Deck 8: The History and Organization of Courts

Question 1

The U.S. criminal court system is a(n) process.

A)Organized.
B)Adversarial.
C)Hands-off.
D)All of the above.

Answer 1

B

Question 2

The settlement of this type of disagreement is based on vengeance.

A)Civil.
B)Blood feud.
C)Family feud.
D)Trial by battle.

Answer 2

B

Question 3

This was the practice of taking an oath that one was telling the truth.

A)Swearing.
B)Compurgation.
C)Ordeal.
D)Blood feud.

Answer 3

B

Question 4

This custom required that the accused perform a test decided by divine authority to prove guilt or innocence.

A)Blood feud.
B)Trial by ordeal.
C)Trial by battle.
D)Trial by compurgation.

Question 5

This can be considered the first type of jury.

A)Bot.
B)wergeld.
C)Grand jury.
D)Inquest.

Question 6

In 1166, this law was enacted to correct some of the problems of the judicial process.

A)Magna Carta.
B)Assize of Arms.
C)English Bill of Rights.
D)Assize of Clarendon.

Question 7

This was signed by King John in 1215, limiting the power of the king and recognizing the rights of nobles.

A)Assize of Clarendon.
B)Bill of Rights.
C)Magna Carta.
D)Emancipation Proclamation.

Question 8

This fifteenth-century English court was established to deal with offenses such as riots, perjury, and conspiracy.

A)Court of the Chamberlain.
B)King's Court.
C)Court of the Star Chamber.
D)Kangaroo court.

Question 9

According to this case, under the Sixth Amendment, defendants charged with serious offenses are entitled to a jury trial.

A)McCulloch v. Maryland.
B)Plessy v. Ferguson.
C)Marbury v. Madison.
D)Duncan v. Louisiana.

Question 10

This case established the judiciary as equal to the executive and legislative branches of the government.

A)McCulloch v. Maryland.
B)Plessy v. Ferguson.
C)Tennessee v. Scopes.
D)Marbury v. Madison.

Question 11

This case established that the court could find that the Constitution included implied powers that could be deduced from its nature and language.

A)Powell v. State of Alabama.
B)Plessy v. Ferguson.
C)McCulloch v. Maryland.
D)Marbury v. Madison.

Question 12

In this pair of nineteenth-century cases, the Marshall court upheld this clause found in Article VI of the Constitution.

A)Supremacy.
B)Sanity.
C)Hands-off.
D)Majority.

Question 13

This 1896 Supreme Court decision mandated "separate but equal," forming the basis for the south's Jim Crow laws.

A)Duncan v. Louisiana.
B)McCulloch v. Maryland.
C)Miller v. California.
D)Plessy v. Ferguson.

Question 14

This former chief justice led the Supreme Court when it ruled on several cases that expanded the rights of the accused.

A)William Rehnquist.
B)Dwight D. Eisenhower.
C)J. Edgar Hoover.
D)Earl Warren.

Question 15

The three types of jurisdiction are .

A)Subject matter, federal, and judicial.
B)Subject matter, geographic, and hierarchical.
C)State, federal, and local.
D)Judicial, federal, and legislative.

Question 16

This court holds sessions at intervals within different areas of a judicial district.

A)Appellate court.
B)Circuit court.
C)Federal court.
D)Juvenile court.

Question 17

The court system of the United States is divided into two entities: and .

A)Federal courts; local courts.
B)Circuit courts; appellate courts.
C)Geographic courts; hierarchical courts.
D)Federal courts; state courts.

Question 18

This is the lowest level of the federal court system.

A)Magistrate court.
B)Appellate court.
C)Supreme Court.
D)Circuit court.

Question 19

Which is not one of the four levels of the federal courts?

A)Chancery courts.
B)U.S. circuit courts of appeals.
C)U.S. district courts.
D)U.S. Supreme Court.

Question 20

These state courts differ from other courts in their goals and in how they operate.

A)Criminal courts.
B)Traffic courts.
C)Juvenile courts.
D)Magistrate courts.

Question 21

The state trial courts of limited jurisdiction are sometimes called .

A)Lower courts.
B)Higher courts.
C)Chancery courts.
D)Juvenile courts.

Question 22

A superior court uses this order to call up for review the record of a case from a lower court.

A)Lex talionis.
B)Amicus curiae.
C)Habeas corpus.
D)Writ of certiorari.

Question 23

This means "friend of the court."

A)Lex talionis.
B)Stare decisis.
C)Writ of certiorari.
D)Amicus curiae.

Question 24

This is the first case in which the U.S. Supreme Court applied the constitutional right to counsel to a specific prosecution.

A)Powell v. State of Alabama.
B)Plessy v. Ferguson.
C)Tennessee v. Garner.
D)Brown v. Board of Education.

Question 25

Why were slavery laws developed?

A)To settle disputes between slaves.
B)To settle disputes between slaves and owners.
C)To protect the interests of slave-owners.
D)To protect slaves.

Question 26

Which has affected our concept of the court?

A)Religion.
B)The media.
C)Tradition.
D)All of the above.

Question 27

Courts are a result of the increasing sophistication of societies in which a was necessary.

A)Religion.
B)Division of labor.
C)Agriculture.
D)Tool-making.

Question 28

This is the only right or protection in the Bill of Rights that is also included in all of the state constitutions.

A)Protection from unreasonable search and seizure.
B)Protection against cruel and unusual punishment.
C)Protection from double jeopardy.
D)The right to a jury trial.

Question 29

The Warren Court .

A)Ruled that religious ceremonies in public schools were constitutional.
B)Ruled that the right of privacy is not implied in the Constitution.
C)Expanded the rights of due process for those accused of breaking the law.
D)All of the above.

Question 30

This case set forth that the military commission as authorized after September 11, 2001, is insufficient to try terrorist suspects under the Uniform Code of Military Justice and the Geneva Conventions.

A)Hamdan v. Rumsfeld.
B)Plessy v. Ferguson.
C)Tennessee v. Garner.
D)McCulloch v. Maryland.

Question 31

Researchers have found similarities between the functions of modern courts and societies that were not influenced by European systems of government.

Question 32

The United States has no centralized court system.

Question 33

Violations of criminal law are punishable by imprisonment.

Question 34

Trial by compurgation was a formalized type of blood feud.

Question 35

There was only one type of trial by ordeal: trial by fire (or hot iron).

Question 36

The jury trial developed because the medieval Roman Catholic Church forbade priests to participate in trials by ordeal.

Question 37

The U.S. court system is a confusing array of organizational structures that defies quick description.

Question 38

The Court of the Star Chamber was important because it demonstrated how a court could be supremely fair and humane.

Question 39

Because each of the 13 colonies was established under different conditions, the systems of government, and courts, tended to vary widely.

Question 40

In the early United States, slaves were subject to the same laws as all other citizens.

Question 41

Today's grand jury is primarily a check on the power of the prosecutor.

Question 42

In McCulloch v. Maryland, Chief Justice Earl Warren established the principle of judicial review.

Question 43

Courts of some type have been consistent features of many societies.

Question 44

"Civil law" is often employed as a general term for anything not covered by criminal law.

Question 45

The political boundaries of cities, counties, and states can determine the subject-matter jurisdiction of a court.

Question 46

Appellate courts review the work of the trial court judge and determine whether the case was handled within constitutional constraints.

Question 47

U.S. district courts try civil cases in which the amount of money in controversy exceeds $75,000.

Question 48

Ancient European courts were convened only to dispense justice.

Question 49

"Lower courts" or "inferior courts" are called that because they are less just.

Question 50

The U.S. Supreme Court hears fewer than 100 cases a year.

Question 51

Why is the blood feud an example of why courts had to be invented?

Question 52

What is a wergeld or bot an example of?

Question 53

Why are the fines charged by medieval courts important to the development of the modern court?

Question 54

What was the role of judge in trial by ordeal?

Question 55

What effect did the early English Court of the Star Chamber have on modern courts?

Question 56

List two of the four types of issues heard by federal courts.

Question 57

According to a study, the high courts of all the states are most influenced by the California courts. What is one reason for this?

Question 58

List three types of courts that can be found in state court systems.

Question 59

List three types of courts that can be found within the federal court system.