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1. (to write) in very bad handwriting, he letter was difficult to read.

2. (to spent) many years abroad they were happy to return home.

3. (to wait) in the hall, he thought over a problem he was going to discuss.

4. (to phone) the agency, he continued working.

5. After (to show) the new exhibition he was invited to have dinner.

6. (to hear) the steps he raised his head.

UNIT 5. LEGAL SYSTEMS OF THE WORLD: LEGAL SYSTEMS OF

RUSSIA, THE UNITED KINGDOM, THE USA

TEXT 8

1. Обсудите с коллегами по группе основной вопрос текста, содержащийся в названии:

к какой правовой системе можно отнести Россию?

What Legal System does Russia Belong to?

While establishing its legal system Russia has passed several stages which can be defined according to their historical periods.

Before the socialist revolution (1917), Russian law system borrowed much from German legal system and formally could be included into the German sub branch of the continental law. After the October Revolution Soviet lawyers decided to find their own unique way in law and followed this path for at least 75 years, they tried to find their own identity and to create soviet socialist law in Russia. After these attempts failed, Russia tried to come back to its roots, i.e., to the European system of law.

Therefore, from the formal point of view the Russian law system is closer to the Roman-German law than to the Anglo-American one. It has many features of European continental law but we

cannot say that it fully fits it. Modern post-soviet Russian legal system obtains its individual approaches to various aspects of law.

As Russia’s legal system is based on a civil law system, influenced by Roman law, its emphasis is made on codification. All decisions are based on the foundation of statutes and codes rather than

judicial precedence, as it is evident in common law. It is brightly demonstrated, for example, in criminal law. As in other civil law countries, the pretrial investigation in Russia is the dominant phase in the criminal process. In this part of the process, a judicial official of the state puts together a case file which contains all evidence of the case and than comes the court which holds an active role in determining case facts, using a more inquisitional system and bringing up a sentence. But, unlike other civil law countries, this legal system allowed for some principles of adversarial proceedings and acknowledgement of the equal rights granted to all parties involved, as it is plasticized in common law mostly.

New steps to reforming and adaptation to these reforms in Russian legal system are on the way nowadays.