Deck 1: Nature and Development of the Laws of Evidence

Question 1

Evidence is anything that tends to prove or disprove a fact at issue in a legal action.

Answer 1

True

Question 2

Evidence law is a body of rules that helps to govern conduct and determines what will be admissible in certain legal proceedings and trials.

Answer 2

True

Question 3

Evidence law developed from statutory law and can be found today in statutes, case law, and the Constitution.

Answer 3

False

Question 4

The study of evidence law can teach you what can and cannot be admitted at trial and why.

Question 5

Evidence law developed in response to the common law evolution of the adversary system and the emergence of the jury.

Question 6

Evidence rules were created to ensure efficiency and fairness in the adversary process and not to protect the jury from prejudicial, unreliable, confusing or irrelevant evidence.

Question 7

Rules of evidence promote the search for truth in a trial by determining what is relevant and admissible.

Question 8

Rules of evidence, like much of our law, stem from the English Common Law.

Question 9

In a wager of law, a witness or one submitting proof of a matter takes an oath pledging that they will be impartial.

Question 10

Under the legal doctrine of stare decisis, when a court has decided a case by applying a legal principle to a set of facts, all courts are bound by that rule and must apply it to all later cases with similar facts.

Question 11

Evidence, even when relevant, might be excluded in order to "promote broader public interests in the observance of law and administration of justice." Some examples of this include the exclusion of relevant evidence when it is found to be:

A) hearsay
B) prejudicial
C) privileged communication
D) all of the above

Question 12

This system of law traces its roots to the Roman Empire and bases its system on written legal codes-looking to statutory or codified laws for legal proceedings and relying on a judge or magistrate to determine what evidence is admissible.

A) Civil Law
B) Common Law
C) Islamic Law
D) World Law

Question 13

This system of law limits evidence to three types that are considered to possess a high degree of reliability: religious oaths, eyewitness testimony, and confessions.

A) Civil Law
B) Common Law
C) Islamic Law
D) World Law

Question 14

Supreme Court Justice Sutherland pointed out that "The fundamental basis upon which all rules of evidence must rest-if they are to rest upon reason-is their adaptation to the successful development of" which of the following?

A) truth
B) testimony in the case
C) proving the case
D) cross-examination

Question 15

One of the earliest known rules of formal law was established around 1750 _BC by the prince of Babylonia. This was called the

A) Hammurabi Code
B) Mosaic Code
C) Justinian Code
D) Draconian Code

Question 16

This was one of the earliest known forms of trial, where a defendant was cast into the "holy river," tied down by rocks. Sinking usually meant guilt.

A) Trial by Battle
B) Trial by Ordeal
C) Trial by Expurgation
D) Trial by Precedent

Question 17

Under this system, followed in the United States, parties to a legal dispute face off against each other and contest all issues before a court of law, under the legal maxim that out of controlled battle would the truth emerge.

A) Disputation
B) Presumption of Innocence
C) Adversary
D) Distributed Justice

Question 18

Evidence law today is primarily found in state and federal

A) Administrative law decisions
B) Constitutional provisions
C) Common law
D) Statutory rules

Question 19

Although states are not bound by these rules, most states use the following as a model for their own codes:

A) Model Code of Evidence
B) Federal Rules of Evidence
C) Wigmore Evidence Rule
D) Civil Evidence Code

Question 20

The following all contributed to the development of statutory rules of evidence in the states, except:

A) Uniform Rules of Evidence
B) Federal Rules of Evidence
C) Model Code of Evidence
D) Civil Evidence Code