法律英语练习题

Lesson Three

Comparing Civil and Criminal Law

I.Discuss the following questions:

1.What are the two objectives of criminal law?

2.What is civil law concerned with?

3.What are the two main branches of civil law?

4.In terms of duties or obligations, what are the differences between contract law

and tort law?

5.How many kinds of torts are mentioned in the text? What are they? What are the

difference and relationship between them?

6.Are compensatory damages and punitive damages the same in nature? Why or

why not? Why are punitive damages seldom awarded?

7.Is it justified to say that a certain person can file a criminal charge against

someone else? Why?

II.Read the text again and decide whether these statements are true or false:

1.As for criminal law, there is just one purpose: to prevent antisocial behavior. F

2.Prevention of bad behavior may be more the consequence of civil law than the

purpose. T

3.The primary purpose of civil law is the compensation of those injured by someone

else’s behavior. T

4. A agreed to lease an apartment from a landlord for one year and A paid the rent for

one year shortly after he moved in. Half a year later A moved out for unknown reasons, and then the landlord had the right to sue A for breach of contract. F 5.Negligent tort has occurred when one fails to act reasonably and unintentionally

injury someone. T

6.Many intentional torts are also crimes and this is where civil law and criminal law

has much in common. T

7.Criminal law is concerned with the immorality of an act while tort law is not. F https://www.360docs.net/doc/019226550.html,plete the sentences below using the words or phrases given: undesirable; nonconformity; monetary; compensation; liability; restitution; tortfeasor; battery; fraternity; damages

1.The monetary system of certain countries used to be based on gold.

2.Civil law actually acts to prevent nonconformity to society’s behavior.

3.The court estimated the compensation in money for damages sustained by the

plaintiff in the contract.

4.Since A has not breached the contract, he holds no liability for damage.

5.Restitution means the act of making good or compensating for loss, damage, or

injury, or a return to or restoration of previous state or position.

6.If one at a party heaves a beer bottle and strikes another present either

unintentionally or on purpose, he has committed a tort and he is known as a

tortfeasor.

7.Punitive damages are awarded in civil suits to prevent undesirable behavior by

punishing those who commit outrageous acts.

8.Acts deemed undesirable by society fall within the prevention and punishment

which are two essential reasons for criminal justice system.

9.He was guilty of assault and battery.

10.There is a strong spirit of fraternity of among these isolated people.

IV.Translate the following passage into Chinese:

Crimes and Torts

Criminal law and the law of torts (more than any other form of civil law) are related branches of the law; yet in a sense they are two quite different matters. The aim of the criminal law as we have noted, is to protect the public against harm by punishing harmful results of conduct or at least situations (not yet resulting in actual harm) which are likely to result in harm if allowed to proceed further. The function of tort law is to compensate someone who is injured in the harm he has suffered. With crimes, the state itself brings criminal proceedings to protect the public interest but not to compensate the victim; with torts, the injured party himself institutes proceedings to recover damages (or perhaps to enjoin the defendant from causing further damage). With crimes, as we have seen, there is emphasis on a bad mind, on immorality. With torts the emphasis is more on “the adjustment of the conflicting interests of individuals to achieve a desirable social result”, with morality taking on less importance.

Supplementary Reading

“Tort”is an elusive concept. It has defied a number of attempts to formulate a useful definition. The dilemma is that any definition which is sufficiently comprehensive to encompass all torts is so general as to be almost meaningless.

The one common element of all torts is that someone has sustained a loss or harm as the result of some act or failure to act by another. Virtually all of the infinitely diverse forms of human activity—driving a vehicle, engaging in business, speaking, writing, owning and using real or personal property—may be a source of harm and therefore of tort liability. This diversity of conduct resists broad generalizations, and so does the tort liability on which it is based.

Sometimes, it is suggested that a common element of tort liability is fault, that tortious conduct is that which falls below accepted community standards of behavior. But fault cannot be said to be a universal principle of liability. Various kinds of blameworthy conduct resulting in damage do not give rise to tort liability. Conversely, the law sometimes imposes tort liability simply because a particular activity can and should bear the cost of damage associated with it, regardless of the fact that the conduct of the “tortfeasor” was morally blameless.

If a definition of “tort” is necessary, it will have to be something in the nature of this:

“A civil wrong, wherein one person’s conduct causes a compensable injury to the

person, property, or recognized interest of another, in violation of a duty imposed by law.”

Obviously, this does not tell us very much. To say that the breach of a law-imposed duty creates tort liability begs the question (回避问题实质). Moreover, not all violations of legal duties are torts.

Tort law has three main goals: (1) compensating persons sustaining a loss or harm as a result of another’s conduct; (2) placing the cost of that compensation on those who, in justice, ought to bear it, but only on such persons; and (3) preventing future losses and harms.

Tort law is predicated on the idea that all the harms and losses sustained by the victim—tangible and intangible—can be measured in money. The basic tort remedy is to require the tortfeasor to pay the victim compensatory damages for such harms and losses.

If compensations were our only goal, there are more efficient ways than tort litigation to achieve the goal. The law permits first party insurance—life, health and accident, disability, fire, theft, etc. Or government could impose a tax-financed compensation system, similar to social security. A portion of the tangible costs of physical harm to persons and properly are already reimbursed by insurance, employment benefits, and governmental benefits. The tread is for these to increase. By expanding the coverage and limits, such compensation could be made to serve as a substitute for tort damages in the vast majority of cases now processed through the tort system. Why use the more cumbersome, inefficient and expensive method?

The answer is found in our notions of justice, which include the idea of fairness and to some extent other considerations. Fundamentally, justice is the result of applying current community standards of fairness. If a loss-producing event is a matter of pure chance, then the fairest way to relieve the victim of the burden of its cost is insurance or governmental compensation. In this way the risk and its costs are shared by all. If the risk differs for different groups but is more or less random within each group, premium classifications can equitably adjust these differences. Comprehension Questions:

I. Answer the following questions in accordance with this passage:

1.Why is the definition of tort difficult?

2.Can you make a tentative definition of tort?

3.What are the goals of torts?

4.Are there means of compensating tort victims other than tort litigation?

5.Why is tort litigation still necessary, when other means of compensating tort

victims are possible and may be more efficient?

II. Choose the best answers to each of the following questions:

C B C

D A B

1．Why is “tort” an elusive concept?

A.Because it denies attempts a number of attempts to defined usefully.

B.Because there is hardly a comprehensive definition of it that is meaningful

enough.

C.Because “tort”has one common element: someone has sustained a loss or

harm as the result of some act or failure to act by another, while almost any personal behavior may result in another’s loss or harm.

D.Because there are several kinds of tort liabilities.

2. Those who hold that “a common element of tort liability is fault” would believe that ______.

A. the tortfeasor is morally blameless

B. the conduct that constitutes tort liability can be regarded to be “wrong”by community standard of behavior

C. various kinds of blameworthy conduct can result in tort liability

D. tort liability is imposed by law when the tortfeasor has done something wrong

3. Those who hold that “fault cannot be a universal principle of liability”would believe all of the following EXCEPT ______.

A. Various kinds of blameworthy conduct resulting in damage do not give rise to tort liability.

B. the law sometimes imposes tort liability simply because a particular activity can and should bear the cost of damage associated with it regardless of the fact who is to be blame.

C. even if one has done nothing wrong, he would still bear tort liability imposed by the law

D. even if the “tortfeasor”is morally blameless, he would still bear tort liability imposed by the law

4. Which of the follow is not the goal of tort law?

A. to compensate persons sustaining a loss or harm as a result of another’s conduct

B. to place the cost of that compensation on those who ought to bear it

C. to prevent future losses and harms

D. to impose liability upon those who are morally blameworthy

5. As for “compensation”, which of the following statement is wrong?

A. Compared with other means, to compensate through tort system is the most efficient method.

B. Government could impose a tax-financed compensation system, similar to social security.

C. Various kinds insurances can, to some extent, compensate the loss of the insured.

D. By expanding the coverage and limits, many means of compensation could be made to serve as a substitute for tort damages in the vast majority of cases now processed through the tort system.

6. Since it is a somewhat cumbersome and expensive method, why should we still have tort system compensation?

A. Because compared with other means, to compensate through tort system is the most efficient method.

B. Because any community needs standards of fairness which is the result of justice.

C. Because sometimes a loss-producing event is not a matter of pure chance.

D. Because the fairest way to relieve the victim of the burden is insurance if a loss-producing event is a matter if pure chance.