
definitions are being written, it becomes clear that common sense is
not such a simple matter.

Активная
лексика:
law, behave – behavior,
to describe – description – descriptive, phenomenon, to prescribe
– prescription – prescriptive, to impose upon, to relate –
relation, to regulate – regulation, custom, rule, to accept,
nation, to enforce – enforcement, power, level, incident, to
persuade, to find – found – found, to govern – government,
punish – punishment, fine, suspension, prosecution, claim, crime,
violence, guilty, offence, well-being, public law, civil law,
justice, to define – definition, court, to implement –
implementation, to agree – agreement.

Найдите
в тексте эквиваленты следующих
словосочетаний:

Различные
формы поведения, регулировать отношения
между людьми, принадлежать определенным
социальным институтам, проводить в
жизнь закон, на более формальном уровне,
нарушить правила, руководить поведением
людей, столкнуться (стоять перед лицом)
наказания, преследование в судебном
порядке за нападение на кого-то; законы,
созданные правительством, вести
гражданское дело против кого-то, требовать
компенсацию за оскорбление, заставить
выполнить иск через суд, начать судебное
дело против кого-то; преступление,
заключающееся в применении насилия,
отправить в тюрьму, заплатить штраф,
наказание за оскорбление государства,
обеспечивать взаимодействие между
гражданами, следить за общественным
мнением.

Ответьте
на вопросы по тексту:

1. What
   is law?

2. Give
   definition of descriptive and prescriptive law?

3. What
   laws regulate relations between people?

4. What
   are customs?

5. What
   motives do governments have in making and enforcing law?

6. What
   does public law establish?

7. What
   is the role of civil laws?

8. What
   does the term “justice” mean?

9. Explain
   the expression: laws are simply an attempt to implement common
   sense.

10. What
    do you think about “mercy-killing”?

________________

9

Другие языки

Прочитайте и письменно переведите текст WHAT IS LAW?

The English word law refers to limits upon various forms of behaviour.

Some laws are descriptive : they simply describe how people, or even natural phenomena, usually 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.

Some are rules we accept if we belong to particular social institutions, such as religious, educational and cultural groups.

And some are precise laws made by nations and enforced against all citizens within their power.

What motives do governments have in making and enforcing laws?

Social control is undoubtedly one purpose.

Public laws establish the authority of the government itself, and civil laws provide a framework for interaction among citizens.

Without laws, it is argued, there would be anarchy in society (although anarchists themselves argue that human beings would be able to interact peacefully without laws if there were no governments to interfere in our lives).

Another purpose is the implementation of justice.

Justice is a concept that most people feel is very important but few are able to define.

Sometimes a just decision is simply a decision that most people feel is fair.

But can we create a just society by simply observing public opinion?

If we are always fair to majorities, we will often be unfair to minorities.

If we do what seems to be fair at the moment, we may create unfairness in the future.

Many philosophers have proposed concepts of justice that are much more theoretical than everyday notions of fairness, and sometimes governments are influenced by philosophers.

But in general, governments are guided by more practical considerations such as rising crime rates or the lobbing of pressure groups.

Sometimes laws are simply an attempt to implement common sense.

It is obvious to most people that dangerous driving should be punished ; that fathers should provide financial support for their children if they desert their families ; that a person should be compensated for losses when someone else breaks an agreement with him or her.

But in order to be enforced, common sense needs to be defined in law, and when definitions are being written, it becomes clear that common sense is not such a simple matter.

Instead, it is a complex skill based upon long observation of many different people in different situations.

Laws based upon common sense do not necessarily look much like common sense when they have been put into words.

In practice, governments are neither institutions solely interested in retaining power, nor clear — thinking bodies implementing justice and common sense.

They combine many purposes and inherit many traditions.

The laws that they make and enforce reflect this confusion.

Task 7.

Подготовьте устный пересказ прочитанного текста на английском языке (10 — 15 предложений).