This document was created by King Hammurabi, a Babylonian king who has inevitably become famous because of his legal code. It was copied by his order around in the 17th century BCE onto a series of stelae, large slabs of rock into which the code was carved. The surviving copy also includes a decorative statue, and presumably this ornament was also included on other copies of the code, which would have been distributed to Babylonian temples to make them accessible to the populace.
The text of the Code of Hammurabi includes an introduction and an epilogue that bracket 282 laws. Some of the writing has been obscured with time, but many of the laws remain readable. Many modern readers would probably be shocked by the severity of some of the laws, such as the one which prescribes death for robbers, but the code also set a precedent for presuming innocence and for the presentation of evidence in legal trials.
It is highly likely that the Code of Hammurabi influenced other legal codes in the region, and since many of these codes in turn developed into legal systems that influenced European law, the widely-used common law system owes some credit to the code. The existing example was discovered, incidentally, in 1901, at an archaeological site that included an assortment of plundered items.
Hammurabi undoubtedly set his code in stone with the expectation that it would endure for centuries, and that it would be viewed as immutable. His descendants were unable to control the kingdom, legal code or not, and the region slipped into chaos, with numerous competing kingdoms vying for supremacy. The code lived on, however, and it was adopted by the people who conquered the region. Hammurabi himself is depicted in numerous courtrooms all over the world, thanks to his fame as a maker of laws.
(Abridged from the original texts provided by wisegeek.com)
2. Answer the questions:
1) Who was Hammurabi?
2) What did the Code of Hammurabi look like?
3) What parts does the Code of Hammurabi consist of?
4) What amuses the modern readers of the Code of Hammurabi?
5) Why was the Code of Hammurabi so important?
6) What purpose did Hammurabi seek for when he created his Code?
7) How many copies of the Code of Hammurabi exist today?
8) What happened with the state after Hammurabi`s death?
3. Decide if the following statements are True (T), False (F) or Not Stated (NS):
1) The Code of Hammurabi is the oldest set of laws in the world.
2) Many ideas of the Code of Hammurabi can be found in modern legal codes.
3) The Code of Hammurabi appeared in Ancient Egypt three thousand years ago.
4) Hammurabi spent all his life on creating his Code.
5) Punishment for most crimes in the Code was death.
6) The Code of Hammurabi had a great impact on the European law systems.
7) Hammurabi`s Code was followed by his descendants.
8) Thanks to the Code the rate of criminality reduced.
4. Match the words on the left with their definitions on the right:
5. Can you translate these words into Russian without a dictionary? Be sure your translation is accurate; check your answers using a dictionary.
1) legal ____________________ ( )
2) site _____________________ ( )
3) credit ___________________ ( )
4) bracket __________________ ( )
5) display __________________ ( )
6) adopt ___________________ ( )
7) chaos ___________________ ( )
8) numerous ________________ ( )
9) document ________________ ( )
10) statue __________________ ( )
11) precedent _______________ ( )
12 descendant ______________ ( )
Point out in brackets what part of speech these words are used in the text.
Text 2. Magna Carta (Part I)
Magna Carta is one of the most celebrated documents in English history but later interpretations have tended to obscure its real significance in 1215. This iconic document was not intended to be a lasting declaration of legal principle. It was a practical solution to a political crisis which primarily served the interests of the highest ranks of feudal society by reasserting the power of custom to limit despotic behaviour by the king.
The majority of the clauses in Magna Carta dealt with the regulation of feudal customs and the operation of the justice system, not with legal theory and rights. It was King John's extortionate exploitation of his feudal rights and his ruthless administration of justice that were at the core of the barons' grievances.
All but three of Magna Carta's clauses have now become obsolete and been repealed, but the flexible way in which the charter has been reinterpreted through the centuries has guaranteed its status and longevity.
Legacy
Only three of the original clauses in Magna Carta are still law. One defends the freedom and rights of the English church, another confirms the liberties and customs of London and other towns, but the third is the most famous:
No free man shall be seized or imprisoned, or stripped of his rights or possessions, or outlawed or exiled nor will we proceed with force against him except by the lawful judgment of his equals or by the law of the land. To no one will we sell, to no one deny or delay right or justice.
This statement of principle, buried deep in Magna Carta, was given no particular prominence in 1215, but its intrinsic adaptability has allowed succeeding generations to reinterpret it for their own purposes and this has ensured its longevity. In the fourteenth century Parliament saw it as guaranteeing trial by jury. Sir Edward Coke interpreted it as a declaration of individual liberty in his conflict with the early Stuart kings and it has resonant echoes in the American Bill of Rights and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
But the real legacy of Magna Carta as a whole is that it limited the king's authority by establishing the crucial principle that the law was a power in its own right to which the king was subject.
1. Answer the following questions:
1) Why was Magna Carta created?
2) Whose interests did Magna Carta serve?
3) What problems did clauses of Magna Carta deal with?
4) Is Magna Carta valid today?
5) What clauses of Magna Carta are laws today? What do they defend?
6) How is the most famous clause of Magna Carta interpreted?
7) What is the legacy of Magna Carta as a whole?
2. Match the verbs on the left with their definitions on the right:
Look up nouns for these verbs in a dictionary.
3. Give Russian equivalents to the following phrases:
1) power of custom _________________________________
2) extortionate exploitation ___________________________
3) ruthless administration of justice _______________________
4) at the core of the grievances ___________________________
5) particular prominence _______________________________
6)