Unit One Quiz & Mini Quiz(s)

Go to www.nccourts.org and explore that website to find the North Carolina Court of Appeals. Assuming that there are no vacancies, how many judges, total, are there on the North Carolina Court of Appeals?

15

In the federal Courts of Appeal, appeals are usually heard in panels of __________ judges, although in exceptional circumstances the entire bank of judges in a circuit can hear appeals in what is known as a(n) ____________________ hearing.

3; en banc

North Carolina is in the ________ federal circuit.

4th

Go to www.nccourts.org and explore that website to find the North Carolina Supreme Court. Assuming there are no vacancies, how many justices, total, are there on the North Carolina Supreme Court?

7

Suppose a state passed the following statute: "It is unlawful to engage in conduct that offends or annoys any other person." On what basis or bases might the above law be declared unconstitutional?

Both vagueness and overbreadth.

Congress determined that interstate commerce would be enhanced if all employers were required to provide a safe workplace for their employees. Consequently, Congress passed the Occupational Safety and Health Act ("OSHA"). However, since individual members of Congress are not very knowledgeable about the details of what makes a safe workplace, who decides what conditions must be met to satisfy the demands of OSHA?

Congress creates an administrative agency that will be staffed by experts in the field of occupational health and safety and delegates rule-making authority to that agency.

Each state has at least one federal __________ Court, which is a trial level court.

District

"Trial by ambush" has long been established as the best approach to litigation and has led to the development of strict rules under which parties to a lawsuit jealously guard all information available to them and share it with no one until the day of trial.

False

Bob sued his next-door neighbor, Carolyn, claiming that her dog dug up his prize rosebushes. If a jury finds that Carolyn is legally responsible for the loss of Bob's rosebushes as a result of failing to control her dog, she is said to be "guilty."

False

If a jury is going to be present in a court case, it will be only at the appellate level.

False

The Latin phrases "stare decisis" translates as "stare [study] until you decide," and it refers to the practice of studying and analyzing a problem from all angles before you make up your mind.

False

The party who commences or brings a civil lawsuit is called either a prosecutor, a solicitor, or a district attorney - depending on the state in which the case is brought.

False

The value of precedent is that it limits and streamlines the workload of the courts by providing predetermined outcomes to disputes.

False

Upon review of a lower court decision, an appellate court impanels a jury and receives evidence and testimony on all issues.

False

When a legal wrong is committed, the government and the victim of that wrong must confer to determine who is entitled to initiate a lawsuit, since a single act cannot give rise to both a criminal action and a civil action.

False

Suppose North Carolina passed the following law: It is unlawful to engage in conduct that offends or annoys any other person. Is this a valid law?

No, because no one can know what conduct might "offend or annoy" someone else until it is too late. The law is thus void for vagueness. No, because while the law could legitimately be used to forbid and punish behavior, such as harassment, it could also be used to forbid and punish behavior that has constitutional protection, such as engaging in political speech. The law is thus overly broad.

The person who initiates a civil lawsuit is called the __________.

Plaintiff

In order to promote consistency and predictability in resolving legal disputes, American courts rely on __________ to apply the same reasoning and legal doctrines from prior cases to determine the outcome of a similar current case.

Precedent

The English language equivalent of stare decisis is __________.

Precedent

Suppose the United States Supreme Court reviewed a case involving a North Carolina law requiring a medical consultation followed by a three-week waiting period before a woman could obtain an abortion of a pre-viable fetus. Suppose further that the United States Supreme Court found that North Carolina law to be an unconstitutional violation of a woman's Fourteenth Amendment liberty interest. If an Idaho court is faced with a challenge to a law in Idaho that is exactly the same as the North Carolina law that was found to be unconstitutional, how will Idaho apply precedent to that law?

Since the Idaho case presents the same relevant facts and legal issues as the North Carolina case, and since United States Supreme Court precedent is binding in all states, the Idaho court will follow the precedent from the North Carolina case.

Suppose that, in a breach of contract case between a 48-year-old farmer who was being sued by a farm equipment supplier operating as an LLC, the North Carolina Supreme Court found that a certain remedy, "X," was the appropriate remedy for the supplier. Suppose now that a North Carolina Superior Court is faced with a breach of contract case presenting essentially the same facts, except that instead of a 48-year-old farmer and a farm equipment supplier operating as an LLC, the case involved a 17-year-old high school student being sued by a used-car dealership operating as an LLC. The attorney for the 17-year-old argues that the outcome in the farmer's case should not apply to her client due to her client's status as a minor. What does the 17-year-old's attorney want the Superior Court to do?

The attorney wants the Superior Court to distinguish her client's case from the farmer's case, because the age difference between the farmer and the 17-year-old is legally significant. This difference is important enough to justify a different outcome.

Assume that there is a vacancy on the United States Supreme Court so that only 8 justices hear a case. What happens if there is a tie vote on that case?

The lower court decision is affirmed without an opinion, and it is as if the Supreme Court never heard the case.

Go to www.uscourts.gov and explore that website to locate federal courts in North Carolina. How many federal districts are in North Carolina?

Three

Appeals to the United States Supreme Court are discretionary with the Court. If enough justices agree to accept an appeal, the Court will issue a writ of certiorari directing the lower court to hand up the case file.

True

In the American legal system, whenever a conflict exists between federal law and state law, the federal law will prevail.

True

Once a legislative branch has enacted a general law, it is permissible for that legislative body to delegate rule-making authority to administrative agencies that have expertise in the area addressed by that general law.

True

The United States Constitution is the Supreme Law of this country, and no federal or state governmental entity can enact a law or rule that contradicts it.

True

Under the "rule of four," the United States Supreme Court will accept a case for appellate review if at least four Justices think that the case has merit.

True

The difference between a civil case and a criminal case is __________.

civil cases involve an offense against a "person" while criminal cases involve an offense against society