UNIVERSITY OF MONTENEGRO

LEGAL ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEST - LEVEL II

(mock coll. 1)

___________________________ __________________________
(Name) (Date)

I Read the text and do the exercise given below it

I shall begin by describing the peculiar and distinctive features of the British constitution. The
cornerstone of our system is the absolute and unfettered sovereignty of the national
legislature. Parliament has the right to make or unmake any law whatsoever, and no person or
body has the right to override or set aside the legislation of Parliament. We make no
distinction between laws that are not fundamental or constitutional and laws that are
fundamental or constitutional, and there is no supreme law against which to test the validity
of other laws. The doctrine of Parliamentary sovereignty was formulated in clear and
uncompromising terms by Professor A. V. Dicey, in 1885, in his celebrated Introduction to
the Study of the Law of the Constitution. He illustrated the doctrine in this way:
There are indeed important statutes, such as the Act embodying the Treaty of
Union with Scotland, with which it would be political madness to tamper
gratuitously; there are utterly unimportant statutes, such, for example, as the
Dentists Act, 1878, which may be repealed or modified at the pleasure or
caprice of Parliament; but neither the Act of Union with Scotland nor the
Dentists Act ... has more claim than the other to be considered a supreme law.
Each embodies the will of the sovereign legislative power; each can be legally
altered or repealed by Parliament; neither tests the validity of the other. Should
the Dentists Act . . . unfortunately contravene the terms of the Act of Union, the
Act of Union would be pro tanto repealed, but no judge would dream of
maintaining that the Dentists Act... was thereby rendered invalid or
unconstitutional. The one fundamental dogma of English constitutional law is
the absolute legislative sovereignty or despotism of the King in Parliament.'

On the basis of the text above say if these sentences true or false:
1. Professor Dicey formulated the checks and balances theory.
2. One of the key characteristics of the British legal system is that its legislative body is
independent.
3. In UK there is a supreme law against which validity of all other laws has to be tested.
4. Some laws can be easily changed in the Parliament
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II Fill in the gaps with either infinitive or gerund of the verbs in brackets.

1. The perpetrator risked __________(be) arrested by going back to the crime scene.
2. His barrister offered ____________ (file) a motion on his behalf asking for a bail.
3. The witness remembered _____________ (see) the victim in the bar before she was
robbed.

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III Fill in the gaps with the appropriate words from the list. You will not use all the
words.

detention unlawful admitted

legal system deprivation complained
violation provide rules

The applicants, Somali nationals – three brothers and a sister – born between 1970 and 1975,
arrived in France via Syria in March 1992. They asserted that, after the overthrow of the
regime of President Siyad Barr, their lives were in danger in Somalia. They were not
____________ onto French territory on the ground that their passports had been falsified.
They ___________ that they had been held in the transit zone at Paris-Orly Airport for 20
days before being sent back to Syria. The European Court of Human Rights held that there
had been a _____________ of Article 5 § 1 (right to liberty and security) of the European
Convention of Human Rights. It found that Article 5 of the Convention was applicable, as
holding the applicants in the transit zone had been equivalent in practice to a ____________
of liberty. That deprivation of liberty had been ____________, as the applicable provisions of
French law in force at the time had not allowed the ordinary courts to review the conditions
under which aliens were held or to impose a limit on the duration of their ______________.
Nor had these provisions provided for legal, humanitarian and social assistance.

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IV Match the terms from column A with their meaning or definition in column B.

a) take a weapon or weapons away from (a person, force,

1. amendment or country)
2. expel b) the act of intervening in an activity without invitation
3. disarm or necessitya strong bias
4. revoke c) a change or addition to a legal or statutory document
5. interference d) force (someone) to leave a place, esp. a country
e) put an end to the validity or operation of (a decree,
decision, or promise)

1. _______ 2. ________ 3. _________ 4. _________ 5. _________

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V Translate the following sentences

1. The constitutional law protects human rights and regulates relations between
individuals and the state.
2. Residence permit can be obtained in several different ways.
3. At hundreds of schools around country, students groups meet regularly to write letters
and organize actions on behalf of victims of human rights violations.
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