The neutrino-nucleus cross-section and the muon capture rate are discussed within a simple formalism which facilitates the nuclear structure calculations. The corresponding formulae only depend on four types of nuclear matrix elements, which are currently used in the nuclear beta decay. We have also considered the non-locality effects arising from the velocity-dependent terms in the hadronic current. We show that for both observables in 12C the higher order relativistic corrections are of the order of ~ 4% only, and therefore do not play a significant role.
