Intro To Law Exam 1

Front 1

What is malum in se?

Back 1

A law which is bad in and of itself.

Front 2

What is malum prohibitum?

Back 2

In criminal law, a law that government has created because they have deemed in undesirable. Thereby prohibiting it.

Front 3

What is a binding precedent?

Back 3

A precedent that must be followed, and is accepted as law.

Front 4

What is a persuasive precedent?

Back 4

A precedent that need not be followed.

Front 5

What is stare decisis?

Back 5

The policy of courts to follow rules laid down in previous cases and not to disturb settled points of law.

Front 6

What is civil action?

Back 6

A civil lawsuit brought by one person or corporation against another.

Front 7

What is substantive law?

Back 7

Law that deals with the substance or content of the law (i.e. legal grounds for divorce).

Front 8

What is statutory law?

Back 8

Laws, called statutes, passed by legislative bodies that bestow benefits, impose obligations, or prohibit anti-social behavior.

Front 9

What is procedural law?

Back 9

Law that outlines the legal procedures or process that government is obliged to follow.

Front 10

What is common law?

Back 10

Laws developed, mainly in England, by judges who made legal decisions in the absence of written law. Such decisions served as precedents and became "common" to all of England.

Front 11

What is constitutional law?

Back 11

Laws that consist of court decisions that interpret and expand the meaning of a written constitution.

Front 12

What is administrative law?

Back 12

The law that governs the actions of administrative agencies.

Front 13

What is regulatory law?

Back 13

The rules and regulations promulgated by administrative agencies that are just as binding as statutes passed by legislatures.

Front 14

What is case law?

Back 14

A law that develops through the interpretation of previous cases, statutes, constitutions, treaties, and other forms of written law.

Front 15

What is equitable relief?

Back 15

Court-ordered action that directs parties to do or not to do something; such remedies include injunctive relief and Specific Performance. Alternatively, a non-monetary remedy, such as an Injunction or specific performance, obtained when a legal remedy such as money damages cannot adequately redress the injury.

Front 16

Give examples of equitable relief.

Back 16

Restraining order. An ACCOUNTING may be requested by a plaintiff who seeks to know how his or her money is being handled. A trust or CONSTRUCTIVE TRUST can be ordered by a judge to place the care and management of property with one person for the benefit of another.

Front 17

What are the four sources of law?

Back 17

1.Divine Rights of King
2.Natural Law Approach
3.Positive Law Approach
4.Sociological Approach

Front 18

What is federalism?

Back 18

A political system in which government powers are divided between a central government and regional and/or state governments.

Front 19

What is the Writ of Certiorari?

Back 19

An order from a higher court to a lower court in which the former orders the latter to send up the record of the case for review by the higher court.

Front 20

What is In Personum jurisdiction?

Back 20

Judicial jurisdiction of a court to enter a personal judgment or decree against the person.

Front 21

What is In Rem jurisdiction?

Back 21

Judicial jurisdiction of a court to enter a decree affecting property interests (i.e. a suit to seize an obscene film or to determine ownership of an abandoned cache of jewels).

Front 22

Define federal jurisdiction.

Back 22

Article III of the Constitutions provides for federal jurisdiction over certain persons or parties (i.e. Ambassadors, public Ministers and Consuls, and even cases between 2 or more states).

Front 23

What is a diversity of citizenship suit?

Back 23

A specific type of lawsuit between citizens of two different states in which the amount in controversy exceeds $75,000.

Front 24

Who is the plaintiff?

Back 24

The person or party who initiates the lawsuit.

Front 25

Who is the defendant?

Back 25

The person against whom a lawsuit is brought.

Front 26

What is a complaint?

Back 26

In civil law, a legal document in which the plaintiff makes certain allegations of injury and liability against the defendant. In criminal law, the written accusation of a criminal act against a criminal defendant.

Front 27

What is an answer?

Back 27

The defendant's response to allegations made by the plaintiff in the latter's complaint.

Front 28

What is default judgment?

Back 28

A judgment awarded to the plaintiff because the defendant has failed to answer the complaint.

Front 29

Define discovery.

Back 29

A pretrial procedure in which parties to a lawsuit ask for and receive information such as testimony, records, or other evidence from each other.

Front 30

What is a deposition?

Back 30

A form of discovery that involves taking a sworn testimony of a witness outside open court.

Front 31

What is interrogatory?

Back 31

A form of discovery in which written questions about a lawsuit are submitted to one party by the other party.

Front 32

What is a subpoena?

Back 32

An order from a court directing a person to appear before the court and to give testimony about a cause of action pending before it.

Front 33

Define subpoena duces tecum.

Back 33

An order from a court directing a person to appear before the court with specified documents that the court deems relevant in a matter pending before it.

Front 34

What is the prima facie case?

Back 34

The plaintiff's version of the facts, which if taken at first glance or "first face," seem to substantiate the plaintiff's allegations against the defendant.

Front 35

What is a bench trial?

Back 35

A trial conducted without a jury in which the judge serves as the trier of fact.

Front 36

Who is the trier of fact?

Back 36

The trier of fact is responsible for hearing and viewing the evidence and evaluating the veracity of it. The trier of fact may be either a judge or a jury.

Front 37

What is voir dire?

Back 37

Literally, "to speak truth." The process by which prospective jurors are questioned by attorneys to ascertain whether there is a cause to strike them from jury.

Front 38

What are peremptory challenges?

Back 38

A method used to strike a potential juror from the jury without specifying the reason for doing so.

Front 39

What is a challenge for cause?

Back 39

One method of striking a potential juror because of specified reasons such as bias or prejudgment.

Front 40

Define opening statements.

Back 40

Address made by attorneys for both parties at the beginning of a trial in which they outline for the jury what they attend to prove in their case.

Front 41

What is preponderance of the evidence?

Back 41

In civil law, the standard of proof required to prevail at trial. To win, the plaintiff must show that the greater weight, or preponderance of the evidence, supports his or her version of the facts.

Front 42

What is the standard of proof in criminal cases?

Back 42

The amount of evidence which a plaintiff (or prosecuting attorney, in a criminal case) must present in a trial in order to win is called the standard of proof. Beyond a reasonable doubt (criminal cases)--for a criminal defendant to be convicted of a crime, the prosecutor must prove her case to the point that the jurors have no reasonable doubts in their minds that the defendant did whatever he is charged with having done.

Front 43

What is direct examination?

Back 43

At trial, the questions asked of a witness by the attorney who called the witness to the stand.

Front 44

What is cross-examination?

Back 44

At trial, the questions of one attorney put to a witness called by the opposing attorney.

Front 45

What are leading questions?

Back 45

A question by which an attorney attempts to put words into the mouth of a witness, that is, a question that states the information to which the attorney wishes the witness to testify.

Front 46

What are closing arguments?

Back 46

The address made by the attorney at the end of the presentation of the evidence in which the attorney summarizes the case for the jury.

Front 47

What is a directed verdict?

Back 47

An order from the judge to the jury ordering the latter to decide the case in favor of one of the parties for failure of the other party to prove its case.

Front 48

What is execution of judgment?

Back 48

The execution of judgment is the act of getting an officer of the court to take possession of the property of a losing party in a lawsuit, called the judgment debtor, on behalf of the winner, called the judgment creditor, sell it and use the proceeds to pay the judgment.

Front 49

What are contingency fee arrangements?

Back 49

The normal fee arrangement in a civil suit in which the attorney receives a percentage of any award won by the plaintiff.

Front 50

What is the loser-pays rule of attorney fees?

Back 50

When the losing party pays the successful party’s attorney fees, as well as other court costs.

Front 51

What is the American-rule on attorney fees?

Back 51

When each party bears its own legal expenses.

Front 52

What is an indictment by grand jury?

Back 52

A formal accusation handed down by a grand jury of a criminal offense made against a person.

Front 53

What is a true bill?

Back 53

A bill of indictment by a grand jury.

Front 54

Define no bill.

Back 54

A term used to describe a decision by a grand jury not to indict a person for a crime.

Front 55

What is double jeopardy?

Back 55

The Double Jeopardy Clause protects against three distinct abuses: [1] a second prosecution for the same offense after acquittal; [2] a second prosecution for the same offense after conviction; and [3] multiple punishments for the same offense.'

Front 56

What are some types of ADR?

Back 56

Mediation, neutral evaluation, arbitration, early settlement conference, special masters and referees, and a mandatory settlement conference.

Front 57

What is hearsay?

Back 57

An out of court assertion or statement, made by someone other than the testifying witness, that is being offered to prove the truth of the matter stated.

Front 58

What is the writ of habeas corpus?

Back 58

Literally, "you have the body." In criminal law, a judicial writ ordering a law enforcement official to bring a person before the court and show cause as to why the person is being detained.

Front 59

What is res judicata?

Back 59

Fundamental legal doctrine that, once a lawsuit is decided, the litigant parties are barred from raising the same issue again in the courts (unless material new evidence has become available). They are also barred from raising another issue arising from the same claim or transaction (or a series of claims or transactions) that could have been but was not raised in the decided suit. It is based on the principle that court cases cannot be allowed to go on for ever and must come to an end. Latin for, a thing adjudicated.

Front 60

What is the exclusionary rule?

Back 60

A judicially-created rule that holds that evidence obtained through violations of the constitutional rights of the criminal defendant must be excluded from the trial.

Front 61

What is a venue?

Back 61

The geographic location of a trial that is determined by constitution or statutory provisions.

Front 62

What are statutes of limitations?

Back 62

Statutes that prescribe the time periods in which lawsuits must be filed.

Front 63

Define standing.

Back 63

The doctrine requiring that a party bringing suit before a court must have a legal right to do so.

Front 64

What is mootness?

Back 64

A term used to describe a case that has become a dead issue because the controversy that gave rise to the case was resolved before a final judicial decision could be made.

Front 65

What is ripeness?

Back 65

The doctrine that an appellate court will not review the decision of a lower court until all remedies have been exhausted. Courts will not decide an issue before the need to do so.

Front 66

What is the political question?

Back 66

The doctrine that courts will NOT decide cases that involve issues for which a final decision is clearly left to one of the political branches of government by the Constitution.

Front 67

What is jury nullification?

Back 67

Jury's decision to acquit a defendant despite explicitly violating the law because the jury felt that the law was unjust or not applicable to the case.

Front 68

What is judicial activism?

Back 68

When a judge is applying his or her own political views, rather than basing decisions on law or prior precedent.

Front 69

What is judicial restraint?

Back 69

Judicial restraint refers to the doctrine that judges' own philosophies or policy preferences should not be injected into the law and should whenever reasonably possible construe the law so as to avoid second guessing the policy decisions made by other governmental institutions such as Congress, the President and state legislatures.