Английский язык. Учебное пособие. Бабушкин А.П - 19 стр.

                                          20
       Although we have focused on the (1) ________ between state and federal
systems, most court cases are desided by state courts. Most cases, for example, do not
(2) ________ citizens from different states and many cases involve much less than
$10,000. Few also involve federal laws or the national Constitution. The large (3)
________ of cases, including divorces, traffic accidents, landlord-tenant disputes, and
most (4) ________ never become the (5) _________ of the federal courts. The
workload of the federal courts has (6) ________ sharply in recent years, but the total
number of cases filed in all federal trial courts nationwide does not exceed about
195,000. Current (7) ________ are that there are over 17,000 state courts, most of
them trial courts of limited jurisdiction, which produce many millions of decisions
each year. Therefore, while there is overlap in the jurisdiction of state and federal
court systems, most cases are handled exclusively by state courts.

1.   A. cooperation      B. competition        C. overlap
2.   A. embrace          B. accept             C. involve
3.   A. pile             B. volume             C. amount
4.   A. crimes           B. murders            C. misdemeanours
5.   A. interest         B. concern            C. business
6.   A. increased        B. raised             C. rose
7.   A. figures          B. estimates          C. calculations

                                     Discussion

I. Comment on the following well - known English sayings:
   1) Crime doesn’t pay
   2) The greater the crime, the higher the gallows

II. Can you think of any recent court cases where you feel the law has been unjust?

                                     Appendix
                              (Law stories for reading)

                      Formal Legal Rules and Equity in Conflict
       Fedo and Hattie Mae Kenon lived in a small, ramshackle frame house in rural
north Florida. They had worked most of their lives picking tobacco for local farmers
and existed now on about $400 per month in Social Security payments. Their house
was worth $7500, and they were required to pay $3.05 each year in county property
taxes. Fedo Kenon, aged 65, somewhat retarded and a patient in various mental hos-
pitals over the years, paid the tax each year except in 1975, Mrs. Kenon was unaware
of the missed tax payment.
       John G. Barrow, a local investor, noticed the Kenon property listed in a legal
advertisement containing property with overdue taxes. Following a long-standing
slate statute and routine legal procedure, he paid the tax himself and received a
certificate from the county tax collector which gave Barrow the right to collect the