Legal English – Level 3 - Afghanistan Legal Documents Exchange

220 Pages·2008·3.06 MB·English

Legal English – Level 3 
Afghanistan Rule of Law Project
Kabul, Afghanistan 

Abedin Jamal 
2007
An Introduction to Legal English

Materials Developer

Abedin Jamal
Afghanistan Rule of Law Project

Project Manager

Patricia McLaughlin
Afghanistan Rule of Law Project

Designed by

Eisa Khan Ayoob Ayoobi
Afghanistan Rule of Law Project

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Table of Contents

Part 1: Law in Afghanistan

Introduction

Unit One: Overview of laws of Afghanistan

Chapter: 1. Overview of Sharia Law System
Chapter: 2. Overview of Afghan Constitutional History

Unit Two: The Law-Making Process in Afghanistan

Chapter: 3. The Loya Jirgas
Chapter: 4. The Parliament
Chapter: 5. The Ministry of Justice
Chapter: 6. The Executive Branch
Chapter: 7. The Taqnin
Chapter: 8. The Judiciary System

Unit 3: The Court System in Afghanistan

Chapter: 9. The Primary Courts
Chapter: 10. The Courts of Appeals
Chapter: 11. The Supreme Court
Chapter: 12. Special Courts

Unit 4: Criminal Procedure in Afghanistan

Chapter: 13. Crime in Afghanistan
Chapter: 14. Arrest
Chapter: 15. Proceedings Before Trial
Chapter: 16. The Trial
Chapter: 17. Sentencing Options

Unit 5: Common Crimes in Afghanistan

Chapter: 18. Homicide
Chapter: 19. Kidnapping
Chapter: 20. Rape
Chapter: 21. Assault and Battery
Chapter: 22. Abortion
Chapter: 23. Adultery
Chapter: 24. Bribery
Chapter: 25. Robbery
Chapter: 26. Drug-trafficking

Answer Key

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Introduction

Introductory Legal English CD-Rom

As Afghanistan develops its justice sector, there will be an increasing need for legal
English skills among lawyers in order to conduct legal research and access
international legal opportunities. This Introductory Legal English CD-Rom program is
an effort to fill this gap. It is an introduction to legal terminology in English and can
be used as a self study tool or as a complement to a course. It presents basic legal
vocabulary in readings that center around Afghan and American legal contexts. The
CD-Rom is designed for high- to intermediate- level students of English who are
interested in legal fields. Potential students include students and professors of law and
Sharia faculties, lawyers and judges. Its goal is to improve basic legal terminology in
English and increase basic reading and critical thinking skills.

The CD-Rom consists of units that focus on major topics found in criminal law in
both Afghanistan and the United States. Each unit consists of:

• Opening Vocabulary
• Pre-Listening Vocabulary
• Listening for Comprehension
• Listening for Details
• Reading
• Reading Comprehension
• Grammar exercises

Opening Vocabulary and Pre-Listening Vocabulary

Each chapter opens with a short overview of the major vocabulary that will be
presented in both the listening lectures and the readings in each chapter. In the CD-
Rom, students will be able to click on the word and the meaning in Dari will pop up.
In the softcopy book, the Dari translation will be written underneath each English
word. After students have reviewed the vocabulary for the chapter, there is a pre-
listening vocabulary exercise. The purpose of this exercise is for students to read the
new vocabulary in a legal context and then match the definition with the appropriate
word. Students are encouraged to not use dictionaries to complete these exercises.

Listening for Comprehension

After students have familiarized themselves with the new legal vocabulary, they can
move on to the two parts of the listening section. In the Listening for Comprehension
section, students should first read the general questions about the lecture. These are
usually broad questions that focus on main ideas. Students then click on the lecture
and listen. As they listen to the lecture, they can take notes and then answer the
questions. If the students are using the softcopy book, the teacher will need to read the
reading passage out loud while students take notes.

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Listening for Details

After listening to the lecture once, students then listen to the same lecture a second
time. This time, they should skim over the questions and listen for specific details
about the lecture. With the CD-Rom, in the second listening section, Listening for
Details, they can choose the correct answer from the multiple choice menu. If they are
using the book, it is advised that they write the answers on a separate piece of paper,
so that other students can use the book in the future.

Reading

After listening to the lecture, the students should be familiar with its general content.
Now, students should read the same passage themselves. Students can note the time
that they begin and end each passage. After each passage, they will then answer the
reading comprehension questions. For many of the questions, they will need to go
back into the reading to look for a specific detail or piece of information. Students
will need to have over 70 percent of their answers correct on the CD- Rom to proceed
to the next section.

Grammar

After each reading section, the student then moves on to the grammar section of the
chapter. Each grammar section focuses on one main grammar point. First there is a
detailed explanation of the grammar chapter with an example. After this, there are fill-
in-the-blank questions for the students to practice the grammar point. Each grammar
point is embedded in a sentence that usually has a legal context, so as to reinforce
legal vocabulary.

About the Writer

Abedin Jamal is an assistant English professor at Kabul University and a recipient of a
Fulbright Scholarship in Linguistics. Using the Ministry of Justice website and the
Official Gazettes, he was able to create the legal material on the Afghan legal system.
Material on the American legal system was researched and reviewed by U.S. lawyers
at Afghanistan Rule of Law Project (ARoLP).

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Unit One:

Overview of Laws
of
Afghanistan

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Chappter One

Overview of Sharia LLaw

Syystem

Vocaabulary
Revieew the vocabbulary beloww and try to understandd the meaninng of each wword. Ask
your teacher to hhelp you withh pronunciattion.

# Word Meaning # Word Meeaning
1 PPrimary (adjj) ﻩﺪﻤﻋ ،ﯽﻠﺻا 12 PPrayer (n) ﺎﻋد ،زﺎﻤﻤﻧ
2 SSource (n) ﻊﺒﻨﻣ 13 FFast (n) ﻩزور
3 DDisciple (n) ﺪﻳﺮﻣ ،ددﺮﮔﺎﺷ 14 KKin (n) ﺪﻧوﺎﺸﻳﻮﻮﺧ
4 SScholar (n) ﺪﻨﻤﺸﻧادد 15 CCharity (n) تاﺮﻴﺧ ،ﻪﻗﺪﺻ
5 MMajority (n)) ﺖﻳﺮﺜﮐا 16 PPilgrimage (nn) ترﺎﻳز
6 TTo fail (v) نﺪﺸﻧ ببﺎﻴﻣﺎﮐ ،نﺪﻧﺎﻣ ممﺎﮐﺎﻧ 17 TTransaction ((n) ﻪﻠﻣﺎﻌﻣ
7 TTo maintainn (v) نداد ﻪﻣﻣادا ،ندﺮﮐ ﻆﻔﺣﺣ 18 EEndowment ((n) ﺎﻄﻋا ،ﻒﻒﻗو
8 GGuidance (nn) دﻮﻤﻨهرر 19 Innheritance (nn) ثرا
9 TTo mention (v) ندﺮﮐ ﻩﻩرﺎﺷا ،ندﺮﮐ ﺮﮐﮐذ 20 WWarfare (n) ﮓﻨﺟ ،ﻪﻪﺑرﺎﺤﻣ
10 RRitual (n) ﯽﺒهﺬﻣ مﻮﺳرو تﺎﻔﻳﺮﺸﺸﺗ 21 LLash (n) قﻼﺷ ،ﻩﻩرد
11 PPurification (n) ﺮﻴﻬﻄﺗ

Pre-llistening Voocabulary Exercise
Readd the sentences. Guess the meaning ooff the boldfacced words and phrases. Then
matchh each wordd or phrase wwith a definittion from thee list below bby writing thhe letters
in thee correct blaanks.

C
_______ 1. Thhe Red Cross's primaryconcern is tto preserve aand protect hhuman
liffe.
_______ 2. Acccording to ggovernment sources, maany MP's aree worried abbout this
isssue.
_______ 3. Thhe young maan calls himsself a disciplle of the fammous Sufi, buut his
acctions are conntrary to whhat the Sufi ssays.
_______ 4. Hee is a great sscholar of crriminology. He has writtten several bbooks
abbout crimes.
_______ 5. Thhe majority of our emplloyees have university ddegrees. Onlyy five
peercent of ourr personnel ddon't have unniversity deggrees.
_______ 6. Shhe performedd all the religgious ritualss at the ceremmony.
_______ 7. MMuslims mustt observe fassts once a yeear during thhe Ramadan. During
this month theey cannot eatt from sunrisse to sunset.
_______ 8. Peeople tend too give moneyy to charityat Eid time. Most of thee money
coollected is givven to the pooor.
_______ 9. Thhe school haas received aan endowmeent of 50,0000 Afghanis too buy
neew books forr the library. The moneyy was given bby a charity
orrganization.
_______ 10. WWhen Ahmadd's father dieed, he inherited all of hiss money andd
prroperty. The total inherittance he recceived was wworth aroundd
2,0000,000 Afgghanis.

a. a number ggreater than half of the ttotal
b. a system oof giving mooney, food orr help free too those who need
c. more impoortant than aanything elsee; the main ppoint
d. a person wwho follows the ideas annd principlees of someonne famous
and tries too live the waay they did
e. money or objects that someone givves you wheen they die
f. someone oor somethingg that suppliees informatioon
g. a set of fixxed actions and words pperformed reegularly, esppecially as
part of a ceeremony
h. a person wwho studiess an academmic subject inn great detaail, and is
consideredd an expert
i. money thaat is given inn order to proovide an incoome
j. a period off time when you eat no ffood

Listeening for Coomprehensioon
Readd the followinng questions. Then, listenn to the lectuure that givees an overvieew of
Shariia Law and ttake notes wwhile listeningg. After listeening to the llecture, answwer the
questtions.

1. What is SSharia law?
2. What is HHadith?
3. What is SSharia law diivided into?
Listeening for Deetails
Readd the questionns below. Thhen listen to the lecture aagain. After that, answerr the
questtions.

1. What is SSharia law baased on?
(A) The KKoran
(B) Jurispprudence
(C) Sunnaa, Ijma and QQeyas
(D) Both (A) and (C)

2. What is Ijjma?
(A) The teeachings of the Prophet Mohammadd and his discciples
(B) A deccision that thhe majority of Muslim scholars agrree upon bassed on the
Korann and Sunnaa
(C) A laww passed by llegislators
(D) Nonee of the abovve

3. Which onne of the following is nott true about aacts of worship in Islam?
(A) Fastinng
(B) Pilgriimage to Meecca
(C) Qeyas
(D) Prayeers

4. What willl happen if tthe conditionns of had, qeesas, and ta''azir is not ffuulfilled or
the case iss dropped?
(A) The pprovisions off other laws will be usedd
(B) The aaccused will be released
(C) The aaccused will be sentenced to death
(D) Both (A) and (C)

Readding
Readd the following passagee that you jjust heard and be preeppared to annswer the
questtions that folllow.

The llaw in Afghhanistan is baased on the Hanafi schoool of jurisprudence, whhich states
that SSharia law –– the Islamicc legal systemm – is basedd on the Kooran, Hadith,, Ijma and
Qiyass. Sharia is based primaarily on the Koran and,, secondly, on the Hadiith, or the
collecction of teaachings, actiions, and saayings of thee Prophet MMohammad. The third
source of Sharia law is known as the Ijma, which is the body of rules developed by
Islamic scholars. Simply, Ijma is a decision made by the majority of Muslim scholars
based on the Koran and Hadith. When these three main sources on their own fail to
provide enough guidance, Islamic scholars can make a decision by comparing one
case to another based on the Koran and Hadith. This system of comparison is called
Qiyas.

Sharia law is divided into two main sections: acts of worship and actions between
people.
1. The five pillars of Islam:
1. Ritual Purification
2. Prayers
3. Fasts
4. Charities
5. Pilgrimage to Mecca (Hajj)

2. Relationships between people include:
1. Financial Transactions
2. Endowments (giving money for hospitals, schools, etc.)
3. Laws of Inheritance
4. Marriage, Divorce, and Child Care
5. Foods and Drinks (including ritual slaughtering and hunting)
6. Penal Punishments ("hudud", "qesas" and "ta'azir")
7. Warfare and Peace
8. Judicial Matters (including witnesses and types of evidence)

There are three major punishments for crimes under Islamic law: "had", "qesas" and
"ta'azir". "Had" is defined as “a punishment in which its form, extent and character is
defined by Sharia law.” For example, the "had" for adultery between an unmarried
man and an unmarried woman is 100 lashes. "Qesas" is defined as “a punishment
where the criminal’s sentence must be equivalent to their crime.” For instance, the
"qesas" for murdering someone is death sentence administered by the kin of the
victim. "Ta'azir" is defined as a “punishment whose form or quantity has not been
determined by Sharia and is left to the decision of the judge," such as prison, cash
fines, and lashings. The number of lashings should be less than in "had." The Penal
Code of Afghanistan, however, maintains that if the conditions for the above are not
fulfilled, or the case of "had," "qesas," or "ta'azir" is dropped, the provisions of the
Penal Code and other enacted laws will be used.

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