Exercise 11. Answer the question on text 2

1. Are judges themselves a separate profession?

2. What is judge’s summing up?

3. What do judges deal with?

4. Are magistrates paid salaries?

5. Who are magistrates selected by?

6. What does the work of Magistrates’ Courts depend on?

Exercise 12. Read text 3 and translate it into Russian in written form.

TEXT 3. JURIES

The use of the jury in English law stretches far into history, the modern English jury now owes its statutory existence to the Juries Act 1974. To qualify for jury service it is necessary to be a registered elector between the ages of 18 and 65 (the property qualification for jurors was abolished). All those people connected with the law by way of occupation (including ex-prisoners) are ineligible to jury service, as well as the clergy and the mentally ill. Barristers, solicitors and police officers must have retired from that work for a minimum of ten years. The call to jury service is regarded as an obligation. A jury is normally composed of twelve persons whose names have been selected at random¹ from the list of qualified jurors for the area. 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 most frequently appear in criminal cases in the Crown Courts. The function of the jury is to determine the facts, having heard the judge’s summing up and his directions on questions of law.

Counsel for the defence or the defendant have the right to object to jurors without giving reasons, the maximum number of peremptory challenging² being reduced to three.

Notes:

¹ at random – наугад, случайно

² peremptory challenging – отвод без указания причины

Exercise 13. Read text 4 and translate it into Russian in written form.