THE NATURE OF CRIMINAL LAW

In the 1920's America became a nation on wheels. It seemed as if every family were buying a car. The most popular car was the Model T, made by Henry Ford. Like the assembly line in industry including Ford's factories, buying durable goods on the installment plan was a new idea in American business. The installment

plan made it possible for people to "own" cars before they really owned them,

The plan was also called 'buying on time." It had a good effect on business because more people were able to buy expensive things. Suburbs, the towns and neighborhoods lying around the cities, began to grow fast. Gas stations and garages were built. Along the highways, food stands were opened. Highway signs were

put up. In 1923 a black American named Garrett A. Morgan came up with an important idea for controlling city traffic- he invented traffic stoplights.

Americans of the 1920's tried an experiment called Prohibition - a law that made the sale of alcoholic drinks illegal. But it did not work. Instead, it caused new problems - illegal bars, gangsters becoming wealthy by carrying on a big business, selling poisonous alcohol and other criminal activities. More people drank

than before, and they would not obey the law. Finally, in 1933 a law was passed to repeal the experiment with Prohibition.

In 1929, American business ran into trouble - the stock market crashed, the value of stocks fell so low that stocks were no longer worth the money people had paid for them. Banks and companies went out of business. Industries cut down production, jobs were hard to find, wages lowered considerably, unemployment rates were very high - millions, of Americans were out of work. Farm families lost their land. People stood in line to get handouts of bread and soup. The situation was so bad and lasted so long that the 1930's are called the Great Depression.

In 1932 Franklin D. Roosevelt was elected President. He promised Americans a New Deal - new plans to end the Depression. By 1936 there had been started dozens of programs to create new jobs and help people make a new start. So Roosevelt easily won election to a second term as President. Four years later, in 1940,

he was elected to a third term, which broke the old tradition that limited a President to two terms in office.

1. How did cars change American life?

2. Who was President during most of the 1930 's? What name was given to his plan for ending the Depression?

THE NATURE OF CRIMINAL LAW

I. WARMING UP

Exercice 1. Read and comment on the quotation by Edmund Burke (1729 - 1797), Irish-born British statesman and political philosopher: "Bad laws are the worst sort of tyranny".

Exercise 2. Answer the question: What is the main task of criminal law?

Exercise 3. Match the following English words and expressions with their

Exercise 4. A. Divide the following words into two groups:

− those in which the letter combination– ea is pronounced as [i:];

− those in which the letter combination– ea is pronounced as [e].

lead, already, threaten, deal, peace, health, treating, death, least, European.

B. In the text below find the sentence with the wordconduct. What syllable is stressed in this word? When is the stress on the second syllable?

Exercise 5. Read the text.

Criminal Law

Date: 2015-01-02; view: 1277