Attorney-General and Director of Public Prosecutions

Legal Language

Legal writing in English has developed over hundreds of years and is characterised by specific features, some of which can make it difficult for the non-lawyers to understand. Characteristics of legal writing include: using Latin terms; using technical terms (“subsidiarity”); using old-fashioned words not much in general use; using pair of words with reciprocal relationship (‘lessor’/’lessee’); using legal jargon (‘without prejudice to’) including the use of pairs of words (‘terms and conditions’), or triplets (‘build, erect or construct’); having special meanings for words in ordinary use (‘the judge determined the fact of the case’), where ‘determined’ means ‘decided’; using vague words (‘provide a sufficient service’); using long sentences with little punctuation; inverting word order (‘title absolute’); using capital letters to signal important or defined terms (‘the terms of the Lease…’) avoiding personal pronouns (‘you’, ‘we’, ‘I’); the specific use of the modal verb ‘shall’ to impose an obligation `or duty on someone (‘The tenant shall not sub-let the whole or part of the premises.’); the use of ‘shall’ in a directory sense (‘Notice of an appeal shall be filed within 28 days.’)

There is a movement to draft legal text in standard, modern, ‘plain’ English but any change will be slow.

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Note: Some legal drafters argue that the use of ‘shall’ in a directory sense is to be avoided because of confusion. Note also the general English use of ‘shall’ to refer to future intentions (‘I shall write to him’), although this use is increasingly uncommon.

Latin terms

There are many legal terms in written English legal texts, although recent reforms in the English justice system have encouraged the use of English rather than Latin. Some Latin terms are used so frequently that they are in general English use (e.g. ad hoc,bona fide, pro rata, etc.). It is useful to be able to recognize their meaning and a dictionary or online glossary will help. Forms of pronunciation vary

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Summary в зошиті

Block 2

1.Kyiv Uniersity. Faculty of Law

Taras Shevchenko University or officially the Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv[2] , colloquially known in Ukrainian as KNU is located in Kiev, the capital of Ukraine. It is the third oldest university in Ukraine after the University of Lviv and Kharkiv University. Currently, its structure consists of fifteen faculties (academic departments) and five institutes. It was founded in 1834 as the University of Saint Vladimir, and since then it has changed its name several times.

Campus consist of The red building, Botanical Gardens, Yellow building and Maksymovych Library, Akademmistechko and Astronomical Observatory.

Classes for the first 35 law students began in 1835. Led them into the realm of legal science the first Dean of the Faculty Professor D. Ignatius, one of the most educated scientists who carried out work on the codification of the Polish-Lithuanian laws and with the arrival to Kyiv in 1835 was appointed to the chair of the police and criminal laws.

In accordance with the Charter of the Kiev University of St. Vladimir of December 25, 1833 at the Faculty were studied: Encyclopedia Law (general systematic review of the legislation) of the Constitution and article of the Russian Empire, the laws on civil status of persons in the state, civil law (general and specific) including credit, trade, factory legislation and local (customary) law, criminal law and laws blahochynstva and laws on public liability and finance, Roman law and its history. Also taught and this special discipline, as canon law.

Outstanding university professors: Ornatskyy, Bogorodskyy, Mickiewicz, Nevolin, Ivanishev, Maksimovich, Vladimirsky-Budanov.

Departments of the Faculty

1. Department of Business Law

2. Department of Criminalistics

3. Department of labor, land and environmental law

4. Department of Constitutional Law

5. Department of Administrative and Finance

6. Theory and History of State and Law

7. Department of Civil Rights

8. The Department of Justice

9. Department of Criminal Law and Criminology

2. Legal education in Ukraine, UK.

Legal education in Ukraine is centered in the state and private colleges and universities. The four years education gives a bachelor’s degree; graduates after five years studies receive the certificate of the specialist. Everybody has a possibility to continue his education and scientific research at the masters and postgraduate courses. The students study special subjects such as: criminal law, civil law, criminal procedure, civil procedure, administrative law, international law, labour law, criminalistics etc; and general subjects, such as: philosophy, sociology, psychology, political science, and foreign languages. The legal profession unites the members of the judiciary and the procuracy, the lawyers employed in criminal investigation, the bar, the notaries, the jurisconsultus (legal advisors of enterprises, factories, etc.). The most outstanding law professionals are members of the Academy of Law Sciences of Ukraine. The Ukrainian-American Bar Association, the Ukrainian Bar Association, the Association of Lawyers of Ukraine and other professional organizations gather specialists according their interests.

Legal education in the United Kingdomis divided between the common law system of England and Wales and Northern Ireland, and that of Scotland, which uses a hybrid of common law and civil law.

Dundee, in Scotland, is the only university in the UK to offer students a choice of either English/Northern Irish or Scots Law LL.B. degrees. It now offers a dual-qualifying LL.B. degree in Scots Law and English/Northern Irish law.

England, Wales and Northern Ireland

Requirements for becoming a lawyer in England and Wales and in Northern Ireland differ slightly depending on whether the individual plans to become a solicitor or barrister. All prospective lawyers must first however possess a qualifying law degree,[1][2] or have completed a conversion course.[2][3] A qualifying law degree in the England and Wales consists of seven modules drawn from the following subject areas:

Public law (constitutional/administrative)

European Union law

Procedural Law (including law of evidence)

Criminal law

Law of obligations (contract, restitution, and tort)

Property law (real property)

Trusts and equity

Following graduation, the paths towards qualification as a solicitor or barrister diverge. Prospective solicitors must enrol with the Law Society of England and Wales as a student member and take a one-year course called the Legal Practice Course (LPC), usually followed by two years' apprenticeship, known as a training contract.[4] Prospective barristers must first apply to join one of the four Inns of Court and then complete the one-year Bar Professional Training Course (BPTC), followed by a year training in a set of barristers' chambers, known as pupillage.[2]

Legal education in the United States generally refers to the education of lawyers before entry into practice. (Other types of legal education, such as that of paralegals, of Limited Practice Officers (in Washington), and of the citizenry in general, and of the education of lawyers after admission to the bar (Continuing Legal Education) are not covered in this article.)

3. Legal professions in UK

Solicitors

There are about 50,000 solicitors who are general practitioners, the number which is rapidly increasing, and they make up by far the largest branch of the legal profession in England and Wales. They are found in every town, where they deal with all the day-to-day work of preparing legal documents for buying and selling houses, making wills, etc. Solicitors also work on court cases for their clients, prepare cases for barristers to present in the higher courts and may represent their client in a Magistrates’ court. In a civil action solicitors have a right to speak in the County Court, when the case is one of divorce or recovering some debts, and they deal with petty crimes and some matrimonial matters in Magistrates Courts, the lowest Courts.

To become a solicitor a young man joins a solicitor as a «clerk» and works for him while studying part time for the Law Society exams. When you have passed all the necessary exams, you may apply to the Law Society to be «admitted». After that you can practise, which means you can start business on your own.

Barristers

There are about 9,000 barristers who defend or prosecute in the higher courts. Although solicitors and barristers work together on cases, barristers specialise in presenting clients in court and the training and career structures for the two types of lawyers are quite separate. In court, barristers wear wigs and gowns in keeping with extreme formality of the proceedings. The barristers of the highest level have the title QC (Queen’s Counsel). A barrister’s main work is to provide representation in the courts, where they are referred to as counsel, to draft documents associated with court procedure, and give opinions, that is specialist advise. They are normally instructed by solicitors or other recognised professionals on behalf of lay clients. A barrister must be capable of prosecuting in a criminal case one day, and defending an accused person the next, or of preparing the pleadings and taking the case for a plaintiff in a civil action one day, and doing the same for a defendant the next. As the law has became more complex, barristers increasingly specialise in particular areas, such as personal injury, crime, family or commercial law. Barristers are experts in the interpretation of the law. They are called in to advise on really difficult points.

Unlike solicitors, barristers can’t form partnerships but must act as sole traders with unlimited liability. Some barristers are in employed practice and may only represent their employer, for example as in-house counsel or in government departments like the Crown Prosecution Service. Many work independently in self-employed practice in groups called chambers or sets and practise at the Bar as a barrister. Chambers are traditionally located in the four Inns of Court in London and are also located in the UK regions, known as circuits. The Inns are principally non-academic societies which provide collegiate and educational resources for barristers and trainees. Members of the chambers, known as tenants, share common expenses and support services, which are administrated by the administrative manager as the Clerk.

A would-be barrister must first register as a student member of one of the four Inns of Court. A student must pass a group of examinations to obtain a law degree and then proceed to a vocational course (Bar Vocational Course, or BVC), the passing of which will result in his being called to the Bar. All practising barristers are junior counsels unless they have been designated Queen’s Counsels (QC). QС is expected to appear only in the most important cases.

Judges

There are a few hundred judges trained as barristers, who preside in more serious cases. There is no separate training for judges; they are barristers who have been elevated to the bench itself, a name derived from the part of the Court where they sit. The professional judges, ‘High Court Judges’, deal with the most serious crimes. They are paid salaries by the state. The judge decides the interpretation of the law. After all the evidence has been given the judge summarizes the case, both law and facts, for the jury. This is called his summing up.

Judges cannot be removed from office on account of political considerations — the independence of the judiciary is, at least theoretically guaranteed.

There are following types of judges in England and Wales:

Jury

A jury consists of twelve people (jurors), who are ordinary people chosen at random from the Electoral Register (the list of people who can vote in elections). The jury listen to the evidence given in court in certain criminal cases and decide whether the defendant is guilty or innocent. If a person is found guilty, the punishment is passed by the presiding judge. Its verdict must be unanimous (it is essentially one of «guilty» or «not guilty») and, in the event of failure to reach agreement, the case is retried before another jury. Only 6 - 7% of jury decisions are by a majority verdict. Juries are rarely used in civil cases.

Magistrates

There are about 30,000 magistrates (Justices of the Peace or JPs), who judge cases in lower courts. They are usually unpai80p[,mki6ujdd and have no formal legal qualifications, but they are respectable people who are given some training. They are ordinary citizens who are selected not because they have any legal training but because they have ‘sound common sense’ and understanding of their fellow human beings. They give up their time voluntarily.

Coroners

Coroners have medical or legal training (or both), and inquire into violent or unnatural death.

Clerks of the court

Clerks look after administrative and legal matters in the courtroom.

Attorney-General and Director of Public Prosecutions

The Attorney-General is the Government’s chief Law Officer and his deputy is the Solicitor-General. They are primarily concerned with representing the Crown in Courts. The Attorney-General advises the Government on legislative proposals and on criminal proceedings which have a political or public element. He may take advice from his colleagues in the Government but he cannot be instructed by them. The Attorney-General is a member of Government; he is not actually a member of the Cabinet itself.

The Attorney-General has the power to stop proceedings for any indictable offence. He has certain administrative functions of which the most important is the control of the Director of Public Prosecutions. The DPP’s office was established under the Prosecution of Offences Act 1879. The Director undertakes about 7,000 prosecutions a year himself and is constantly required to give advice to the police, the main prosecuting agencies, as well as to central government departments and magistrates clerks.

Lord Chief Justice

The Lord Chief Justice (LCJ) holds the senior judicial office in the country. He presides over the Queen’s Bench Division of the High Court and the criminal division of the Court of Appeal. He has supervisory and procedural duties relating to the administration of justice generally.

Legal profession in Ukraine

One of the most popular professions among the young people of our country is the profession of a lawyer.

In Ukraine training lawyers is the task of the law establishments such as Law Academies, Law Institutes, and law faculties of several higher institutions. Graduates of different law schools can work at the Bar, in the organs of the Prosecutors Office, in different courts, in notary offices, militia, different firms.

They can work as advocates, judges, notaries, investigators, customs officers, legal advisors, prosecutors, traffic officers.

The Academy of Legal science was established in 1993. It is a national scientific organisation, which carries out the fundamental researches.

The Union of Lawyers of Ukraine carries out lawmaking, scientific, educational and informative activities.

The Ukrainian Bar Assosiation unites lawyers from all spheres of legal profession with the aim of protecting their professional and other common interests.

Block 3

1.The Court System of the UK

The United Kingdom has no Ministry of Justice. The courts and lawyers have a strong tradition of independence from the government. Responsibility for the administration of the judicial system in England and Wales is divided between the courts themselves, the Lord Chancellor, and the Home Secretary. The Lord Chancellor, who is the head of the legal profession and is always a member of the Cabinet, is concerned with the composition of the courts, with civil law, parts of criminal procedure and law reform in general; the Home Secretary is concerned with the prevention of criminal offenses, the apprehension, trial and treatment of offenders, and with the prison service. England and Wales have a single system of law and courts, and Scotland has a system of its own.

The most common type of law court in England and Wales is the magistrates’ court, which is presided over by the magistrates, who are normally Justices of the Peace (JPs). More serious cases then go to the Crown Court presided over by judges or senior barristers specially appointed to perform judicial functions for part of their time. Civil cases (for example, divorce or bankruptcy cases) are dealt with in County Courts. Appeals are heard by higher courts. For example appeals from magistrates’ courts are heard in the Crown Court. Certain cases are referred to the European Court of Justice in Luxembourg [´lΛks(ə)mbə:g] or the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg [´stræzbə:g]. The legal system also includes juvenile courts (which deal with offenders under seventeen) and coroners’ courts (which investigate violent, sudden or unnatural death). There are administrative tribunals [trai´bju:nl], which deal with professional standard, disputes between individuals, and disputes between individuals and government departments (for example, over taxation).

The first thing to notice is that there is no civil code and no criminal code. The law consists partly of statutes, or Acts of Parliament, and partly of common law made up of the decisions of judges, with regard to matters not regulated by statutes, in accordance with custom and reason. A large part of the civil law is not contained in statutes at all but made up of a mass of precedents, privious court decisions. By now, however, almost all actions for which a person may be punished are actions which are specifically forbidden by some statute.

2. The American Court System

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