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Faculty: Law
Academic year: 2015/2016
Term: Summer/II
Course: Legal English
Type of class: Lectures
Date and time: 25.02.2015., 09.00 13.00
1st week of lectures/15 weeks
09.00 10.00
Introduction into Law
Everyone is affected by law every day. No one can live in a modern society without
meeting the law in many different ways each day.
Every time we drive a car we must pay attention not only to the criminal law but also to
the requirements of the civil law of negligence. Every time a visitor enters our homes we become
legally responsible for his safety we owe him what lawyers call a duty of care, whether we
know it or not.
Even the most private and natural parts of our lives birth, marriage and death have
significant legal aspects. In all these ways the law is a framework for the actions of citizens. In
its most familiar form it tells us not to do something. The criminal law supports these
prohibitions by an elaborate system of threatened penalties: and civil law often has a similar
purpose it compensates the person injured by someone elses negligence, and so indirectly
discourages negligent conduct.
But law is more than a network of rules saying Thau shalt not. It also enables people to
do the things they wish to do getting married or divorced, adopting a child or making a will, for
instance. It lays down the requirements for licences a licence to drive a car, for example, or a
licence to sell wines and spirits in a restaurant. It provides the rules for the relationship between
manufacturers and the people who use their products, between estate agents and the people who
wish to buy or sell houses.
The law marks out the limits of the power of individuals to control their affairs. A man
may play a musical instrument provided he does not play it too loudly. A woman may marry a
man of her choice provided he is not too closely related. A family can enlarge their home
provided they can show in the application for planning permission that their plans will not
diminish the value of their neighbours homes or damage the environment.
It is well known that ignorance of the law is no excuse (Ignorantia juris non excusat);
but in our modern society, where the law touches so many steps of our daily lives, ignorance of
the law is also a positive risk for it often deprives people of their legal rights. Tenants leave
their homes in response to a notice to quit unaware that they may have legal protection.
Consumers fail to appreciate that they have legal remedies against the retailer who has sold them
defective goods; they sign guarantees which deprive them of their legal rights.
People injured in accidents refrain from taking proceedings against the person
responsible because they do not know that it is possible to get damages for pain and suffering.
Knowledge of the law, therefore, is not merely an agreeable social and intellectual
advantage. Knowledge of the law is the way in which we can safeguard ourselves, our families
and our possessions, by assuring ourselves of the rights and remedies which the legal system
provides. (Dura lex, sed lex)
The most common definition of the law in English legal textbooks is: rules of conduct
imposed by a state upon its members and enforced by the courts. Thus, law has a social purpose,
to regulate human behavior and establish social order in a manner defined by the interests of the
rulers of society.
Negligence failure to exercise the care that a reasonably prudent person would exercise in like
circumstances (nebriga, nemar)
Negligent conduct falls short of what a reasonable person would do to protect another person
from foreseeable risk of harm (tetno ponaanje)
Civil law of negligence the area of tort law that involves harm caused by carelessness, not
intentional harm (odtetno pravo)
Penalty a punishment imposed for breaking a law, rule or contract (kazna, sankcija)
Damage physical harm that impairs the value, usefulness or normal function of something
(teta, povreda)
Tort civil wrong, willful or negligent that gives rise to a legal obligation between parties even
though there has been no contract between the parties. (graanskopravni delikt)
Damages the money a person receives to compensate for loss or injury (odteta)
Safeguard to protect (uvati)
Duty of care the responsibility of a person or business to act toward others with caution and
prudence (dunost panje)
Questions:
1. What is law?
2. Explain the ways in which law prohibits, allows or limits the power of individuals.
3. Explain Ignorantia juris non excusat.
4. What is negligent conduct?
5. What is a claim for damages?
6. What is duty of care?
7. Explain Dura lex sed lex.
8. What is tort?
9. What is civil law of negligence?
10.00:11.00
Questions:
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