Unit 2         The legal systems: bodies of law

This is the table of contents of the Twelve Tables. Choose the table where you think the following
excerpts were drawn up on:


1   TABVLA I (Civil procedure)
2   TABVLA II (Civil procedure)
3   TABVLA III (Debt)
4   TABVLA IV (Parents and children)
5   TABVLA V (Inheritance)
6   TABVLA VI (Property)
7   TABVLA VII (Real Property)
8   TABVLA VIII (Torts)
9   TABVLA IX (Constitutional principles)
10 TABVLA X (Funeral regulations)
11 TABVLA XI (Marriage)
12 TABVLA XII (Crimes)




Excerpts from the Law of the Twelve Tables

Which table was it drawn up on?

Marriages between plebeians and patricians are forbidden.

TABVLA XI (Marriage)

No dead man may be cremated nor buried in the City.


If someone is called to go to court, let him go. If he doesn't go, a witness should be called. Only
then should he be captured.

If a slave has committed theft or harm. . . .


Those who have sung an evil spell. . .


Private laws must not be proposed.


A person who admits to owing money or has been adjudged to owe money must be given 30 days to pay.


One who seeks the testimony from an absent person should wait before his doorway every third day.


If a person dies intestate without heirs, the nearest male kinsman shall inherit. If there is no
near male kinsmen, his clansmen shall inherit.


When someone makes bond or conveyance and announces it orally, right shall be given.


If a father sells his son into slavery three times, the son shall be free of his father.


If rainwater does damage, he shall be made to fix it by the judge.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twelve_Tables



2.1              Use the following expressions to complete the text:




development   jurists   legacy   to question   summons   rulings   contracts   to influence


 succession   decrees   plaintiff   weight of law   defendant   judex   courts   sentence   trial




Law of the Roman Republic and Empire

Roman law has (1)……………… the (2)………………….. of law in most of Western civilization. It dealt with
matters of (3)………………… (or inheritance), obligations (including (4)………………..), property (including
slaves), and persons. Most laws were passed by assemblies dominated by the patrician families,
though the (5)…………………. of magistrates were also important. Later emperors bypassed these forms and
issued their own (6)………………... The interpretations of (7)………………… also came to have the (8)………………….
Though various attempts were made to gather and simplify existing laws (beginning with the Law of
the Twelve Tables), by far the most successful effort was that of Justinian I, whose code
superseded all previous laws and formed the Roman Empire's legal (9)………………. Roman legal procedure
is the basis for modern procedure in civil-law countries. In the early Republic, the (10)………………..
was required to call the (11)…………………… to court or to bring him by force. A magistrate then decided
whether the case should go before a (12)……………., or prominent layman. The judex heard arguments from
advocates and (13)………………… witnesses; he made a decision but had no power to execute it. In the
later Republic, much greater power was placed in the hands of the magistrates and (14)……………: the
(15) ……………… was issued by the court, the (16)…………… was held only before a magistrate, and the court
became responsible for the execution of the (17)……………….

Roman law. Britannica Concise Encyclopedia. Retrieved July  1, 2005, from Encyclopædia Britannica
Premium Service.
<http://www.britannica.com/ebc/article?tocId=9377125



Read about the development of Common law legal system and  complete the text with the following
phrases:


non-statutory law

precedent

civil disputes

guilt or innocence

sufficient redress

adversarial system

                  judgements

                  wrongful acts

                  reach a decision

                  criminal accusations

                  litigants

                  torts

                                      petition

                                      system of equity

                                      unified system of law

                                      statutes

                                      criminal cases

                                      civil claims


                                                           case-based reasoning

                                                           unwritten local customs

                                                           execution

                                                           jury system

                                                           verdict

                                                           supreme

The common-law legal system forms a major part of the law of many countries, especially those with
a history as British territories or colonies. It is notable for the inclusion of extensive
(1)……………………. reflecting a consensus of centuries of (2)……………… by working jurists. The common law
originally developed under the auspices of the (3)……………………… in historical England from judicial
decisions that were based in tradition, custom, and (4)……………….. The form of reasoning used in
common law is known as casuistry or (5)…………………………. Common law may be unwritten or written in
(6)……………… or codes. The common law, as applied in civil cases (as distinct from (7)…………………….), was
devised as a means of compensating someone for (8)…………………….. known as (9)…………, including both
intentional torts and torts caused by negligence and as developing the body of law recognizing and
regulating contracts. Today common law is generally thought of as applying only to (10)………………….;
originally it encompassed the criminal law before criminal codes were adopted in most common law
jurisdictions in the late 19th century. Before the institutional stability imposed on England by
William the Conqueror in 1066, English citizens were governed by (11)……………………………….. that varied
from community to community and were enforced in often arbitrary fashion. For example, courts
generally consisted of informal public assemblies that weighed conflicting claims in a case and, if
unable to (12)……………………….., might require an accused to test (13)………………………… by carrying a red-hot
iron or snatching a stone from a caldron of boiling water… If the defendant's wound healed within a
prescribed period, he was set free as innocent; if not, (14)……………… usually followed. In 1154, Henry
II became the first Plantagenet king. Among many achievements, Henry institutionalized common law
by creating a (15)……………………………. "common" to the country through incorporating and elevating local
custom to the national, ending local control and peculiarities, eliminating arbitrary remedies, and
reinstating a (16)…………………. of citizens sworn on oath to investigate reliably (17)……………………… and
(18)……………………. The jury reached its (19)……………. through evaluating common local knowledge, not
necessarily through the presentation of evidence, a distinguishing factor from today's civil and
criminal court systems. As early as the 15th century, it became the practice that (20)………………… who
felt they had been cheated by the common-law system would (21)………………. the King in person. For
example, they might argue that an award of damages (at common law) was not (22)……………………… for a
trespasser occupying their land, and instead request that the trespasser be evicted. From this
developed the (23)……………………, administered by the Lord Chancellor, in the courts of chancery. By
their nature, equity and law were frequently in conflict and litigation would frequently continue
for years as one court countermanded the other, even though it was established by the 17th century
that equity should prevail. In England, courts of law and equity were combined by the Judicature
Acts of 1873 and 1875, with equity being (24)………………………..in case of conflict.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common_law