The very high cost of legal services and litigation in England means that for people of modest means, going to law is almost impossible. In criminal cases, also, it means that the State has to provide and pay for lawyers because it is today regarded as a fundamental human right that anybody accused of serious crimes, with the risk of being sent to jail, must be provided with legal counsel to defend him. In civil matters, also, there is an extensive system of legal aid, paid for by taxpayers, though this is only available free to the poorer members of the community. To bring a case before a court a citizen who cannot afford to pay himself, can apply for legal aid, which is granted at the discretion of the authorities, where they are advised by lawyers that there appears to be a reasonable case in law. Citizens of moderate means may be required to pay part of the cost themselves.
Recently, there have been a variety of attempts to provide legal remedies of some kind to people who do not feel they can afford the burden of litigation. For instance, many public and commercial institutions have recently appointed Ombudsmen who can investigate and deal with complaints at their own expense (their costs are met by the institutions they supervise, even though they are independent of them), and they can often award compensation to claimants. Indeed, they are sometimes more useful than ordinary litigation because they can rely on standards of fair practice as well as on the law itself, so claimants may find it easier to obtain substantial justice from an Ombudsman than from the law, where claimants can still be defeated by technicalities. Today Ombudsmen exist for several distinct types of commercial activity, such as the work of banking, insurance and the home-lending institutions which the English call building societies. The legal professions also have an Ombudsman of their own to deal with complaints against lawyers. In addition there are Ombudsmen for many public services, such as the National Health Service, and local government services, as well as the national Ombudsman who can investigate allegations of maladministration in the civil service or government departments, though only at the request of a member of parliament. Ombudsmen work quite differently from courts. They operate in private, they do not hold hearings, but rely just on documents and even letters. They are much less formal than courts, and because they are responsible for making their own inquiries, they do not need barristers to present cases to them. But their powers are limited in various ways. They can usually only order compensation in fairly minor cases, and they do not have any general power to enforce the law, but only to deal with problems arising in particular kinds of institutions or relationships, for instance, between a client and bank or insurance company, or between a citizen and his municipal authority. So although Ombudsmen can be very useful, they do not necessarily eliminate the demand for ordinary litigation.
Vocabulary
accuse of crime v обвинить в совершении преступления
allegation v заявление, утверждение
at the discretion на усмотрение
at their own expense за их счет
award compensation to complaint присудить компенсацию истцу
bring a case before a court подать в суд, возбудить дело
burden of litigation n бремя судебного процесса / тяжбы
claimant n истец
provide with legal counsel предоставить адвоката
eliminate v исключить
legal aid n юридическая помощь, консультация
legal remedies n средства правовой / судебной защиты
maladministration n недобросовестное ведение дел; недобросовестное администрирование
moderate means n средний достаток; умеренные средства
ombudsman n омбудсмен; уполномоченный по рассмотрению жалоб; в РФ: уполномоченный по правам человека
send to jail v заключить в тюрьму
Reading tasks
Answer these questions.
1 Why is it almost impossible going to law for people of modest means?
2 Why does the State have to provide and pay for lawyers in criminal cases?
3 Who can apply for legal aid?
4 How is legal aid granted?
5 How can you describe legal aid?
6 Who is an Ombudsman?
7 What are his functions?
8 What problems does an Ombudsman deal with?
9 What are the advantages of Ombudsmen?
10 How are their powers limited?
11 What can you say about the role of Ombudsmen in our country?
12 In your view, could the present system of legal services in the UK be applicable in our country?
Vocabulary tasks
A Find in the text above the English equivalents for the following words and expressions. Use them while retelling the text.
1 юридические услуги
2 право человека
3 гражданские дела
4 налогоплательщики
5 бесплатный
6 скромные средства
7 издержки
8 добросовестная практика
9 страхование
10 правительственные учреждения
11 неофициально
B Make up word- combinations.
| 1 defeat 2 obtain 3 rely 4 deal 5 pay 6 provide 7 investigate 8 apply 9 hold 10 operate | with on for by in - | legal remedies hearings lawyers standards complaints technicalities justice private allegations legal aid |
Language focus
Put the verb in brackets into the correct tense, Active or Passive. Answer the question: In your opinion, is it a good idea to provide free legal advice and could such a service adequately solve people’s problems?
Legal Aid and Advice
Since 1950s the services of solicitors and barristers 1) _________ (make) available by the system called Legal Aid for those who 2)______ (can) not afford them. Though many legal tasks 3) _________ (can) only 4) _________ (provide) by professionally qualified solicitors and barristers, preliminary legal advice or information is available from a wide range of other sources.
Law Centres are grant-funded institutions that 5) _________ (provide) free and independent legal advice and can even represent people in legal proceedings. They 6) _________ (specialize) in certain areas of law such as immigration and nationality, housing and homelessness, employment rights, and sex and race discrimination.
There 7) _________ (be) now an important trend towards the resolution of problems without resort to the legal system. This movement 8) _________ (refer) to as Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) and 9) _________ (deal) mainly with civil law issues.
The reasons why the formal legal system seems to be unsatisfactory are:
1) Delay (major delay still 10) _________ (occur) when very formal court procedures take place);
2) Cost (the involvement of qualified lawyers inevitably 11) _________ (result) in high costs);
3) Complexity (the complexity of procedure 12) _________ (make) it difficult for people to make out their own case).
ADR 13) _________ (involve) the solution of a dispute by an independent arbitrator. That person may or may not be a lawyer. This system 14)_____(have) certain advantages: it 15) _________ (involve) less formal procedures and so is quicker and cheaper. It can also take place without publicity which may help to produce greater reconciliation at the end of the process.