Vocabulary
legislative – законодательная
executive – исполнительная
judicial – судебная
hereditary – наследственный
peeress – леди
forum – форум, собрание
on average – в среднем
debate – дебаты
quorum – кворум
proposal – законопроект
constituency – избирательный округ
ballot – голосование
hierarchical authority – иерархическую власть
interference – вмешательство
income tax – подоходный налог
minority – меньшинство
donation – денежное пожертвование
alliance – союз, альянс
trade unionist – тред-юнионист
intellectual – интеллектуал, мыслящий человек
equality – равенство
intelligentsia – интеллигенция
Whitsun – Духов день, седьмое воскресенье после Пасхи
‘shadow cabinet’ – «теневой кабинет»
procedure – процедура
veto – вето
reject – отклонить
3. The Government
The executive [ig`zekjutiv] branch is headed by the Prime Minister. After each general election the King or Queen invites the leader of the majority party in the House of Commons to become Prime Minister and form the Government. The Prime Minister has an official London House while he (or she) is in office; it is № 10, Downing Street.
The Prime Minister selects the ministers to compose the government. Most of the ministers are chosen from the House of Commons, but a few must be in the House of Lords, so that government plans can be explained there. Government usually consists of about 100 ministers.
Most ministers are in charge of departments which keep them busy. Most heads of government departments have the title ‘Secretary of State’, e.g. ‘Secretary of State for the Environment’. The minister in charge of Britain’s relations with the outside world is known to everybody is the ‘Foreign Secretary’. The one in charge of law and order inside the country is the ‘Home Secretary’. Another important person is the ‘Chancellor of the Exchequer’ [`t∫a:nsзlз зv ði `t∫ekз], who is the head of the Treasury, the department which deals with the money collected and spent by the Government. The Prime Minister himself often takes charge of one of the departments. He usually First Lord of the Treasury – первый лорд казначейства, номинальная должность главы совета казначейства, которую занимает первый министр.
The new appointed ministers are presented to the monarch for the formal approval. The most important ministers of the government (about twenty) form the Cabinet. The Cabinet is a kind of ‘inner government’ within the Government. Over the years the membership of the Cabinet has varied [`veзrid] in size between 17 and 23 and includes the Lord President of the Council – лорд-председатель Тайного совета, the Lord Chancellor [`t∫a:nsзlз], the Secretary for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, the Chancellor of the Exchequer [`t∫a:nsзlз зv ði `t∫ekз], the Home Secretary, etc.
The Cabinet directs the administration, controls the process of lawmaking, and dominates the House of Commons. It decides what subjects shall be debated in the House.
Members of the Cabinet make joint decisions or advise the Prime Minister. All ministers must agree on the policy of the Cabinet. If a minister finds he cannot agree, he resigns [ri`zainz] – уходить в отставку. The Prime Minister himself may require a minister to resign. Within the Cabinet the Prime Minister is meant to be first among equals. In fact Prime Ministers have much more power. Ministers must obey their will, or persuade the Prime Minister of their own point of view.
‘Cabinet Government’ is the main feature of the British political system. So the leading role is played not by the Monarch, who remains head of state, or Parliament, which is officially the supreme lawmaking body, but the Cabinet.
Although government is essentially political, it depends upon a permanent body of officials, the Civil Service. Over half a million men and women are employed in the huge number of offices. Governments come and go, but the civil service remains. Civil servants serve ministers from any parties in power, so they know the secrets of the previous government which the present minister is unaware of. The most senior civil servant in a government department has the title of ‘Permanent Secretary’.
Unlike politicians, civil servants, even of the highest rank, are unknown to the larger public. But for those who belong to it, the British civil service is a career. There are different grades in the civil service. The lowest grade is composed of the clerks and typists who deal with letters, or prepare the information required for their seniors or for the members of the public. In charge of them in the next, higher rank, are the men and women in the Executive [ig`zekjutiv] Grade. Their duty is to carry out the details of legislation [,led3is`lei∫зn]. The highest grade of all is the Administrative [зd`ministrзtiv] Grade, composed of the chief officials who advise the minister in charge of a department and decide how laws are to be implemented [`implimentid]. These most senior positions are usually filled by people who have been working in the civil service for twenty years or more. These people get a high salary (higher than that of their ministers) and stand a good chance of being awarded an official honour.
The heart of the civil service is the Cabinet Office, whose secretary is the most senior civil servant at any given time.
The system of local government is very similar to the system of the national government. There are elected representatives, called councillors [`kaunsilзz] (the equivalent of MPs). They meet in a council chamber in the Town Hall or County Hall (the equivalent of Parliament), where they make policy which implemented [`implimentid] by local government officers (the equivalent of civil servants).
There is no system in Britain whereby – посредством которой a national government official has responsibility for a particular geographical area. There is no one like a ‘prefect’ [`pri:fзkt] or ‘governor’ [`gΛvзnз]. Local councils have traditionally been fairly free from constant central interference [,intз`fiзrзns] in their day to day work. So they manage nearly all public services.
Local councils allowed to collect one kind of tax. This is a tax based on property. All other kinds are collected by central government.
Vocabulary
‘Chancellor of the Exchequer’ – канцлер казначейства (министр финансов)
First Lord of the Treasury – первый лорд казначейства, номинальная должность главы совета казначейства, которую занимает первый министр
Lord President of the Council – лорд-председатель Тайного совета, представляет королеву в тайном совете в ее отсутствие
resign – уходить в отставку
legislation – законодательство
implement – выполнять
prefect – префект
governor – губернатор
4. The Law
The judicial [d3u`di∫зl] branch interprets [in`tз:prits] – толкует the laws.
There is no police force in Britain. All police employees [,emploi`i:z] – служащие work for one of the forty or so separate forces which each have responsibility for a particular geographical area. Originally, these were set up locally. Each police officer had his own ‘beat’, a particular neighborhood which it was his duty to patrol [pз`troul]. He usually did it on foot or sometimes by bicycle. The local ‘bobby’ was a familiar figure on the streets, a reassuring presents that people felt they could trust absolutely.
Later, central government gained some control over them. It inspects them and has influence over senior appointments within them. In return, it provides about half of the money to run them. The other half comes from local government.
The exception to this system is the Metropolitan [,metrз`politзn] Police Force – Столичная полиция (официальное название полиции Лондона, за исключением Сити, имеющего собственную полицию ‘City of London Police Force’), which polices [pз`li:siz] – обеспечивает порядок Greater London. The ‘Met’ is under the direct control of central government. It also performs certain national police functions such as the registration of all crimes and criminals in England and Wales and the compilation [,kompi`lei∫зn] of the missing persons register. New Scotland Yard is the famous building which is the headquarters of its Criminal Investigation Department (CID).
Since the middle years of the twentieth century, the police in Britain have lost much of their positive image. In 1980s there were a large number of cases in which it was found that the police officers had lied and cheated [`t∫I:tid] – обманывали in order to get people convicted of crimes. As a result, trust in the honesty of the police has declined [ai]. Police officers are no longer known as ‘bobbies’ but have become the ‘cops’ or the ‘pigs’.
Nevertheless, the relationship between police and public in Britain compares quite favourably with that in some other European countries. Police officers often still address members of the public as ‘sir’ or ‘madam’. They still do not carry guns in the course of normal duty, although all police stations have a store of weapons.
The system of justice in England and Wales (there are separate ones for Scotland and Northern Ireland), in both civil and criminal cases, is an adversarial [,ædvз:`seзriзl] system. In criminal cases there is no such things as an examining magistrate [`mæd3istreit] who tries to discover the real truth about what happened. In formal terms it is not the business of any court to find out ‘the truth’. Its job is simply to decide ‘yes’ or ‘no’ to a particular proposition [,propз`zi∫зn] (in criminal cases, that a certain person is guilty of a certain crime) after it has heard arguments and evidence from both sides (in criminal cases these sides are known as the defence and the prosecution [,prosi`kju:∫зn]).
There are basically two kinds of court. More than 90 % of all cases are dealt with in magistrates’ courts. Every town has one of these. In them a panel [`pænl] of magistrates (usually three) passes judgement [`d3Λd3mзnt]. In cases where they have decided somebody is guilty of a crime, they can also impose [im`pouz] a punishment.
· If it is someone’s first offence [з`fens] and the crime is a small one, even a guilty person is often unconditionally [`Λnkзn`di∫зnli] discharged [dis`t∫a:d3d]. He or she is set free without punishment.
· The next step up the ladder is a conditional discharged. This means that the guilty person is set free but if he or she commits another crime within a stated time, the first crime will be taken into account.
· He or she may also be put on probation [prз`bei∫зn], which means that regular meeting with a social worker must take place.
· A very common form of punishment for minor offences is a fine, which means that the guilty person has to lay a sum of money.
· Another possibility is that the convicted person is sentenced to a certain number of hours of community service.
· Wherever possible, magistrates and judges try not to imprison people. This costs the state money, the country’s prisons are already overcrowded and prisons have a reputation for being ‘schools for crime’. Even people who are sent to prison do not usually serve the whole time to which they are sentenced. They get ‘remission’ [ri`mi∫зn] of their sentence for ‘good behaviour’.
· There is no death penalty [`penlti] in Britain, except for treason.
· For murders, there is a life sentence. However, ‘life’ does not normally mean life.
Magistrates, who are also known as Justices of the Peace (JPs), are not trained lawyers. They are just ordinary people of good reputation who have been appointed to the job by a local committee. They do not get a salary or a fee for their work (though they get paid expenses).
Even serious criminal cases are first heard in a magistrate’s court. In these cases, the Jps only need to decide that it is possible that the accused [з`kju:zd] may be guilty. They then refer the case to a higher court. In most cases this will be a crown court, where a professional lawyer acts as the judge and the decision regarding guilt or innocence is taken by a jury [`d3uзri]. Juries consist of twelve people selected at random [`rændзm] from the list of voters. They do not get paid for their services and are obliged to perform this duty. In order for a verdict to be reached, there must be agreement among at least ten of them. If this does not happen, the judge has to declare a mistrial [mis`traiзl] and the case must start all over again with a different jury. The judge’s job is to impose a punishment on those found guilty of crimes. A convicted person may appeal to the Court of Criminal Appeal (generally known as the Appeal Court) in London either to have the conviction [kзn`vik∫зn] quashed [kwo∫t] or to have the sentence reduced. The highest court of all the Britain is the House of Lords.
Scotland has its own legal system, separate from the rest of the UK. The basis of its law is closer to Roman and Dutch law. A very noticeable feature is that there are three, not just two, possible verdicts. As well as ‘guilty’ and ‘not guilty’, a jury may reach a verdict of ‘not proven’ [`pru:vзn], which means that the accused person cannot be punished but is not completely cleared of guilt either.