Other countries have “citizens”. But in Britain people are legally described as “subjects” subjects of Her Majesty the Queen. Moreover, there is a principle of English law that the monarch can do nothing that is legally wrong. In other words, Queen Elizabeth is above the law.

What, then, is the monarch's role? Many opinions are offered by political and legal experts. Three roles are often mentioned. First, the monarch is the personal embodiment of the government of the country. This means that people can be as critical as they like about the real government, and can argue that it should be thrown out, without being accused of being unpatriotic. Because of the clear separation between the symbol of government (the Queen) and the actual government (the ministers, who are also MPs), changing the government does not threaten the stability of the country as a whole. Other countries without a monarch have to use something else as the symbol of the country. In the USA, for example, one of these is its flag, and to damage the flag in any way is actually a criminal offence.

Second, it is argued that the monarch could act as a final check on a government that was becoming dictatorial. If the government ever managed to pass a bill through Parliament which was obviously terribly bad and very unpopular, the monarch could refuse the royal assent and the bill would not become law.

Third, the monarch has a very practical role to play. By being a figurehead and representing the country, Queen Elizabeth II can perform the ceremonial duties which heads of state often have to spend their time on. This way, the real government has more time to get on with the actual job of running the country.

However, all these advantages are hypothetical. It cannot be proved that only a monarch can provide them. Other modern democracies manage perfectly well without one. The British monarchy is probably more important to the economy of the country than it is to the system of government. Apart from this, the monarchy is very popular with the majority of the British people. The monarchy gives British people a symbol of continuity, and a harmless outlet for the expression of national pride. Occasions such as the state opening of Parliament, the Queen's official birthday, royal weddings, and ceremonial events such as the changing of the guard make up for the lack of colour and ceremony in most people's daily lives. In addition the glamorous lives of `the royals' provide a source of entertainment that often takes on the characteristics of a television soap opera.

The British monarchy as an institution has not been a burning issue in British politics for several hundred years. There is almost no debate about the existence of the monarchy itself. Few people in Britain could be described as either `monarchists' or `anti-monarchists', in the sense in which these terms are often used in other countries. Most people are either vaguely in favour or they just don't care one way or the other. There is, however, a great deal of debate about what kind of monarchy Britain should have. During the last two decades of the twentieth century, there has been a general cooling of enthusiasm. The Queen herself remains popular. But the various marital problems in her family have lowered the prestige of royalty in many people's eyes. The problem is that, since Queen Victoria's reign, the public have been encouraged to look up to the royal family as a model of Christian family life.

It is, in fact, on the subject of money that `anti-royalist' opinions are most often expressed. In the early nineties even some Conservative MPs, traditionally strong supporters of the monarchy, started protesting at how much the royal family was costing the country.

Text 2 The Royal Family - Worth a Fortune?

“We can't afford a Royal Family”

Willie Hamilton, MP

I believe it's immoral to have a Royal family, and immoral to give them special treatment. Personally I have nothing against the Royal family I do not dislike them as people but some of them are paid a fortune each year and do very little to earn their 100 a day or more.

Politically the Queen now has very little power, while the Duke of Edinburgh has as much influence on important affairs of state as a county priest. It is difficult to justify paying him more than four times the salary of the Prime Minister.

Prince Charles can't spend the next twenty years just opening things, eating things or visiting things.

To justify her well-paid existence Princess Anne is always making meaningless visits.

The Queen is known to be among the wealthiest women in the world. It is not wealth that has been created by her own or her financial advisers' good business sense; it is wealth that has been built up by her special treatment by Parliament. The total wealth is unknown one of the most closely guarded secrets of modern times.

The relationship between the British royal family and the popular press is curious, to say the least. Royal scandals and royal divorces illustrated with tasteless photographs raise newspaper circulations. Even private telephone conversations were printed on the front page. Such intrusions into the privacy of members of the royal family have helped to create an atmosphere in which the very existence of the monarchy has been called into question. The prestige of the royal family has undoubtedly suffered. The popular press has greatly contributed to the debatable issues about the role and survival of the royal family. If the monarchy should lose its constitutional role, the press will be largely to blame.

Text 3 The Working of the House of Commons

Government in Britain is called `parliamentary government'. The whole system has its centre in Parliament. The two Houses of Parliament, the Lords and the Commons, share the same building, the Palace of Westminster. The Commons occupy the north part of the Palace, the Lords the south end. Anyone who is interested in what happens in Parliament can buy a copy of the stenographic record, which is put on sale at big newspaper shops and the shops of Her Majesty's Stationery Office, the government printer (the number of copies sold has fallen very much in the past years). This “Official Report” is popularly called “Hansard”, because Thomas Hansard started to produce these reports privately in 1803. He began this publication in defiance of a parliamentary rule forbidding any such reporting, but what began as a forbidden venture has become part of Parliament's own services.

The office of the Speaker (or President of the Chamber) has a special importance. A Speaker's decision on some particular point may establish a precedent in much the same way as a Court's decision on a matter of law.

The choice of a new Speaker is made by a vote of the House after the party leaders have consulted their supporters and privately agreed beforehand on a particular person. Once a man has been made Speaker he is customarily reappointed to his office in each new Parliament, even if the majority in the House has changed, until he wishes to retire. When he accepts office as Speaker he is expected to renounce all party politics for the rest of his life. When he retires he is at once made a peer, and goes to the House of Lords. Three other members hold office as deputy-speakers, and they take turns at occupying the Chair. The three deputies abstain from all party activity for so long as they hold office, but may - and sometimes do - return to ordinary political activity after a time.

The central rule of procedure is that every debate must relate to a specific proposal, or “motion”. Some Member moves (proposes) a motion; the House debates it and finally decides whether to agree or to disagree with it.

At the end of every debate the Speaker puts the question whether or not to accept the motion that has been debated. If there is disagreement, there is a “division” and Members vote by walking through corridors called “lobbies”, being counted as they do so.

Members often vote without having heard a debate, and perhaps without knowing exactly what is the question; they know which way to vote because Whips (or party managers) of the parties stand outside the doors, and Members vote almost automatically with their parties.

The life of Parliament is divided into periods called “sessions”. At the end of every session Parliament is “prorogued”; this means that all business which has not been completed is abandoned, and Parliament cannot meet again until it is formally summoned by the Queen. Every new session begins with a clean slate. A session normally lasts for about a year, from late October of one year to about the same date of the next year.

The beginning of a new session, called “the State Opening of Parliament”, is a fine ceremonial occasion, beginning with the royal carriage procession from Buckingham Palace to the Palace of Westminster. The ceremony takes place in the House of Lords, with a few leading members of the House of Commons standing crowded together at the end of the chamber opposite to the Throne, but technically outside the “House of Lords” itself. The Queen takes her place on the throne and reads out the “Queen's Speech”, which is a document, about a thousand words in length, prepared by the Government, in which the Government gives a summary of the things which it intends to do during the session which is about to begin.

Text 4 The Judicial Work of the House of Lords

The House of Lords has a judicial function in addition to its legislative and deliberative function. The House is the highest court in the land - the supreme court of appeal. It acts as the final court on points of law for the whole of the United Kingdom in civil cases and for England, Wales and Northern Ireland in criminal cases. Its decisions bind all courts below.

This is an unusual role for a legislative body that is part of Parliament. In most other democracies, the judiciary is separate from the legislature - usually in the form of a supreme court of appeal. For this reason the Government has legislated to establish a United Kingdom Supreme Court that will be constitutionally and physically separate from Parliament (see note at the end of this paper). Until October 2008, when the new UK Supreme Court is expected to come into operation, the present system will continue. The reasons for the present set-up are historical - the House of Lords has done this work for more than 600 years as part of the High Court of Parliament. Although the House of Commons was originally part of the High Court of Parliament, it has not been involved in judicial work since 1399. Today only highly qualified professional judges appointed to be law lords take part in the judicial function of the House.

The law lords. Since the 1876 Act the judicial work of the House has been done only by professional Lords of Appeal in Ordinary. At one time the Lord Chancellor sometimes sat, but no longer does so.

There are 12 Lords of Appeal in Ordinary (or law lords). They are equivalent to supreme court judges in other countries and when the new UK Supreme Court comes into operation in 2008 the law lords will become the first justices of the Supreme Court. Law lords are appointed by The Queen on the advice of the Prime Minister, usually from the ranks of the senior appeal court judges in each part of the UK. The first woman law lord was appointed in 2004 (Baroness Hale of Richmond).

“In Ordinary” means that the lords work full time at the judicial business of the House and receive a salary. This is not paid by the House of Lords but direct from the “Consolidated Fund” (the revenues held in the Exchequer account at the Bank of England). That helps to ensure their independence.

Law lords are full members of the House and may speak and vote on all business. In practice they rarely do so. A law lord chairs the Committee on the law and institutions of the European Union. Serving law lords, however, do not engage in matters where there is any element of party political controversy; and they bear in mind that they may render themselves ineligible to sit judicially if they express an opinion on a matter which might later be relevant to an appeal to the House. When a law lord retires, he remains a member of the House and is then much more free to participate in debates on legislation and public policy: several do so regularly.

In addition to their judicial work, law lords are often asked to chair major public inquiries. Recent topics of inquiry have included the events of “Bloody Sunday” in Northern Ireland and the death of the MOD scientist Dr David Kelly. Law lords regularly give lectures and talks; and many are involved with law faculties of universities. They also have a diplomatic function as ambassadors for the British legal system and common law: receiving distinguished foreign and Commonwealth judges at Westminster, and travelling abroad.

Text 5 British Political Parties: Modern Policies

The Labour Party. Changes in Labour policies since the mid - 1980s, and especially since Tony Blair became leader in 1994, have led some to claim that the party has abandoned its previous policies and become identical to the Conservatives. In some areas of policy it is true that differences are now much less stark than they once were, but in others there remain significant differences. Many critics claim that Tony Blair's policies may be regarded as `Thatcherism with a human face.' It was in 1995 that Blair persuaded his party to drop its historic commitment to state ownership. Such moves were widely supported because they were in accord with the changes that occurred in British society with the middle class becoming the dominating force. Moreover, the Labour leadership's approach is that global economic changes have made many of the old Labour economic policies irrelevant and inadequate. Labour's contemporary economic policy is focused on building partnership with private industry rather than materially opposing it. New Labour ideologists argue that policy options are heavily constrained by the global market-place, which means that measures which increase labour costs lead to a decline in competitiveness and an increase in unemployment. Thus equal priority should be given both to social cohesion and to economic efficiency. Simultaneously, one should note that the Labour government under Tony Blair pushed forward reforms which could never be expected from Conservatives: the government has a goal of full employment, the principle of a minimum wage introduced, indirect taxation was imposed to redistribute income from the better off to the less well off. In foreign policy Labour is generally enthusiastic about Europe and strikes to make Britain a willing European partner. The Labour party at the beginning of the 21^st century is very different from that formed in 1900. Today trade unions play a diminished role in the party.

The Conservative Party. The Conservatives say that they reject abstract thinking and claim that what they are doing is somehow “practical”, “obvious” and “common sense” rather than ideological. Being on the right of the political spectrum the party when in office instituted the privatization of nationalized industries and national utilities, pursued a policy that placed more emphasis on combating inflation than unemployment, challenged the role of the welfare state by instituting a market in state health care and education, reduced the role of local government as a provider of services, encouraged entrepreneurship and promoted the interests of industrial and financial groups through favourable taxation policies. With regard to foreign policy matters the European issue is a most heated question. If the Labour party is becoming increasingly united around a Europhile position, the Conservatives are becoming increasingly united around a Eurosceptic position. The Conservative party is now clearly the most Eurosceptic of the main parties of the UK. Most Conservatives are openly hostile to the euro. The party issues its own paper Newsletter, the journals Time and Tide, Politics Today support the Conservative party. The daily papers such as the Daily Telegraph and Daily Express being politically right of the centre usually reflect the views of the Conservative Party.

The Social and Liberal Democrats (SLD). Its policy was termed as that of `equidistance', that is of positioning itself an equal distance between the Conservatives and Labour. However, in the 1990s the Liberal Democrats abandoned equidistance and declared themselves to be explicitly anti-Conservative. With regard to Labour the Liberal Democrats on some issues advocate policies which put them even to the left of the Labour party. Unlike the two main parties, the Liberal Democrats lack any corporate sources of finance and the bulk of their income comes from membership fees and donations. As a result, the Liberal Democrats are not nearly as wealthy as the two main parties. Their membership also matters because it is their prime, indeed, almost their only campaigning resource. They lack the support of a national daily newspaper. Quite often the Liberal Democrats pose issues which other parties try to avoid, for example, the role of the monarchy, softening the attitude to some kinds of drugs. On environmental issues they advocate similar attitudes together with the Greens. They favour raising the top levels of income tax to fund better public services and education. Quite often the critics of the Liberal Democrats allege that they raise issues which they know they will not have to implement in the near future. However, the sociopolitical scene in Britain is changing. The Liberal Democrats are becoming a respectable parliamentary force. Moreover, they now constitute part of the government in Wales and Scotland, and the policies which they advocate cannot be disregarded. They contribute to the changing social and political environment of the country.

The Scottish National Party and Plaid Cumry of Wales. The differences of history have resulted in differences between the ideologies of the Scottish National party and Plaid Cumry. PC seeks to ensure self-government, is concerned with ecology and anti-nuclear which makes its stance in this respect close to that of the Greens. PC remains committed to safeguarding the Welsh language and culture. Dealing with issues of their countries, both parties are now to the left of Labour, with the SNP regarding itself as a social democratic party. Both parties are strongly pro-European, seeing the European Union as an important benefactor in financial terms, and an ally in their pursuit of independence in a European context. In 2000 new leaders were elected in both parties: Wyn Jones became leader of PC, and John Swinney of the SNP. Both leaders may be considered to be pragmatists, they favour greater independence from Britain; the SNP is more pronounced in this respect, though they view this process as a goal that can be reached in gradual terms.

The Major Political Parties in Northern Ireland. In April 1998, just before Easter on Good Friday a most important agreement was signed between the warring parties in Northern Ireland. This agreement came to be known as the Good Friday Agreement (GFA) and it was designed to put an end to the sectarian strife between the Protestants and Catholics by ushering in power-sharing. The GFA was to involve all the main parties (unionist, nationalist and republican), as well as new institutions based upon links between Northern Ireland and the Irish Republic. The agreement was endorsed by popular referendum in Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, but progress has been painfully slow due to old confrontation. The Ulster Unionist party has been active in Northern Ireland for very many years. Most of its supporters are Protestants who wish Ulster to remain part of the United Kingdom. After 1922, when Ulster and the Republic of Ireland became separate countries, the Unionists were the ruling party in the Northern Ireland Parliament until direct rule was imposed by the British government in 1972. The Social Democratic and Labour party was formed in Northern Ireland in 1970 as a reaction to the sectarian divisions between Roman Catholics and Protestants and terrorism which escalated in Ulster in the late 1960s. By the end of the 1980s the troubles had cost over 2000 lives. The supporters of the SDLP are largely Catholic; they are committed to the principles of social democracy and would like Ireland (Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland) to be reunited as one country by peaceful democratic means without terrorism and physical violence. Sinn Fein (meaning in Irish `we ourselves') is a party of the Irish republican movement that arose before World War I and that campaigned for the economic and political separation of Ireland from Great Britain Today it wants Northern Ireland to become part of the Republic of Ireland, by using force if necessary. To date the GFA remains the basic factor in the search for a stable political environment in the province. It is obvious today that the overwhelming majority of the population in Northern Ireland want peace and security.

Text 6 GOOD-BYE, MAGGIE!

British PM Resigns of her own volition

Compared with political life it seems simply incredible. Under British laws she could go on discharging her duties as Premier comfortably for another year and a half. Those striving for power in her own party and in the opposition could easily be defeated. No thousands-strong crowds in Trafalgar Square chanted: “Thatcher resign!” There seemed to be no problems in London shops with meat, milk, shoes or any other goods. Despite all this, her resignation.

The ability to leave with dignity after losing is valued in Britain more than any victory.

Margaret Thatcher is leaving with dignity without having lost. She became Premier in 1979 (a British and European record for a head of government in our century, excluding totalitarian countries). Her special mission was to inflict strategic defeat upon the “socialist choice” in Britain. This, naturally, did not mean she wanted to deprive the Labour party of an opportunity to return to power some day, and make her friends from the Conservative party the vanguard of the British people for life. Her veritable aim was consistent privatization of state and interference in business, transition to the market regulated by itself only. She did a great deal of what was planned, as far as possible towards such political ideas.

She is firmly convinced of the advantages of the freest possible private enterprise for the entire society. But she is also convinced that no person can make everyone happy and rich, and the state can do that least of all. She believes inflation to be a greater danger than unemployment. She is sure that it is necessary to renounce state regulation of prices and incomes, making it the exclusive right of the market.

Many Britons did not like Thatcher, and not only because of her economic creed. A great deal of Nietzschean thought was seen in her approach to people: instinctive suspicion toward the idea of equality, distrust of the free thought of intellectuals, idolization of the will and energy. Admittedly though, she never asked the parliament to furnish her with special powers.

The time had come for the Conservative party to moderate the policy and make it more social. Whoever comes to replace her more traditional Conservatives or even members of the Labour party Britain shall never return to former bizarre experiments with nationalization, state regulation of prices and so on. Thatcher has done her job.

A Carrier History. Margaret Thatcher

1925	Born in Granthour, Lincolnshire, Margaret Hilda, daughter of Alfred Roberts, a grocer. Later attended Granthuor Girls School. Studied Chemistry at Somerville College, Oxford
1947-51	Worked as a research chemist
1951	Married Denis Thatcher, a London-based business executive
1951-54	Studied Law. Specialized in tax law.
1953	Had twins, a son and a daughter, Mark and Carol.
1954	Became a lawyer.
1959	Elected Member of Parliament for Fincklly.
1970-74	Member of Cabinet-Secretary of State for Education and Science
1975	Elected leader of the Conservative Party. First woman to lead a British political party.
1979	Conservatives defeated Labour Party in General Election. Became Prime Minister (first woman, 52-nd Prime Minister).
1982	Retained control of the Folkland Islands by use of military force
1983	Won a General Election
1984	Survived an IRA bomb attack at the Grand Hotel, Brighton. Visited the USA.
1986	Published a book, in Defence of Freedom.
1987	Won a third General Election.
1990	Replaced as Prime Minister by John Major.

UNIT IV

American Constitutional Law

READING MATERIAL

Text A American Constitution

Task: read and translate the following text.

No document in American history can be compared with the Declaration of Independence (adopted July 4, 1776) in the place that it holds in the minds and hearts of American citizens. It is far more than the announcement of the birth of a new nation. In it one can find the key ideas about how the Americans of that generation thought free people should live, what form their governments should take, and what the natural responsibilities between a government and its citizens should be in order that both order and liberty could be sustained.

The Declaration laid the foundations for the Articles of Confederation (1781) _ the United States' first constitution. Devised and amended in 1787, the Articles inspired a completely new document, the Constitution, adopted in 1790 in Philadelphia.

The Constitution is the highest law of the land, but it can be amended. Under Article V, Congress can propose amendments, which go into effect when “ratified by the Legislatures of three fourths of the several States”. The first ten amendments to the Constitution, known as the Bill of Rights (1791), stated fundamental rights of any American: freedom of speech, of the press, of worship, assembly, the right of trial by jury, right to be protected against unreasonable searches, arrest, seizures of property. Other amendments have followed, for the most part they have expanded the democratic nature of American society (by abolishing slavery, widening the suffrage or making elections direct) to meet the changing needs of the nation. The American Constitution has been amended twenty-six times, some of the amendments have been extraordinarily important.

The American Constitution is the oldest still in force in the world. The basic idea is simple. The Constitution is the supreme law of the land. It is the highest authority. No person and no branch of government - not the president, not Congress, certainly not the police officer - has the right to set the Constitution aside and its rules are law. All governments and governmental groups, federal, state, and local must operate within its guidelines.

Americans have the great pride in their Constitution. Under the American Constitution all power belongs to the people (We the people of the United States in Order to form a more powerful Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America).

The Constitution has served the people of the United States admirably for over 200 years, in part because the framers were wise enough to recognize that they could not foresee every problem. Those who followed them thus had the ability to take the document and adapt it to new conditions.

The United States Constitution is made into living law through a variety of means. There is, very notably, enforcement through the courts, by means of “judicial review.” This refers to the power of the courts to decide if laws and acts of the other branches of government, or of the state and local governments, are valid or not, constitutionally speaking, and to reduce these acts to zero if they fail the test. Judicial review is not, of course, solely a federal power. The state courts exercise it, too; each state, after all, has its own constitution. State legislatures must conform to the state constitution. The power of judicial review, state and federal, is now so deeply ingrained in American system that it is hard to imagine American legal world without it.

Word Study

Ex. 1. a) Read the international words and guess their meaning. Mind the stress.

nation	idea	declaration
articles	announce	democratic
federal	arrest	confederation
natural		fundamental
dominate
problem
group
president

b) Pronounce correctly the following proper names:

The Articles of Confederation ['RtIklz qv kqn"fedq'reIS(q)n]

Philadelphia ["fIlq'delfjq]

Declaration of Independence ["deklq'reIS(q)n qv "IndI'pendqns]

Bill of Rights [bIl qv 'raIts]

Ex. 2. Complete the list of derivatives. Use a dictionary if necessary.

verb	noun (agent)	noun (concept)
to announce
to find
to divide
to form
to serve
to follow	follower	the following
to make
to invent
to expand
to ingrain
to provide
to promote

Ex. 3. Pair the words in column A with ones from column B.

A	B
amendment	history
new	ideas
direct	liberty
guidelines	of speech
a variety	of property
the power	of checks and balances
freedom	of government
a system	document
citizen's	to the Constitution
American	elections
the branch	of Supreme law
key	of means
seizure	of the Court

Ex. 4. Decide which of the verbs you would use with the noun phrases you have identified in ex. 3.

1. to compare with; 2. to find; 3. to sustain; 4. to state; 5. to protect (against);6. to ensure; 7. to form; 8. to propose; 9. to inspire; 10. to make; 11. to operate; 12. to refer (to); 13. to hold.

Ex. 5. Add adjectives to the following nouns to form noun phrases.

Nouns: searches, announcement, condition, people, elections, authority, state, responsibilities, rights, lines, pride, welfare, nature, needs, groups, government, review;

Adjectives: direct, natural, great, loud, clear, local, new, unreasonable, free, federal, fundamental, changing, democratic, general, governmental, state, .judicial.

Ex. 6. How are the following ideas expressed in the text?

1. a paper that gives information, proof or support of something else;

2. habitually taking decisions alone;

3. freedom from control, service, being shut up, etc;

4. a written statement containing a record of something;

5. a change, made in or suggested for a rule, law, statement, etc.;

6. of or formed into a political federation;

7. a person owned in law by another;

8. the right to vote in national elections;

9. the head of government in many modern states that do not have a king or queen;

10. the choosing of representatives to fill a position, a political office, by vote.

Ex. 7. Match English and Russian equivalents.

to propose amendments	вдохновлять
to go into effect	закладывать основу
to expand the democratic nature of the society	право рассмотрения дела с участием присяжных
to widen the suffrage	конфискация имущества
to promote the general welfare	сравнивать
to foresee every problem	разделение властей
to adapt to new conditions	поддерживать порядок и свободу
to be valid	предвидеть каждую проблему
to reduce the acts	ключевые идеи
to be deeply ingrained in American System	система сдержек и противовесов
to invent and expand constitutional doctrine	расширять демократическую сущность
to compare	выбор вероисповедания
key ideas	законодательная, исполнительная, судебная власти
to sustain order and liberty	расширять избирательное право
to lay the foundation	отменить рабство
to inspire	прямые выборы
freedom of worship	предметы поправки
the right of trial by jury	вступать в силу
seizure of property	расширять демократическую сущность общества
legislative, executive, judicial branches	расширять избирательное право
separation of powers	обеспечивать всеобщее благосостояние
system of checks and balances	предвидеть каждую проблему
to foresee every problem	приспособиться к новым условиям
to expand the democratic nature	сократить законодательные акты
to abolish slavery	быть действительным
to widen the suffrage	быть глубоко въевшимся в американскую систему
direct elections	придумывать и расширять конституционное учение

Ex. 8. Choose the best alternative to complete the following sentences.

1. The Declaration of Independence is more than the announcement of the upheaval / birth of a new nation.

2. The Declaration laid / marked the foundations for the Articles of Confederation.

3. The Constitution was adopted in Philadelphia / Washington.

4. The first ten amendments stated / clarified fundamental rights of any American.

5. The most striking / unusual feature of the Constitution is the separation of powers.

6. A great deal of power is in the hands of the president / Congress.

7. The Constitution has been repeatedly amended / interpreted to meet the needs of the nation.

8. Under the American Constitution all power prevails/belongs to the people.

9. The Constitution has served / influenced people for over 200 years.

10. Other amendments/considerations have expanded/protected the democratic nature of American society.

11. Under Article V Congress/the House of Representatives can reject/propose amendments.

12. Judicial review refers/regards to the power of the court/president to decide if laws are valid.

Ex. 9.Complete the following sentences by adding the phrases given in part B.

Part A

1. No document in American history can .....

2. In Declaration one can find ....

3. Devised and amended in 1787, the Articles .....

4. The Bill of rights stated the right to be protected ....

5. The most striking feature of the Constitution is ....

6. A system of checks and balances ensured ....

7. All governments and governmental groups must operate ....

8. The great framers were wise enough but .....

9. Amendments have expanded…

10. Judicial review refers to…

Part B

1. the democratic nature of the society.

2. the power of the courts to decide if laws are valid.

3. against unreasonable searches.

4. the key ideas of future American generation.

5. compare with Declaration of Independence.

6. the division of the legislative, executive and judicial branches.

7. inspired a completely new document.

8. within the supreme law of the land guidelines.

9. that no one branch of the government would dominate the others.

10. could not foresee every problem.

Ex. 10. Complete the following text with the words and phrases from the box.

balanced refuse judges system	branches serves change powerful	to make laws appoint constitutionality compromise

Checks and Balances

The Constitution provides for three main __________ of government which are separate and distinct from one another. The powers given to each are carefully __________ by the powers of the other two. Each branch __________ as check on the others. This is to keep any branch from gaining too much power or from misusing its powers. The equal branches of government are connected and each branch is dependent on the other two.

Congress has the power ________, but the President may veto any act of Congress. Congress, in its turn, can override a veto by a two-thirds vote in each house. Congress can ________ to provide funds requested by the President. The President can __________ important officials of his administration, but they must be approved by the Senate. The President also has the power to name all federal __________; they, too, must be approved by the Senate. The courts have the power to determine the __________ of all acts of Congress and of presidential actions, and to strike down those they find unconstitutional.

The system of checks and balances makes __________ and consensus necessary. Compromise is also a vital aspect of other levels of government in the United States. This system protects against extremes. It means, for example that new presidents cannot radically __________ governmental policies just as they wish. In the US, therefore, when people think of “the government”, they usually mean the entire __________, that is, the Executive Branch and the President, Congress, and the courts. In fact and in practice, therefore, the President (i. e. “the Administration”) is not as __________ as many people outside the US seem to think he is. In comparison with other leaders in systems where the majority party forms “the government”, he is much less so.

Discussion

Ex. 1. Choose the best way to complete the sentences.

The Declaration of Independence is far more than .....

the argument of governments.

the announcement of the birth of a nation.

the appointment of a new government.

2. The Articles of Confederation were ...

not working well.

radical indeed.

devised and amended.

3. The Bill of Rights .....

stated fundamental rights of any American.

revised the Articles.

stated too few powers for defense, trade.

4. The most striking feature of the Constitution is ....

breaking with an age-old traditions.

the prevailing notion of separation of powers.

a new form of government.

5. A great deal of power is put in .....

hands of the Supreme Court.

hands of the Senate.

hands of the President.

6. The Constitution has been repeatedly .....

adopted by some status.

operated under federal government.

amended to meet the changing needs of the nation.

7. Other amendments have expanded .....

a vital aspect of the levels of government.

the democratic nature of American society.

local politics.

8. Those who followed the Constitution had ....

to strike down the unconstitutional ones.

to pass all laws.

to adapt the document to new conditions.

9. State legislative must conform …

a) to the federal constitution

b) to the state constitution

c) to the constitution of another country

10. Some … of the Constitution have been extraordinary important.

a) status

b) rules of law

c) amendments

11. Judicial review refers to the power of the … to decide if laws are valid.

a) Congress

b) courts

c) police

Ex. 2. Mark the statements which are true.

The Bill of Rights stated fundamental rights of any American.

The Articles inspired a completely new document, the Constitution.

The most striking feature of the Constitution is prevailing notion of President's powers.

The Constitution didn't recognize the notion of separation of powers.

The system of checks and balances was of no use.

The Constitution still in force hasn't been changed.

Under the American Constitution all power belongs to the government.

In part the framers were wise enough to recognize that they couldn't foresee every problem.

The Articles of Confederation can propose amendments.

Amendments of the Constitution have expanded the social nature of the American society.

Any citizen has the right to set the Constitution aside.

Judicial review refers to the power of Congress to decide if laws are valid.

Ex. 3. Render the following text into English using the topical vocabulary of the present unit:

a) Конституция Соединенных Штатов Америки

Статья I

Раздел 8. Конгресс имеет право:

устанавливать и взимать налоги, пошлины (imposts) и акцизы (excises), для того чтобы выплачивать долги, обеспечивать совместную оборону и всеобщее благоденствие Соединенных Штатов; причем все сборы, пошлины и акцизы должны быть единообразны (uniform) повсеместно в Соединенных Штатах;

занимать (to borrow) деньги в кредит Соединенных Штатов;

регулировать торговлю с иностранными государствами, между отдельными штатами и с индейскими племенами;

устанавливать повсеместно в Соединенных Штатах единообразные правила натурализации (the rule of naturalization) и принимать единообразные законы по вопросу о банкротствах;

чеканить монету, регулировать ценность оной и ценность иностранной монеты, устанавливать единицы весов и мер (to fix the standard of weights and measures);

предусматривать меры наказания за подделку (punishment for counterfeiting) ценных бумаг и находящейся в обращении монеты Соединенных Штатов;

создавать (set up) почтовые службы и почтовые пути;

содействовать (to promote) развитию науки и полезных ремесел, закрепляя на определенный срок за авторами и изобретателями исключительные права на их сочинения и открытия;

учреждать суды, нижестоящие по отношению к Верховному суду;

определять и карать акты пиратства (copyright), тяжкие преступления (felonies) и преступления против права наций.

b) Конституция Соединенных Штатов Америки

Статья II

Раздел 1. Исполнительная власть предоставляется (to vest) Президенту Соединенных Штатов Америки. Он занимает свою должность в течение четырехлетнего срока.

Раздел 2. Президент является главнокомандующим армией и флотом Соединенных Штатов и милицией отдельных штатов, когда она призывается на действительную службу (actual service) Соединенных Штатов; он может потребовать мнение в письменном виде от высшего должностного лица (the principle officer) в каждом из исполнительных департаментов по любому вопросу, касающемуся их должностных обязанностей; он имеет право даровать отсрочку (to grant reprieves) исполнения приговора, а также помилование (pardon) за преступления против Соединенных Штатов, кроме как по делам импичмента.

Он имеет право по совету и с согласия сената заключать международные договоры при условии их одобрения двумя третями присутствующих сенаторов; он по совету и с согласия сената назначает послов (ambassador), других официальных представителей и консулов, судей Верховного суда и всех других должностных лиц Соединенных Штатов.

Президент имеет право заполнять все вакансии, открывающиеся в период между сессиями сената.

В случае отстранения (removal) Президента от должности или его смерти, отставки (resignation) либо неспособности осуществлять полномочия и обязанности названной должности таковые переходят к вице-президенту (the Vice-President).

Раздел 4. Президент, вице-президент и все гражданские должностные лица Соединенных Штатов могут быть отстранены от должности после осуждения в порядке импичмента за государственную измену (treason), взяточничество (bribery) или другие важные преступления и мисдиминоры (misdemeanors).

Ex. 4. Study the list. Chose one of the presidents and prepare the report about his activities. Use any source of information you like.

The Presidents of the United States

№	President	Years in office
	George Washington	1789 - 1797
	Thomas Jefferson	1801 - 1809
	Theodore Roosevelt	1901 - 1909
	Franklin Delano Roosevelt	1933 - 1945
	Harry S. Truman	1945 - 1953
	John Fitzgerald Kennedy	1961 - 1963
	Lindon Johnson	1963 - 1969
	Richard M. Nixon	1969 - 1974
	Gerald Rudolf Ford	1974 - 1977
	James Earl Carter	1977 - 1981
	Ronald Wilson Reagan	1981 - 1989
	George Bush	1989 - 1993
	William J. Clinton	1993 - 2001
	George Walker Bush	2001

Ex. 5. Choose someone to act as an American citizen and answer the tourists' questions.

What do you mean by What is (are) Could you explain to me Can you tell me When was (were) Where was (were) Why is it	the Declaration of Independence adopted; the place that it holds in the minds and hearts of Americans; far more than the announcement of the birth of a new nation; the key ideas of the document; the first ten amendments to the Constitution; the most striking feature of the Constitution; the function of a system of checks and balances; the oldest still in force; the great pride of the nation; the nature of other amendments.

Ex. 6. Speak on American Constitution. Include the following points.

1. The Declaration of Independence:

to compare with, to hold in minds and hearts, key ideas, free people, to form the government, natural responsibilities, liberty, to sustain;

2. The Bill of Rights:

to lay foundations, the Articles of Confederation, to devise, to amend, to inspire, to adopt, the Bill of Rights, to state fundamental rights, freedom of speech, to right of trial by jury, to protect against unreasonable searches, arrest, seizures of property.

3. The Constitution:

striking feature, president, a system of checks and balances, the oldest in force, The Supreme law of the land, to belong to the people, to foresee every problem, to adapt to new conditions, democratic nature, to abolish slavery, to widen suffrage, to make elections direct.

4. Judicial Review:

to refer to; the power of the courts; to be valid; to conform; to be deeply ingrained; to be hard to imagine.

Text B System of Government

Task: read the text, get ready to compare federal and local systems of government.

The United States is a federal union of 50 states. Federalism, of course, is much more than a formal plan. There are various levels of American government: federal, state, county and local. The whole system of American government is based on this principle.

Perhaps the most striking feature of the Constitution is the prevailing notion of separation of powers. Clear lines divide the legislative, executive and judicial branches. A great deal of power is put in the hands of the president. At the same time, a system of checks and balances provides that no one branch of the government would dominate the others. Thus, the Constitution divides the powers of the government into three branches _ the Executive, headed by the President, the Legislative, which includes both houses of Congress (the Senate and the House of Representatives); and the Judicial, which is headed by the Supreme Court.

Members of Congress, the President, state officials and those who govern counties and cities are elected by popular vote.

The state governments follow much the same pattern as the federal government. Each has a governor as the chief executive, with power divided among the Executive, Legislative and Judicial branches. State governments arrange such affairs as maintaining order, educating children and young adults, and building highways. The federal government deals with regional problems that involve more than one state. Laws affecting the daily lives of citizens are enforced by police in the cities and towns. Agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation track down criminals who cross state borders or who break federal laws.

The President of the United States is head of the Executive branch. President is assisted by Vice-President and the Cabinet. The President and Vice-President are elected for a term of four years and can be re-elected for another term, but not longer than that. US President is assisted in Administration by a Cabinet of 12 members. Cabinet secretaries correspond to European ministers. They are heads of different departments and directly and fully responsible to President who appoints them for an indefinite time. Cabinet officials usually serve during his term. When the President's service ends, it is customary for the Cabinet to resign, so the new President can appoint new chiefs of executive departments. There are numerous executive departments. The Department of State, headed by the Secretary of State, advises the President on foreign relations, the Treasury Department manages government finance, collects taxes, mints coins and prints paper money, the Department of Justice, headed by the Attorney General, deals with legal matters, etc.

The main instrument of the Federal Judiciary is the Supreme Court, which watches over the other two branches. It determines whether or not their laws and acts are in accordance with the Constitution. Congress has the power to fix the number of judges sitting on the Court, but it cannot change the powers given to the Supreme Court by the Constitution itself. The Supreme Court consists of a chief justice and eight associate justices. They a...