Deck 14: Comparative Law: Law in Other Cultures

Question 1

Even though preliterate societies lack written codes of conduct, _____________ is/are of central concern to all organized groups, and people living in these cultures are ruled by customs as rigid and inviolable as any law.

A) social control
B) law
C) rules
D) promises

Answer 1

A

Question 2

Which of the following preliterate societies are larger groups (anywhere from a few hundred to many thousands)?

A) bands
B) gangs
C) tribes
D) clans

Answer 2

C

Question 3

Why was property crime rare among the Inuit?

A) property crime was considered a sin
B) there was very little worth stealing among them that was not available to all
C) property crime carried a penalty of death
D) all of the above

Answer 3

B

Question 4

One alternate tactic that avoided bloodshed and vendettas was a unique kind of mechanism of self-redress among the Inuits called the:

A) sing-off
B) voice duel
C) song duel
D) voice-off

Question 5

In an Inuit song duel, who declared one of the parties a winner on the basis of how thoroughly he had humiliated his opponent?

A) chief
B) crowd of peers of both parties
C) government official
D) parents of participants

Question 6

What punishment used in band societies signal social and possibly physical death in the harsh and hostile environments often inhabited by bands?

A) cutting off hands
B) ostracism
C) caning
D) whipping

Question 7

Because the tribe is much larger than the band, _______________ and social control become more precisely defined.

A) law
B) rules
C) community
D) leadership

Question 8

Which preliterate tribe discussed in the text provided for self-redress for murder of a relative, but like the Inuit, they also feared the chain-reaction nature of blood feuds?

A) Agta
B) Huron
C) !Kung
D) none of the above

Question 9

Which of the following Huron crimes were crimes against the tribe?

A) treason
B) murder
C) assault
D) theft

Question 10

Only countries either colonized or defeated in war by Britain or the United States have imported the ____________ law.

A) common
B) socialist
C) Islamic
D) civil

Question 11

Under common law, prior judicial decisions based on facts before judges ultimately became the basis for future judicial decisions for judges confronted with similar cases in what became known as the doctrine of:

A) precedent
B) stare decisis
C) judge law
D) common law

Question 12

Precedent operates in vertical and horizontal:

A) deliberations
B) dimensions
C) case flow
D) decisions

Question 13

Which nature of common law stems from the "trial by combat" method of settling disputes in medieval times?

A) inquisitorial
B) stare decisis
C) adversarial
D) precedent

Question 14

What refers to the judiciary's examination of the legality of the actions and decisions of executive and administrative officers of the government as well as appellate review of lower court decisions?

A) precedent
B) stare decisis
C) rule of law
D) judicial review

Question 15

What type of law is used by almost half of the world's nations?

A) Islamic law
B) civil law
C) common law
D) socialist law

Question 16

In regards to its development, what type of law probably owes its greatest debt to ancient Rome and nineteenth-century France and Germany?

A) common law
B) socialist law
C) Islamic law
D) civil law

Question 17

Under early Roman law, what was a compilation of rules regulating family, economic, and religious conduct, written around 450 BCE?

A) Justinian Code
B) King Hammurabi's Code
C) Napoleonic Code
D) Twelve Tables

Question 18

What is the most important historical difference between code law and common law?

A) the impetus for change has created a difference in government response
B) historically, the former has been developed after a major social upheaval that eliminated previous political regimes
C) the mistrust and hatred of the status quo has caused changes
D) the latter was created as a prototype for the former

Question 19

Which country's system may be characterized as a crime control system emphasizing the rights of the victimized community?

A) France
B) China
C) Saudi Arabia
D) United States

Question 20

In _____________ countries, new codes replace previous law, which emphasizes the revolutionary nature of this type of law.

A) common law
B) socialist law
C) Islamic law
D) civil law

Question 21

What is the primary distinguishing feature of civil law vis-á-vis common law?

A) it is inquisitorial
B) it is adversarial
C) it focuses on precedent
D) it focuses on the rule of law

Question 22

The inquisitorial focus is on _______________, and not so much on procedure.

A) rights
B) law
C) truth
D) evidence

Question 23

In the French civil law system, judges are the key person in the system and are known by what term?

A) juge d'investigation
B) juge d'instruction
C) juge d'inquisitor
D) juge d'supervision

Question 24

A French trial, in a sense, takes place with an unspoken:

A) presumption of probably guilty
B) presumption of guilt
C) presumption of innocence
D) presumption of probably innocent

Question 25

_____________ jurors can question witnesses and the accused and receive defense and prosecution summations.

A) socialist law
B) civil law
C) Islamic law
D) common law

Question 26

In a French jury trial, who is allowed to question witnesses and the accused?

A) jurors
B) judges
C) laypersons
D) all of the above

Question 27

Which French court is supreme in criminal and civil matters?

A) Conseil d'Etat
B) Cour de Cassation
C) Conseil de prud'hommes
D) Conseil Constitutionnel

Question 28

In what year did constitutional reforms enable the Constitutional Council to gradually become a fully functional court?

A) 1999
B) 2002
C) 2005
D) 2008

Question 29

The function of the Cour de Cassation is to "_______________" erroneous decisions made by lower courts.

A) deny
B) uphold
C) smash
D) rule on

Question 30

What type of law originated in 1917 with the Russian Revolution?

A) Islamic law
B) common law
C) civil law
D) socialist law

Question 31

In a(n) __________ society, the state and the laws that support it would "wither away," and whatever would be construed as the "state" thereafter would become one with and inseparable from the individual.

A) socialist
B) common law
C) Islamic
D) civil law

Question 32

Which ancient Chinese philosopher expressed the attitude toward law that has pervaded Chinese thinking for centuries when he wrote, "The superior man is concerned with virtue; the inferior man is concerned with law"?

A) Confucius
B) Laozi
C) Zhu Xi
D) Han Fei

Question 33

Which Chinese code, established in 1646, contained no formal procedural rules?

A) Confucius Code
B) Ch'ing Code
C) Laozi Code
D) Tang Code

Question 34

The Chinese system has both inquisitorial and adversarial aspects, but its emphasis is squarely on the_______________ process.

A) inquisitorial
B) review
C) justice
D) adversarial

Question 35

In a court case, Chinese defendants have the right which of the following?

A) defend themselves in court
B) hire a lawyer
C) entrust their defense to a relative or lay advocate
D) all of the above

Question 36

What is an article of the Chinese criminal code and is defined as evidence that a defense attorney relies on that is later shown to be false?

A) perjury
B) illegal evidence
C) troubling evidence
D) evidence fabrication

Question 37

Which of the following is true of interrogation in a Chinese trial?

A) the defendant does not have the right to remain silent
B) the victim or the victim's representatives may interrogate the defendant
C) the judge may interrogate the defendant
D) all of the above

Question 38

The average length of time a person sentenced to death waits until execution in China is:

A) seven days
B) two months
C) 10 years
D) 15 years

Question 39

At the top of the Chinese court hierarchy is the:

A) Intermediate People's Court
B) Supreme People's Court
C) Higher People's Court
D) Basic People's Court

Question 40

Which Chinese court operates at the provincial level and is analogous to an American state supreme court?

A) Supreme People's Court
B) Basic People's Court
C) Intermediate People's Court
D) Higher People's Court

Question 41

What are Chinese informal dispute resolution committees called?

A) collegial mediation committees
B) standing mediation committee
C) people's mediation committees
D) prefecture mediation committees

Question 42

What type of legal tradition exists mainly in Middle Eastern Arabic countries, most of northern Africa, and in the Pakistani and Bangladeshi regions of the Indian subcontinent?

A) socialist law
B) civil law
C) common law
D) Islamic law

Question 43

According to the text, in which country does the Qur'an function as a constitution, laying out general principles that must be interpreted and applied to a variety of specific cases?

A) United States
B) France
C) Saudi Arabia
D) China

Question 44

What country's law is a hybrid of the inquisitorial and adversarial systems, with strong emphasis on the former?

A) United States
B) Saudi Arabia
C) France
D) all of the above

Question 45

In Saudi Arabia, which individual hears cases and makes decisions based on his own distillation of the facts and the testimony before him and on the principles of Islamic justice as he sees them?

A) Hadith
B) Sharia
C) Nizam
D) qadi

Question 46

Which of the following is not one of the classifications of crimes under Islamic law?

A) hadith
B) hudud
C) quesas
D) ta'azir

Question 47

Under Islamic law, usually a person can receive the penalty of death for which of the following hudud crimes?

A) false accusation of adultery
B) theft
C) apostasy
D) robbery

Question 48

Which type of Islamic crimes include variations in sentences according to circumstance and social status?

A) ta'azir
B) quesas
C) hadith
D) hudud

Question 49

Under Islamic law, a free person may receive __________ for drinking alcohol.

A) 150 lashes
B) 80 lashes
C) 20 lashes
D) 40 lashes

Question 50

Penalties for quesas crimes are based on which principle?

A) eye for an eye
B) inquisitorial
C) stare decisis
D) parens patriae

Question 51

The diyya for killing non-Muslims depends on the:

A) the way the victim died
B) victim's religion
C) victim's gender
D) victim's race/ethnicity

Question 52

Ta'azir crimes carrying the death penalty are mostly:

A) sorcery
B) heresy
C) drug-related and terrorism
D) all of the above

Question 53

The Islamic appellate court does not review either the law or the facts; rather it merely ensures that the judge paid sufficient attention to the point of:

A) objection
B) sentencing
C) evidence
D) procedure

Question 54

Due to the practice of oath taking in Islamic courts, who is the sole finder of guilt or innocence, and he may not even have to concern himself with either fact or law?

A) ta'azir
B) qadi
C) kubra
D) hadith

Question 55

Ordinary courts in Saudi Arabia are known as:

A) Huddera
B) Kubra
C) Haditha
D) Musta'galah

Question 56

Which Islamic crimes are prescribed by the Qur'an and thus are inviolable in theory, they cannot be appealed, although pardons and stays have been granted by the king?

A) ta'azir
B) hudud
C) quesas
D) hadith

Question 57

In Saudi Arabia, what is an administrative body, a source of pardons, and a final body of appeal that determines if verdicts have been rendered in conformity with sharia?

A) Ministry of Justice
B) Kubra
C) Huddera
D) Musta'galah

Question 58

Which index ranks countries 0 through 10, with 10, with 10 indicating the highest civil liberty score?

A) Freedom House
B) Intelligence Freedom House
C) Democracy Unit
D) Economist Intelligence Unit

Question 59

Which elements of the rule of law does France unquestionably exhibit?

A) the first element
B) the first two elements
C) all three elements
D) none of the above

Question 60

What is the court of final appeals among the nations of the European Union, and finds its ruling respected by the member nations?

A) European Court of Justice
B) European Court of Human Rights
C) United Nations International Court
D) International Court of Justice

Question 61

Societies that have no written language are collectively referred to as preliterate societies.

Question 62

Rape was one of the most common crimes among the Inuit when they lived in nomadic bands.

Question 63

Used by the Inuits, a song duel involved the participants hurling sung insults at one another.

Question 64

The power of whipping in preliterate societies was so strong that this form of punishment sometimes resulted in the offender taking his own life.

Question 65

In the Huron tribe, execution for witchcraft could only be done with the consent of the victim.

Question 66

The term unwritten is used to distinguish common law's origin in the customs of the people as formalized by judges from the written or statutory laws of the civil tradition, which were imposed on citizens from above.

Question 67

In regards to precedent, solitary dimension means that lower courts in their deliberations should always consider decisions made by higher courts.

Question 68

Common law is the most pervasive legal tradition in the world.

Question 69

Published in 1804, the Napoleonic Code became the blueprint for all subsequent civil law codes.

Question 70

According to the text, France's system of law comes closest to the civil law prototype.

Question 71

In France, to protect the accused from adverse publicity, criminal investigations are conducted in secret.

Question 72

A French investigation takes place under the presumption of guilt.

Question 73

In a French jury trial, guilt or innocence is determined by an open ballot.

Question 74

The French Cour de Cassation court sits in six chambers, each with 15 judges.

Question 75

Socialist law is the only system of law that considers itself a temporary anachronism devoted to its own demise.

Question 76

In China, the evidence fabrication code specifically targets defense attorneys.

Question 77

A criminal trial in China may be held in front of what is known as a collegial bench, composed of one to three professional judges and two to four laypeople's assessors.

Question 78

In China, a sentence to a lifetime of hard labor is imposed when, in the court's opinion, the defendant is beyond rehabilitation.

Question 79

The Basic People's Court is a Chinese court that operates at the prefecture (multicounty) level.

Question 80

Islamic countries vary in the level of their adherence to strict Biblical interpretations.