Since becoming Chief Executive of the Star City shopping center and exhibition halls, Peter Maurice 1 (to feel) he has done a lot. Now, though, he 2 (to want) to change the whole feeling of the business. Visitors should feel we are looking after them, he says. Very often the public go into a shop and find so much there that they cant 3 (to decide) what to buy, so they dont buy anything. Keep it simple, thats the key to retailing.
At Star City, staff 4 (to encourage) to tell managers, including Maurice himself, what they think of them. The things they say about me are what I expect, because Im fairly self-aware I know what Im like and that I can make people a little angry. But Im very much in favor of change, and everyone 5 (to know) that a lot needs to be done.
He learnt his management techniques the hard way. At 23 I 6 (to go) into business and 7 (to lose) money. I had to learn fast. Then, at 32, I won an export contract that involved travelling to Hong Kong several times. I admire the strength of character and the ambition of the people there, and brought back two very significant words: No problem. Then I 8 (to take) a course at Harvard Business School. It was very hard work, but worth it.
As well as running Star City, Peter Maurice 9 (to control) Big Events, which organizes exhibitions. At the moment, Big Events 10 (to work) on plans for a boat show to rival the Capital Boat Show, which is moving next year from its traditional site at Star City to a new venue. For the immediate future, Maurice 11 (to continue) with the essential work of updating the center. After that, he 12 (to plan) to look at ways of expanding Star City beyond the present conferences and exhibitions, to include major shows and concerts. I want a lively center full of exciting events, where my well-trained staff are ambassadors for the company.
Task 2. Match the terms with the definitions
| 1. dispute | a. logical sequence, cohesion, or connection |
| 2. bind | b. the body of law based on judicial decisions and custom, as distinct from statute law |
| 3. upheaval | c. an argument or a quarrel |
| 4. statute | d. to impose legal obligations or duties upon |
| 5. precedent | e. a permanent rule made by a body or institution for the government of its internal affairs |
| 6. continuity | f. a strong, sudden, or violent disturbance, as in politics, social conditions, etc. |
| 7. damage | g. a judicial decision that serves as an authority for deciding a later case |
| 8. common law | h. a formal agreement between two or more parties |
| 9. contract | i. injury or harm impairing the function or condition of a person or thing |
Task 3. Complete the text with the following words. Translate the text.
agreement, breach, capacity, consideration, damages, fraud, illegal, obligation, oral performance, property, signed, terms
What is a contract?
It is an agreement that creates a binding (1) upon the parties. The essentials of a contract are as follows: mutual (2) ; a legal (3) , which in most instances need not be financial; parties who have legal (4) , to make a contract; absence of (5) or duress; and a subject matter that is not (6) or against public policy.
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What form does a contract take?
In general, contracts may be either (7) or written. Certain types of contracts, however, in order to be enforceable, must be written and (8) . These include contracts involving the sale and transfer of (9) .
How does a contract end?
In case of a (10) of contract, the injured party may go to court to sue for financial compensation (or (11) ), or for rescission, for injunction, or for specific performance if financial compensation would not compensate for the breach. Specific (12) of a contract is the right by one contracting party to have the other contracting party perform the contract according to the
precise (13) agreed.
Task 4. Read the following text using a dictionary. Give the summary of the text in English.
NAPOLEON'S CODE
The demand for codification preceded Napoleon's era. Diversity of laws was the dominant characteristic of the pre-revolutionary legal order. Roman law governed in the south of France, whereas in the northern provinces, including Paris, a customary law had developed, based largely on feudal Frankish and Germanic institutions. Marriage and family life were almost exclusively within the control of the Roman Catholic church and governed by canon law. In addition, starting in the 16th century, a growing number of matters were governed by royal decrees and ordinances and by a case law developed by the parliaments. Each area had its own collection of customs, and, despite efforts in the 16th and 17th centuries to organize and codify each of these local customary laws, there had been little success at national unification. Vested interests blocked efforts at codification, because reform would encroach upon their privileges.
After the French Revolution, codification became not only possible but almost necessary. Powerful control groups such as the manors and the guilds had been destroyed; the secular power of the church had been suppressed; and the provinces had been transformed into subdivisions of the new national state. Napoleon's Code, therefore, was founded on the premise that, for the first time in history, a purely rational law should be created, free from all past prejudices and deriving its content from "sublimated common sense"; its moral justification was to be found not in ancient custom or monarchical paternalism but in its conformity to the dictates of reason.
Under the code all male citizens are equal: primogeniture, hereditary nobility, and class privileges are extinguished; civilian institutions are emancipated from ecclesiastical control; freedom of person, freedom of contract, and inviolability of private property are fundamental principles.
The first book of the code deals with the law of persons: the enjoyment of civil rights, the protection of personality, domicile, guardianship, tutorship, relations of parents and children, marriage, personal relations of spouses, and the dissolution of marriage by annulment or divorce. The code subordinated women to their fathers and husbands, who controlled all family property, determined the fate of children, and were favoured in divorce proceedings. Many of these provisions were only reformed in the second half of the 20th century. The second book deals with the law of things: the regulation of property rights ownership, usufruct, and servitudes. The third book deals with the methods of acquiring rights: by succession, donation, marriage settlement, and obligations. Freedom to contract is not spelled out explicitly but is an underlying principle in many provisions.
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The code was originally introduced into areas under French control in 1804: Belgium, Luxembourg, parts of western Germany, northwestern Italy, Geneva, and Monaco. It was later introduced into territories conquered by Napoleon: Italy, the Netherlands, the Hanseatic lands, and much of the remainder of western Germany and Switzerland. The code is still in use in Belgium, Luxembourg, and Monaco.
Task 5. Read the following professional text. Render it in English using Russian-English economic dictionary.
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