unitoneabrushwiththelaw.doc

Unit One A Brush with the Law Time Allotment: (4.5 Periods) 1. Text Structure analysis and new words and phrases (3 periods) 2. Exercises and reading writing skills (1.5 periods) Teaching Aims: The teaching of this text aims to enable students 1. to master the new words and useful phrases: arbitrary, award, belief, brilliant, employment, fate, given, guilty, presumably, subsequent, temporary , trial, wander, witness, a couple of, call on , revolve around, save up, stand a chance , take ones time , turn against 2. to learn about the author’s brush with the law and his feeling towards it. 3. to get acquainted with reading skills –how to use a dictionary. 4. to learn and practice some writing skills: arrange the sentences in logical order. I. Background information 1. Magistrates and the magistrates’ court In England, a magistrate is a person appointed to try minor offences. He is either an unpaid layman or, in London and some other large cities, a paid judicial officer. In England, every district has a magistrates court. It is the lowest court of law. The magistrates court can only try people for minor, i.e. not very serious, offences. It cannot give prison sentences totaling more than 12 months, nor can it order fines of more than~400 for one offence. Layer, solicitor, barrister Lawyer is the general term for anyone whose work it is to advise his clients about the law and represent them in court. A solicitor (初级律师) is a lawyer who gives advice, appears in lower courts, and prepares cases for a barrister to argue in a higher court. A barrister(出庭律师) is a lawyer who has the right of speaking and arguing in the higher courts of law. If a person gets into trouble with the police, he will probably ask a solicitor to help prepare his defence and, if the offence is to be heard in a Magistrates Court, he can ask a solicitor to appear for him and argue his case. If the case goes to a higher court, the solicitor still advises him, but he must get a barrister to appear f