ENGLISH FOR LEGAL PURPOSES

A. Listening

The teacher will read a section of an Act. Listen carefully. As
you listen, you can take down notes, any new terms, etc.
(The teacher reads)


Answer the following questions:

1. Name the Act, year and section.
2. What does the law concede?
3. What is considered man’s property?
4. Give the definition spelt out in the section.
5. State any two of the listed items in the definition. Liberty is the only thing you can’t have unless you give it to others.

B. Speaking

I. I, me, myself?

A: Aren’t you coming to the poll booth. We’ve got to vote.
B: Why should I? It doesn’t matter to me as to who rules the state or country.
A: You’re wrong. It is our duty to exercise our franchise. We will be failing in our duty to ourselves, if we refrain from voting.
………..
A: There’s a crowd. Looks like an accident. Come, let’s go help.
B: Why invite unnecessary trouble?
A: You’re wrong. What will happen if everybody says the same? Imagine what would happen if you were the victim and somebody said this. It’s our duty. Come on.
………..
A: Eve-teasing has become a regular affair at this bus depot. We have to do something about this. Let’s complain at the nearest police station.
B: It’s not our problem. Why should we bother?
A: It is very much our problem. We cannot stand by and be mute spectators.We ought to do our bit in getting rid of these evils.


Task 1: Practise the above conversations taking turns.

Task 2: Form pairs and discuss civic sense, one’s obligations
and duties as a citizen, etc.

II. A mock trial was held to determine the true authorship of the
Shakespearean body of work. Although a mock trial, the judge
was a real federal judge, the witnesses were expert witnesses, and
counsel were experienced senior trial lawyers. The fourteenmember
jury was composed of school headmasters, library
directors, lawyers, academics, judges, a journalist and a
psychiatrist. The jury found for the Earl of Oxford, four ballots;
forWilliam Shakespeare, ten ballots.



Task 1: Practise the above mock trial taking turns. (If possible
complete the arguments.)


Task 2: Form two teams, choose a judge and argue whether
advertisements exploit women and children. One team
should represent the ad world, and the other women
and children.


III. Here are a few tips to help you plan a mock parliament in
your school:

Order in the House
• Find a room big enough to accommodate all participants.
• Use desks or simply chairs for benches, if possible giving frontbenchers desks and backbenchers chairs.
• Make sure to have a raised speaker’s platform and chair.
• Using a slightly extended lunch hour once a week, for the mock parliament allows enough time for government business without completely rearranging the students’ (and teachers’!) schedules.
• The speaker is a key player in the proceedings and should be familiar with parliamentary procedure.
• All issues for discussion must be submitted in the form of questions to the Parliamentary Secretary two weeks before the
session.
• The questions will be forwarded to the respective Ministers by the Secretaries.
• Finally, make sure to develop a detailed schedule before the mock parliament begins.
• At the beginning of the week before the real session takes place, hold party conventions. Each party signs up members, elects the party leadership (i.e. house leader and whip), and selects Cabinet ministers or critics. (Could have ballot papers for the elections.)

The following members could constitute the Parliament:
Prime Minister
Deputy Prime Minister (if necessary)
Speaker (Must)
Minister for Education
Minister for Culturals
Minister for External Affairs
Minister for Environment
Minister for Sports
The teachers could act as the Secretaries/Advisers to the Ministers.

The following could be the format for the submission of questions
to be raised during Question hour:

Name of the Member of Parliament: A. Priyanka
Question: Why are Class XI & XII students exempt from
participating in the culturals?
Signature
…………………………………………………………………….
For the Parliamentary Secretary’s Office
Received at 8.00 a.m (time) on 22.11.05 (date)
Forwarded to Culturals Minister
Signature
…………………………………………………………………….
Minister’s acknowledgement
Received Signature
Note: Questions could be - ‘Lack of playground facilities’, ‘Why should uniform be a must?’, ‘Toilet facilities’, ‘Quality of food in the hostel canteen,’ ‘Adequate number of school buses’, etc., etc.,etc.


All said and done, it’s high time we thought of
a model parliament, not a mock parliament!