1. In Europe the authority of political rulers throughout the Middle Ages didn’t extend to religious matters.
2. The British constitution includes the Bill of Rights (1689), the act of Settlement (1700-01), the Parliament Act of 1911 and many others.
3. Though the institution of monarchy is as old as recorded history, the modern age has been moving steadily in the direction of republican government.
4. Since the end of the 18th century scores of states, in Europe and elsewhere, have followed the United States’ example and created constitutional documents describing the fundamental organs of the state, the way they should operate, the rights they must respect and even sometimes the goals they ought to pursue.
5. All human rights and liberties are prescribed by the Constitution.
6. Religious matters were strictly reserved to the jurisdiction of the church in the Middle Ages.
7. It has often been asserted that the United States has a written constitution, but that the constitution f Great Britain is unwritten.
Task 12. Translate the following sentences paying attention to the complex subject:
1. The right to vote is considered to be a civil right.
2. Civil rights and civil liberties seem to overlap with individual rights and liberties.
3. Civil rights and liberties are likely to with what individuals and groups may do within the law.
4. The protection of individual rights appears to be the concern of supranational institutions.
5. The theory of the rights of the individual was said to be a potent factor in reshaping the constitutions of Western states in the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries.
Task 13. Translate the following sentences paying attention to the functions of the verbs “to be” and “to have”:
1. Every state has a constitution, since early state functions on the basis of certain rules and principle.
2. Civil liberties are freedoms that are guaranteed to the individual.
3. Civil rights protect certain general human needs and interests, but sometimes conflict with other human needs and interests; this conflict has to be adjusted in the courts or by legislation.
4. Civil right are to be distinguished from moral liberty or freedom of the will, from political liberties, economic liberties and the like.
5. In modern times by far the most important political community has been the national state.
Task 14. Use the text to complete the following sentences:
1. Civil liberties are … guaranteed to the individual.
2. Civil liberties declare what cannot do.
3. Civil rights are powers or … that are guaranteed to the … and protected from ….
4. Civil rights and liberties … with individual rights and liberties.
5. Civil rights protect …,but sometimes conflict with other ….
6. Civil liberties are … from political, economic, religious liberties.
7. Civil liberties were justified by philosophers as … rights.
8. The question what civil rights or liberties citizens … depends partly on what rights or liberties … by constitution, code, statute, and also on how these rights or liberties are ….
Task 15. Give the main idea of each paragraph. Use the following sentence-starters:
The first two paragraphs define …
In the third paragraph the author emphasizes the difference between …
Then we learn about …
In the next paragraph the author enumerates …
At the end of the text the author explains …
Task 16. These statements are known today as the Miranda warnings. Among them:
- You have the right to remain silent.
- Anything you say can be used against you in court.
- You have the right to talk to a lawyer of your choice before questioning.
- If you cannot afford to hire a lawyer, a lawyer will be provided without charge.
Task 17. Answer the following questions.
Do you know why the statements above are called so? When are they made to a person? Are these warnings used only in the United States? Read the following and check your answers. Make the translation.
Ernesto Miranda was arrested in Arizona for kidnapping and raping an eighteen-year-old girl. After the police questioned him for two hours and the woman identified him, Miranda confessed to the crime. He was convicted in an Arizona court on the basis of that confession — although he was never told he had the right to counsel and the right not to incriminate himself. Miranda appealed his conviction, which was overturned by the Supreme Court in 1966.
The Court based its decision in Miranda v. Arizona on the fifth Amendment privilege against self-incrimination. According to the Court, the police had forced Miranda to confess during in-custody questioning, not with physical force but with the coercion inherent in custodial interrogation. Warnings were required to dispel that coercion. Warnings were not necessary if a person was only in custody or if a person was only subject to questioning without arrest. But the combination of custody and interrogation was sufficiently intimidating to require warnings before questioning. Finally, in Miranda, the Court declared that all governments — national, state, and local — have a duty to inform suspects of the full measure of their constitutional rights.
TEXT B