The English Channel Paris 2

mardi 17 mars 2015

Liam Neeson wishes you a happy St Patrick's Day

L2: MONARCHY: The Zoo Must Go On

The Zoo Must Go On

Introducing a document:

The document is an article taken from The Guardian, published on September 26^th, 2009.

The document is taken from / is extracted from The Guardian, and (is) written by Jeremy Paxman.

The text is an extract from / is an excerpt from The Guardian, which was written by Jeremy Paxman.

(Grammar: Passive Structure: Be + Past participle / ex: was written)

“It was published on September 26^th, 2009.”

Or “It was published in September 2009” or “It was published in 2009”

(Grammar: Preposition “on”+ day + month.

Preposition “in” + month and year or “in” + year)

The document discusses (/deals with / talks about) the role of the Monarch in the British institutions in twenty-first century Britain.

(Grammar: to discuss something (no preposition))

Every year, the Queen opens a new session of Parliament. The ceremony takes place in Westminster, in the House of Lords.

Nowadays / Today, the English Monarch has limited constitutional power.

According to Walter Bagehot, “Consultation, encouragement and warning” are the three main functions of the English Monarch.
The Queen meets the Prime Minister on a weekly basis (/ every week).

According to the Prime Minister, these meetings may take different forms.

At these weekly meetings the Queen and the Prime Minister discuss political matters.

The Queen also gives her Royal Assent thanks to which a bill (studied and voted in Parliament) becomes an act.

The Queen’s Royal Assent is necessary for a bill to become an Act.

The Queen’s Royal Assent is necessary so that a bill may become an Act.

Even if (/ Although) the fact that the new session of Parliament is opened by an unelected Queen in an unelected House of Lords is sometimes criticised (/ lambasted), the Monarch still enjoys great popularity (the Monarch is still very popular) in England (among English people).

But the Queen is all the more popular as her power is limited (/ curtailed) by the Parliament, as the Zoo allegory at the end of the text suggests.

Indeed, the Monarch is like a Lion in a cage, impressive but powerless.

The Monarch is comparable to a Lion kept in a cage.

England used to be an absolute monarchy, but is now a constitutional monarchy.

(NB: Used to do (...) ≠ be used to doing something)

To avoid being done away with, the Monarch agreed to relinquish some of his power.

The Power of the Parliament counterbalances that of the Monarch.

NB:

Every + singular.

Every other year: un an sur deux.

But Every five years… every ten years..

On a weekly basis, on a monthly basis…

jeudi 12 mars 2015

L3 Family Law : Radmacher v Granatino (Appellant) [2010] (Booklet, p. 72-74)

Radmacher (Respondent) v Granatino (Appellant) [2010]

Questions 2 and 3:

The specificity of this marriage is that the spouses are neither English citizens nor of the same nationality. In addition to this, although a pre-nuptial agreement had been entered into in Germany, the marriage was celebrated in Oxford, hence the petition for divorce being filed in England.

Summary:

The facts concern the breakdown of a marriage between a German lady (whose maiden name is Radmacher) and a French banker (called Granatino) in London in 1998.

Probably on account of the fact that the amount of money at stake was quite substantial (but also because the case involved a mixed couple and finally because the situation was that of a defended divorce) the case was heard at first instance by the High Court.

Given that the petitioner had not taken legal advice before signing the pre-nuptial agreement and that he had then left banking to take up his studies in Oxford at the time of the divorce, the High Court judge chose to modify the terms of the pre-nuptial agreement entered into by the parties, granting the petitioner (Granatino) enough money to purchase a house in addition to a comfortable annual income.

Mrs Radmacher then appealed the High Court decision to the Court of Appeal, which reversed the trial court decision and held that the pre-nuptial agreement, although entered into in Germany, should have been given full weight.

(Grammar: To appeal a court decision to a higher court / To hold, held, held)

In turn, Mr Granatino appealed the Court of Appeal’s decision but his appeal was dismissed by the Supreme Court, (which upheld the Court of Appeal’s finding).

Lady Hale: Dissents with the majority opinion on 2 grounds:

A. Definition of marriage:

Lady Hale contends that marriage is both a contract and a status, meaning that the parties are not entirely free to determine the full terms of the contract, but that these terms are instead determined by the law of the land. She also considers that modern forms of marriage give the parties a lot of leeway but do not allow them to neglect their fundamental duty to support each other and their children.

(Vocabulary: leeway (n.) = latitude, flexibility)

B. A gender issue:

1. The object of a pre-nuptial agreement being for one or both parties to protect his or her assets, one may agree with Lady Hale that the idea of the agreement would be to deny the weaker spouse 50% of the couple’s assets in case of divorce. This argument is debatable as more and more people now have careers but it appears that there is a gender issue because – although this is not the case in Radmacher v Gratanino – pre-nuptial agreements tend to benefit the rich which statistically tend to be male.

Vocabulary: debatable = questionable, disputable

Grammar: "Adjectifs substantivés": the rich, the poor, the unemployed (...)

On the same topic, see the following article from The Guardian : Prenup Agreement enforced under UK Law

L3 HOMEWORK for WEEK 7, CLASS n° 8 CRIMINAL LAW

Study Chapters 27 (Introduction to Criminal Law) and 28 (Offences to the Person), p.103-108.

We will start the class by correcting the exercises on Family Law that were to be prepared for Class n° 7 (Week 6) before moving on to Criminal Law

Exercise: sentence completion p. 69 (Family law)

Exercise p. 74 / "Want"

mardi 10 mars 2015

L2 HOMEWORK for UNIT 5 The Prime Minister and the Cabinet

Homework for March 17th, 2015

Study the Introduction to Unit 5. Prepare 3 questions to ask the students giving the presentation.
Exercise 2 p. 52 (Sentence completion)
Exercise on Modals p. 58.
Read Text 2 p. 54-55 (and answer the questions on p. 55)

vendredi 6 mars 2015

L3 HUMAN RIGHTS: Summary of Reading Comprehension 1, p. 48-49

Summary of Reading Comprehension 1, p. 48-49

Key Issues for the UK Parliament: From the HUman Rights Act to a Bill of Rights?

Initially, the Human Rights Act was adopted in 1998 in order to “bring rights home”, that is to say to make provisions of the European Convention on Human Rights directly applicable in domestic courts so that claimants (UK residents / UK citizens + foreign nationals) could bring / might bring rights-related claims (i.e. claims based on the ECHR) and obtain redress in the UK.

Structure: To make something applicable...

This act, however, has been subject to sustained (withering / unsparing) criticism on the part of some sections of the population as well as some politicians.

Vocabulary:

Sustained criticism / Withering criticism / Unsparing criticism

First of all, this unpopularity may be explained by the fact that since the Act was adopted, UK courts have had to adjudicate on “political” issues that until then had been the preserve of the legislative (or the executive), thus / thereby contributing to challenging the principle of Parliamentary sovereignty.

Structures:
Since + Present perfect
To Contribute to doing something
Vocabulary: the preserve of

Besides / On top of this, on account of a number of controversial high-profile cases, where (in which) people having committed particularly serious criminal offences relied on the HRA to avoid deportation / extradition and seek asylum in the UK, the HRA has been “branded” as a criminals’ charter.

A: This has led / prompted the conservatives to campaign for a repeal of the HRA, proposing to replace it with a British Bill of Rights and Duties, which, they contend, would grant better protection of historic constitutional rights.

(This has spurred the conservatives into campaigning for…)

OR B: Recently, the Conservatives have been advocating / have been campaigning for a repeal of the HRA, proposing to replace it with a British Bill of Rights and Duties, which, they contend, would grant better protection of historic constitutional rights. The practicalities of this bill of Rights (which some see as the first step towards an entrenched constitution) have yet to be clarified (or "spelt out") / still require clarification.

While it might not include some rights granted by the Convention, it may also extend constitutional protection to rights not imbedded / enshrined in the Convention, such as a right to healthcare.

Structures:

To lead someone to do something / to prompt someone to do something = to spur someone into doing something

To advocate something / to campaign for something

HOMEWORK for CLASS 7 (Week 6) Family Law (2)

Group 8

Chapters 127 and 128 (+ Vocabulary)

Prepare Text n° 1 p. 70 (Sperm Donors who know parents...) and answer the questions p. 71.

Prepare exercise 1 p. 69 (Sentence completion)

Prepare the grammar exercise. p. 74

Group 9