TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC NGOẠI NGỮ - TIN HỌC
THÀNH PHỐ HỒ CHÍ MINH
KHOA LUẬT
MÔN HỌC TIẾNG ANH PHÁP LÝ TRONG LĨNH VỰC LUẬT CÔNG
Thời lượng: 45 tiết
MỤC TIÊU:
1. Giúp sinh viên làm quen với các từ vựng tiếng Anh chuyên ngành trong các ngành
luật thuộc lĩnh vực pháp luật công.
2. Giúp sinh viên làm quen với một số mẫu câu thường được sử dụng trong các tình
huống pháp lý (cả nghe - nói và đọc – viết);
3. 3. Luyện tập nâng cao, hoàn thiện các kĩ năng tiếng Anh của sinh viên (nghe – nói –
đọc – viết tiếng Anh), củng cố các kiến thức về ngữ pháp tiếng Anh.
4. Củng cố lại những kiến thức pháp lý đã được giảng dạy ở những môn học ngành luật.
ĐỊNH HƯỚNG:
- Đây là môn tiếng Anh luật chứ không phải dạy luật bằng tiếng Anh. Do đó, nội dung
giảng dạy tại lớp nên tập trung vào việc tạo cơ hội cho sinh viên luyện tập tiếng anh
thông qua các bài tập thay vì tập trung vào những kiến thức pháp lý những thứ sinh viên
đã hoặc sẽ được trang bị trong những môn học khác.
- Tạo sự cân bằng đối với 4 kỹ năng nghe, nói, đọc, viết
- Nên bắt đầu từ những thứ cơ bản vì trình độ tiếng Anh của sinh viên rất không đồng đều.
CHAPTER I. PUBLIC LAW AND PRIVATE LAW – THE LEGAL
SYSTEM OF VIETNAM
I. WARM UP
1. What career would you choose after your first degree of law? And why?
2. Is English important to law students and when should we start to learn English?
3. How do you practice English recently?
II. VOCABULARY
VOCABULARY MEANING
Legal system (n) A country’s legal system is the method of interpreting laws and
putting them into effect.
Legal (adj) If something is legal it is connected to the law.
Authority (n) is a right to control people or organizations.
Policy (n) the principles that the laws encourge
Public law are laws that apply to the nation as a whole or a class of individuals.
Example of public laws include constitutional law, criminal law,
administrative law and international public law.
Private law Private laws are enacted for the benefit of a particular individual or
small group, such as claims against the government or individual
immigration or naturalization matters. Example of private law
include
National Assembly (n) the national legislature (law-making body) of the Socialist
Republic of Vietnam.
Court (n) a place where trials and other legal cases happen, or the people
present in such a place, especially the officials and those deciding if
someone is guilty:
Source of law (n) The origins from which particular positive laws derive their
authority and coercive force
Treaty a written agreement between two or more countries, formally
approved and signed by their leaders
Statute (Law) The
Decree (n) a type of legal document issued by the Government of Vietnam to
guide or explain laws.
Circular (n) a type of legal document issued by a Ministry or ministrial
equivalent agencies of Vietnam to guide or explain laws and decrees.
Ordinance (n) a type of legal document issued by the Standing Committee of the
National Assembly to govern areas especially those new and
important without the existence of laws or other regulations.
Resolution (n) an official decision that is made after a group or organization has
voted
Government The highest administrative body of the State of the Socialist Republic
of Vietnam.
Promulgate (v) to announce something publicly, especially a new law
Civil law (n) a legal system based on ancient Roman law, which is used in
many countries. In this system a court makes decisions based on a set
of recorded laws rather than on the decision of a judge or jury
Common Law (n) the legal system in England and most of the US that has
developed over a period of time from old customs and court
decisions, rather than laws made by politicians
Precedent (n) a decision about a particular legal case that makes it likely that
other similar cases will be decided in the same way
Legal norm (n) an accepted standard or a way of behaving or doing things that is
required by the laws.
Liability Bad consequence that someone has to suffer as a result of not
complying with the laws.
III. PUBLIC LAW AND PRIVATE LAW
In general, public law and private law are similar in the way they are all made or adopted by
governmental bodies and they are enforced by the state’s power.
Public Law Private law
Subjects:
Public Law is that part of law, which governs Private Law is another part of law that
relationships between the State governs relationships between individuals
(government/government agencies) with with one another or private relationship
individuals and/or organizations. between citizens and companies that are not
of public importance.
Governing approach
Order – compliance Autonomy of the will
Seft–responsibility
Main aims:
Protect the public interest Protect the private interest or secure the rights
of individuals/organizations.
Parties
State agencies and individuals/organizations Private entities (individuals/organizations)
acting in private capacity are the main parties
involved.
Legal sanctions:
Usually more severe Usually include financial payments
Branches of laws:
public law: Private law:
Administrative law - laws that Contract law - governs the rights and
govern government agencies, like the obligations of those entering into
Department of Education and the contracts
Equal Employment Opportunity Tort law - rights, obligations and
Commission remedies provided to someone who
Constitutional laws are laws that has been wronged by another
protect citizens' rights as afforded in individual
the Constitution Property law - governs forms of
Criminal laws are laws that relate to property ownership, transfer and
crime tenant issues
Municipal laws are ordinances, Succession law - governs the transfer
regulations and by-laws that govern a of an estate between parties
city or town Family law - governs family-related
International laws are laws that and domestic-related issues
oversee relations between nations
IV. VIETNAMESE LEGAL SYSTEM
READING 1
Legal system is different from a country to country because of differences in history, socio-
political and economic conditions. In other words, the nature of legal system of a country
depends on the nature of its social system established in law. Vietnam is a socialist country
under the leading of Communist Party; therefore, the current legal system of Vietnam has its
own history and tradition. In general, Vietnamese legal ideologies were under influenced by
various legal ideologies and can be divided into four periods such as: feudal legal system;
French colonialist; Soviet Union legal traditional; and the legal system in period of integration
and globalization. However, this article only focuses on the legal system from 1975 up to
present because the current legal system of Vietnam has significantly changed since
introducing Doimoi (renovation) in 1986
The legal system of Vietnam was formed gradually under the leadership of Communist Party
and democratic centralism principle. The legal system is formed under the principle of
socialist legality and democratic centralism. These principles shape the nature of legislation in
Vietnam. Although National Assemble is vested legislative power but executive organs have
played important role in legislation. Hence, sources of law and interpretation are different from
rule of law state. “The legal ideologies that provide the foundation for the establishment and
operation of Vietnamese legal institutions significantly differ from those of rule-of-law
systems.”. Under democratic central principle, there is no separation of state power. All three
state branches have involved in legislation. Hence, the concept of law refers to various types of
legislation issued by competent agencies in written forms.
Decide the following statement TRUE – FALSE – NOT GIVEN and explain.
1. The society in which the law is established has no impact on the legal system of Vietnam.
…………………………………………………………………………………………………..
…………………………………………………………………………………………………..
2. The Vietnamese legal system is strongly influenced by the country’s history.
…………………………………………………………………………………………………..
…………………………………………………………………………………………………..
3. the laws in Vietnam only include written legal documents promulgated by the National
Assembly of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam.
…………………………………………………………………………………………………..
…………………………………………………………………………………………………..
4. The legislative power in Vietnam belong to the National Assembly.
…………………………………………………………………………………………………..
…………………………………………………………………………………………………..
5. The legal institutions in Vietnam work independently to guarantee the legality in this
country.
…………………………………………………………………………………………………..
…………………………………………………………………………………………………..
V. SOURCES OF LAW
READING 2
The legal system of Vietnam has all the characteristics of a ….. 1 ….. tradition, which is
essentially based on the written law. The Vietnamese law system comprises three fundamental
elements as follows:
– ….. 2 ….. (elementary unit of the system);
– Legal classes (group of legal norms that have the same features and regulate a group of
correlative social relations);
– Legal branches (system of legal norms that have the same specialities to govern a sort of
social relations in a certain field of society). In the Vietnamese law system, there are various
….. 3 ….., as follows:
The current legal system is quite ….. 4 ….. to civil law jurisdictions in that its sources of law
comprise mainly written legislation commonly referred to as legal instruments. These are laws
and regulations enacted by state bodies which are binding on citizens and enforceable by the
state. In Vietnam, for a long period of time, court ….. 5 ….. were not considered as an official
source of law as judges do not have the power to make the law and court judgments are not
….. 6 ….. in subsequent cases. However, recently to meet the demand of the new
circumstance and fast changes, court judgements become increasingly important and recently
being adopted to be an official ….. 7 ….. in this country.
The legal system is organized in a hierarchy in which higher-ranking legal instruments set out
general rules and lower-ranking legal ….. 8 ….. provide the details. The Constitution stands at
the top of this legal hierarchy and forms the foundation of the entire legal system. Under the
Constitution are laws, ordinances, decrees, decisions, circulars and other subordinate legal
documents dealing with different aspects of social life.
- ….. 9 ….. and laws are passed by the National Assembly and are the highest form of legal
direction in Vietnam;
- Ordinances and resolutions are issued by the Standing Committee of the National Assembly
when the National Assembly is not in session;
- Decrees are adopted by the Government on the implementation of laws and ordinances;
- ….. 10 ….. are issued by the Prime Minister on the implementation of regulations; and
- Circulars and Joint Circulars are issued by ministries and provide guidance for
implementation of decrees.
FILL IN THE MISSING WORDS/PHRASES TO COMPLETE THE READING USING
THE WORDS/PHRASES FROM THE WORD BANK BELOW.
Legal branches similar binding Constitution instruments
source of law judgments Legal norms Decisions civil law
MATCH THE TYPES OF VIETNAMESE LEGAL DOCUMENTS AND THE ISUING
AUTHORITY (base on the content of the text above and your understanding of Vietnamese
legal system).
LEGAL DOCUMENTS ISSUING AUTHORITIES
Constitution Prime minister
Law Ministries
Ordinance President
Decree People’s committee
Circular People’s Council
Decision Standing Committee of National Assembly
Resolution National Assembly
Order People’s Supreme Court
Joint Circular People’s Supreme Procuracy
judgement President of National Assembly
precedent Judge Council of People’s Supreme Court
READING 3
Please be noted that this article is not about the Vietnamese laws.
EXERCIS
E 1: CHOOSE THE CORRECT ANSWER
1. Legal professionals publish their thoughts and assessment about law in
A. Digests
B. primary material
C. form books
D. Case annotations
2. What can be inferred about books?
A. Judges use them when making decisions
B. Attorneys use them to find relevant laws
C. Lawyers use them when writing official papers
D. Libraries use them to organize computer database
3. Which of the following does NOT focus on information about laws?
A. Digests
B. Computerized databases
C. Primary materials
D. Legal encyclopedias
EXERCISE 2: READ AND CHOOSE THE CORRECT WORDS
1. The paralegal can find the case annotation in the (journals / legal encyclopedias).
2. It is much easier for Jane to find resources when she uses the (form
book/computerized database).
3. The writer noted all the texts he used in the list of (digests/references).
4. Mark found the (case annotation /primary material) in one legal journals.
5. A (form book / legal encyclopedia) is useful when looking up what a legal term
means.
LISTENING
EXERCISE 1. Listen to a conversation between a lawyer and a paralegal. Mark the
following statements as True (T) or False (F)
1. _____ the woman located similar cases in the computerized database.
2. _____ Young defendants without previous conviction had their case dismissed.
3. _____ The man asks the woman for a summary of the case annotations.
EXERCISE 2. Listen again and complete the conversation
SPEAKING
Potential topics for discussion:
1. Compare common law system and civil law system and which one is better? What type
of legal system is the Vietnamese legal system?
2. Describe the sources of laws in the legal system of Vietnam.
3. Should we adopt precedents as an official source of law in Vietnam?
LANGUAGE FOCUS
Citing Vietnamese legal documents
Constitution + year of issuance Ex: Constitution 1980
Hiến pháp 1980
Content + Code + year of issuance Civil Code 2015
Law + Content + year of issuance Bộ luật dân sự 2015
Law on Enterprise 2014
Luật doanh nghiệp 2014
Decree Decree No. 31/2021/ND-CP dated March
Decree + Number + date of issuance + content 26, 2021 guiding the Law on Investment
2020
Nghị định 31/2021/NĐ-CP ngày 26 tháng
3 năm 2021 hướng dẫn Luật Đầu tư 2020
Circular + Number + date of issuance + content Circular No. 02a/2015/TT-BTP dated
February 23, 2015, guiding a number of
articles of the Government’s Decree No.
126/2014/ND-CP detailing a number of
articles and measures for implementation
of The Law on marriage and family
regarding foreign-involved marriage and
family relations
Thông tư 02a/2015/TT-BTP ngày 23
tháng 2 năm 2015 hướng dẫn thi hành
Nghị định 126/2014/NĐ-CP hướng dẫn
Luật Hôn nhân và gia đình về quan hệ hôn
nhân và gia đình có yếu tố nước ngoài do
Bộ trưởng Bộ Tư pháp ban hành
Resolution + + Number + Date of issuance + Resolution No. 43/2022/QH15 dated
content January 11, 2022 on fiscal and monetary
policies for supporting Socio-economic
recovery and development program
Nghị quyết 43/2022/QH15 về chính sách
tài khóa, tiền tệ hỗ trợ Chương trình phục
hồi và phát triển kinh tế - xã hội do Quốc
hội ban hành
TRANSLATE THE FOLLOWING TEXT INTO ENGLISH
1. Ngày …. Quốc hội nước Cộng hoà xã hội chủ nghĩa Việt Nam đã thông qua Luật
doanh nghiệp 2014.
……………………………………………………………………………………..
……………………………………………………………………………………..
……………………………………………………………………………………..
2. Để hướng dẫn Luật hôn nhân gia đình 2014, ngày ……. Chính phủ đã ban hành Nghị
định số ……. Về việc hướng dẫn các vấn đề của Luật hôn nhân gia đình 2014
……………………………………………………………………………………..
……………………………………………………………………………………..
……………………………………………………………………………………..
3. Ngày ……. Hội đồng nhân dân thành phố đã thông qua nghị quyết số 49/NQ-HĐND
ngày 19 tháng 7 năm 2020 về chính sách phát triển kinh tế của thành phố giai đoạn
2020 – 2025.
……………………………………………………………………………………..
……………………………………………………………………………………..
……………………………………………………………………………………..
4. Kể từ ngày 01 tháng 8 năm 2018, Thông tư liên tịch số Thông tư liên tịch
07/2018/TTLT-BTP-VKSNDTC-TANDTC ngày 12 tháng 6 năm 2018 có hiệu lực thi
hành.
……………………………………………………………………………………..
……………………………………………………………………………………..
……………………………………………………………………………………..
