Закон: law, statute, rule, and force

Закон is masculine: закон, закона, по закону, в законе, законный, законодательство. Core collocations: принять закон, закон вступает в силу, нарушить закон, согласно закону, по закону, проект закона, федеральный закон, закон о защите прав потребителей.

Закон may mean a specific law/statute, law as a system, or a rule in a broader sense: законы физики. Legal reading must identify which meaning applies. Законный means lawful/legal/legitimate; правовой means legal/juridical in a broader system sense; юридический often means legal as professional or law-related. These adjectives are not automatic synonyms.

A formal text may cite статья, часть, пункт, подпункт, абзац. These structural words matter. Статья закона is an article/section of a law, not a newspaper article.

Суд: court, judicial body, hearing, and case

Суд is masculine: суд, суда, в суде, судебный. It can mean the court as institution, the judicial process, or sometimes trial/hearing depending context. Collocations: обратиться в суд, подать в суд, суд рассмотрел дело, решение суда, судебное заседание, судебная практика, верховный суд, районный суд.

Дело is case/file/matter. Рассмотреть дело means hear/consider a case. Вынести решение means issue a decision. Обжаловать решение means appeal/challenge the decision. Судья is judge. Истец is plaintiff/claimant. Ответчик is defendant/respondent in civil contexts. Criminal-law terminology introduces other words such as обвиняемый, подсудимый, потерпевший, and should not be mixed carelessly with civil procedure terms.

Иск and claims

Иск is masculine: иск, иска, по иску, исковые требования. It means a legal claim or lawsuit. Collocations: подать иск, предъявить иск, рассмотреть иск, удовлетворить иск, отказать в иске, исковое заявление, истец, ответчик.

Do not translate иск as “search” because искать means to search. They are different words. Do not translate it as any complaint. Жалоба is complaint/appeal depending context; заявление is application/statement; обращение is appeal/request/address; иск is a procedural legal claim.

Исковые требования are the demands/claims made in the lawsuit. Цена иска is the claim amount/value. These phrases appear in legal documents and news about court cases.

Право: law, right, permission, field

Право is neuter: право, права, правом, plural права. It is one of the most important polysemous civic words. It can mean:

  • a right: право на образование, права человека
  • law as a field: изучать право, гражданское право
  • permission/entitlement: иметь право сделать что-либо
  • driving license in plural colloquial use: права
  • legal title/claim: право собственности

Collocations decide meaning: иметь право на что, иметь право сделать, лишить права, нарушение прав, защита прав, право собственности, авторское право, трудовое право.

Правда is truth, not law. Правый can mean right-side or right-wing depending context. Правовой and правильный are different: правовая система is legal system; правильный ответ is correct answer.

Обязанность: duty and obligation

Обязанность is feminine: обязанность, обязанности, обязанностью. It can mean obligation, duty, responsibility, or job duty. Collocations: исполнять обязанности, выполнять обязанности, возложить обязанность, должностные обязанности, права и обязанности, обязанность платить, обязанность соблюдать правила.

Distinguish обязанность, ответственность, and долг. Обязанность is a duty one must perform. Ответственность is responsibility or liability. Долг can be debt or moral duty. In law and workplace documents, the differences matter. Нести ответственность is not the same as исполнять обязанности.

Contrast sets

  • закон — law/statute
  • законопроект — draft law/bill
  • статья — article/section
  • пункт — clause/point
  • постановление — decree/resolution/ruling depending institution
  • приказ — order

Legal genre determines translation.

2. Court participants

  • суд — court
  • судья — judge
  • истец — plaintiff/claimant
  • ответчик — defendant/respondent in civil case
  • адвокат — attorney/defense lawyer depending context
  • прокурор — prosecutor

Do not mix civil and criminal role labels without context.

3. Claims and complaints

  • иск — lawsuit/legal claim
  • исковое заявление — statement of claim
  • жалоба — complaint/appeal
  • заявление — application/statement
  • обращение — appeal/request/address

Every request is not an иск.

4. Rights and duties

  • право на — right to
  • права человека — human rights
  • право собственности — ownership right/title
  • обязанность — obligation/duty
  • ответственность — responsibility/liability
  • долг — debt or moral duty

Legal Russian often pairs права и обязанности.

Legal and rights vocabulary requires more humility than ordinary domain vocabulary. Your job is to understand the language, identify the genre, and mark uncertainty. It is not to infer rights, deadlines, liability, or strategy from a short dictionary entry. Закон, суд, иск, право, обязанность, жалоба, заявление, решение, приговор, договор, and ответственность are legal-domain words whose consequences depend on jurisdiction, document type, and procedure.

The upgraded reading protocol has five questions. What is the genre: statute, contract, court decision, notice, application form, news report, or commentary? Who are the parties or roles: истец, ответчик, заявитель, потерпевший, обвиняемый, судья, прокурор? What action is named: подать иск, рассмотреть жалобу, вынести решение, обжаловать, вступить в силу? What deadline or condition appears? What is the source of authority: закон, договор, суд, орган, правила?

Parse this fragment: Истец подал иск в суд, требуя признать договор недействительным и взыскать убытки с ответчика. Истец is the claimant/plaintiff in a civil frame. Подал иск в суд is procedural filing. Требуя is a verbal adverb introducing what the claimant seeks. Признать договор недействительным uses accusative object plus instrumental predicate. Взыскать убытки с ответчика means recover damages/losses from the defendant/respondent. Translating иск as “lawsuit” is only the beginning.

Boundary cases: право can mean a right, law as a field, entitlement/permission, or driving license in plural права. Суд can be the institution, hearing, court building, or judicial process. Решение can be a decision in general, a court judgment/decision, or a resolution by an institution. Ответственность can be responsibility, liability, accountability, or punishment depending on domain. These are not stylistic differences; they change interpretation.

Build Role Charts And Action Chains

Use role charts and action chains. Civil chain: истец подаёт иск, ответчик возражает, суд рассматривает дело, суд выносит решение, сторона обжалует решение. Criminal chain: следствие расследует, обвиняемому предъявляют обвинение, суд выносит приговор, приговор вступает в силу. Administrative chain: гражданин подаёт заявление, орган рассматривает обращение, выносится решение, можно подать жалобу. Keep these chains separate. Legal Russian punishes elegant guessing; it rewards procedural discipline.

Common learner error: treating legal words as ordinary synonyms. Repair by identifying domain: civil law, criminal law, contract, public notice, rights explanation, court news, workplace policy.

Common learner error: translating право only as “right.” Repair with four cards: right, law field, permission/entitlement, license in plural.

Common learner error: confusing иск, жалоба, and заявление. Repair by attaching procedure: filed in court, submitted to an authority, complaint against a decision, application for a service.

Common learner error: reading legal text as advice. Repair by separating language comprehension from legal interpretation. Mark uncertain terms and consult authoritative sources or professionals when real consequences exist.

Field test: genre first, translation second

The field test for legal vocabulary should begin by hiding the dictionary. Give learners a short text and ask: is it a law, court report, contract clause, application instruction, rights notice, complaint, or news summary? Only after genre identification should they translate право, иск, суд, обязанность, ответственность, решение, or жалоба. Legal words are procedure-bound; the same surface word can behave differently across genres.

You control the chart when you can build a role-action map. Истец подал иск, ответчик возражает, суд вынес решение, заявитель подал жалобу, орган рассмотрел заявление, договор вступил в силу, сторона несёт ответственность. You should also state what you do not know: jurisdiction, deadline, legal effect, appeal procedure, and authoritative interpretation. Caution here is a skill, not a footnote.

Production guardrails

Legal vocabulary should be taught with a red-line distinction between “I can read the words” and “I can determine legal consequences.” You may understand суд рассмотрел иск, закон вступил в силу, право на обжалование, and обязанность оплатить, but that does not settle procedure, deadlines, jurisdiction, or enforceability. Keep that distinction visible in every legal-domain reading task.

For active reading, identify the legal genre before translating. A constitution-style rights statement, a court decision, a contract clause, a public-service instruction, a police notice, a news article, and an academic legal commentary use overlapping words differently. Право in гражданское право means a field of law; право на жильё means a right; права in a traffic stop may mean driving license. The surrounding nouns and institution decide.

Build role charts for court texts. Civil texts may include истец, ответчик, иск, исковые требования, решение суда, обжалование. Criminal texts may include обвиняемый, подсудимый, потерпевший, приговор, следствие, прокурор. Mixing these labels is a serious comprehension error. If a text says ответчик, do not automatically write “defendant” with criminal implications in English; it may be a civil respondent/defendant.

For production, prefer cautious phrases: в тексте говорится, документ указывает, термин может означать, в данном контексте, нужна проверка по источнику. Legal Russian rewards humility. When the learner is unsure, the correct behavior is not to guess elegantly; it is to mark the ambiguity.

Diagnostic drill

Parse this civic sentence slowly: Гражданин имеет право обратиться в суд с иском о защите прав потребителя. Гражданин is the person framed as citizen. Имеет право gives entitlement. Обратиться в суд is to apply/go to court. С иском names the procedural claim. О защите прав потребителя identifies the rights-protection domain. A smooth translation is useful only after this structure is clear.

Now compare жалоба, заявление, and иск in three contexts: complaint to a platform, application to an agency, lawsuit in court. The English word “claim” may appear in all three, but Russian procedure separates them. That separation is the habit legal-domain learners need most.

Final rule

Legal vocabulary demands humility. Learn the grammar and genre, but do not mistake translation ability for legal authority.