MV416Zk Language II.2 - English For Lawyers

Faculty of Law
Spring 2011
Extent and Intensity
0/2. 3 credit(s). Type of Completion: zk (examination).
Teacher(s)
Mgr. Štěpánka Dillingerová, Ph.D. (seminar tutor)
Mgr. Radmila Doupovcová (seminar tutor)
Mgr. Alena Hradilová, Ph.D. (seminar tutor)
Mgr. Barbora Chovancová, Ph.D. (seminar tutor)
PhDr. Hana Kallus, M.A., Ph.D. (seminar tutor)
doc. JUDr. Tereza Kyselovská, Ph.D. (seminar tutor)
Mgr. Martina Nosková (seminar tutor)
Mgr. Radek Šimek, Ph.D. (seminar tutor)
PhDr. Radoslava Šopovová (seminar tutor)
Guaranteed by
Mgr. Alena Hradilová, Ph.D.
Language Centre, Faculty of Law Division – Language Centre
Contact Person: Magdalena Kunzová
Prerequisites
MV313Z English for Lawyers II.1. && ! CM111Z English for Lawyers && ! CM210Z English for Lawyers && ! CM308Z English for Lawyers && ! CM408Z Language I.4. - English for Lawyers && ! CM408Zk English for Lawyers && ! MP111Z English for Lawyers && ! MP210Z English for Lawyers && ! MP309Z English for Lawyers && ! MP409Z English for Lawyers I.4. && ! MP409Zk English for Lawyers I.4
The students are expected to show their command of English in writing as well as orally. They are expected to reach at least upper intermediate level or higher and present their academic skills and to show their legal English expertise.
Course Enrolment Limitations
The course is only offered to the students of the study fields the course is directly associated with.
fields of study / plans the course is directly associated with
Course objectives
Students will be able to explain some legal principles which create important bases of most areas of law (contracts, crimes, torts). They will be able to discuss the main differences in the aforementioned areas between Czech and Anglo-American systems of law. They will understand the gist of video recordings from court hearings (level B2), provide summary and give reasons for a decision. They will be able to actively participate in a mock trial.
Syllabus
  • Introduction Contracts - different types of contracts, essential elements, damages, other remedies: Powell: U6, Chromá I: U10, U11; Criminal law - what is a crime, elements of proof, defenses, types of crime: Powell: U7, Chromá II: U22; Torts - requirements of proof, comparison with crimes, comparison with broken contracts: Powell: U8, Chromá II: U13, U14; Trusts - different types of trusts, enforcers and administrators, requirements: Powell: U9; Land law - complexity of land law, estate in English law, legal interests, land transfer, short term possession, regulation of private and public land: Powell: U10, Chromá I: U8, Authentic materials, Analysis of typical features of legal texts - definitions, legalese, syntactic and lexical difficulties. Examination consists of two parts: written and oral. Written part: 60 minutes - controlled cloze test (in the first part deleted expressions will be given in Czech and students will translate them to stuit the context, in the second part there will be underlined expressions in English to be translated into Czech - providing definitions - language focus exercises (e.g. sentence transformation, word-formation, prepositions) - reading comprehension - listening Oral part: text - reading, summary, comments and discussion discussion related to the topic chosen conversation topic - Law studies, Faculty of law, Masaryk university terminology based on prescribed texts Topics: What is law, Sources of modern law, Civil and public law, Judicial institutions, Lawyers at work, Contracts, Criminal law,Torts, Trusts, Land law.
Literature
  • New Introduction to Legal English, Volume I. 4th ed. Praha: Karolinum, 2003, 562 pp. ISBN 80-246-0720-4. info
  • New introduction to legal English, Volume II. 4th ed. Praha: Karolinum, 2003, 554 pp. ISBN 80-246-0738-7. info
  • CHROMÁ, Marta. English-czech law dictionary. 2., upr. vyd. Praha: Leda, 1997, 341 s. ISBN 808592725X. info
  • Česko anglický právnický slovník s vysvětlivkami (Czech-English Law Dictionary with Explanations). 1st ed. Voznice: LEDA, 2001, 478 pp. ISBN 90-85927-90-X. info
  • KROIS-LINDNER, Amy and Matt FIRTH. Introduction to International Legal English. 1st ed. Cambridge: CUP, 2008. ISBN 9780521718998. URL info
  • RILEY, Alison. English for law. 1. ed. London: Macmillan Press, 1991, xxiv, 256. ISBN 0-333-49387-7. info
  • POWELL, Richard. Law today. 1st ed. Harlow: Longman, 1993, 128 s. ISBN 0582056357. info
Teaching methods
interactive language seminar
Assessment methods
The examination has two parts - written and oral. See above the structure of both of the parts.
Language of instruction
Czech
Further comments (probably available only in Czech)
Study Materials
The course is taught annually.
The course is taught: every week.
General note: Jazyk II. je rozvrhově sloučen s Jazykem I.
The course is also listed under the following terms Spring 2002, Spring 2003, Spring 2004, Spring 2005, Spring 2006, Spring 2007, Spring 2008, Spring 2009, Spring 2010.
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