ELE-4E PRACTICE QUIZ
CHAPTER 1: BUSINESS AND ITS LEGAL ENVIRONMENT
1. One of the oldest and most significant schools of jurisprudence is:
a.
b.
c.
d.
administrative law.
environmental law.
legal realism.
natural law.
ANS:
a. Incorrect. Administrative law is not a school of jurisprudence but a body of
law consisting of the rules, orders and decisions of administrative
agencies.
b. Incorrect. Environmental law is not a school of jurisprudence but a body of
law consisting of all statutes and regulations protecting the environment.
c. Incorrect. Legal realism is a significant school of jurisprudential thought
that became popular during the 1920s and 1930s, but it is not the oldest
school.
d. Correct. Natural law dates back to the Greek philosopher Aristotle (384–
322 B.C.E.), who distinguished between natural law and the laws governing
a particular nation.
2. The belief that judges should take social and economic realities into account
when deciding cases is characteristic of:
a.
b.
c.
d.
the historical school of legal thought.
legal realism.
legal positivism.
the natural law tradition.
ANS:
a. Incorrect. The historical school looks to legal doctrines that have worked
in the past for guidance, not to present social and economic realities.
b. Correct. Legal realists believe that judges should take social and
economic realities into account when deciding cases.
c. Incorrect. This is not characteristic of the positivist school of legal thought.
d. Incorrect. The natural law tradition focuses on laws that are inherent in
nature and that apply universally to the human condition. Social and
economic realities vary from society to society and to not determine
natural law.
3. The common law may be described as:
a.
b.
c.
d.
general legal principles that evolved over time through court decisions.
a body of rules governing the ownership of the oceans.
an index of opinions by law professors.
rules issued by an administrative agency.
ANS:
a. Correct. Common law, or judge-made law, is a set of general legal
principles that evolved over time through court decisions.
b. Incorrect. The common law deals with issues other than the ownership of
the oceans.
c. Incorrect. Common law developed from the decisions of judges, not from
the opinions of law professors.
d. Incorrect. Rules issued by an administrative agency would be considered
statutory, not common, law.
4. A cornerstone of both American and English legal systems is:
a.
b.
c.
d.
the doctrine of res nullius.
the doctrine of stare decisis.
the doctrine of plumbago.
the doctrine of judicial unfitness.
ANS:
a. Incorrect. Res nullius refers to land, or other resources, that are owned by
no one.
b. Correct. Stare decisis, the doctrine of relying on precedent, is a
cornerstone of both the American and English legal systems.
c. Incorrect. A plumbago is a plant.
d. Incorrect. Presumably we want judges to be fit, not unfit.
5. A decree of specific performance is:
a.
b.
c.
d.
an order to immediately stop doing something.
an equitable remedy.
the same thing as monetary damages.
an action at law.
ANS:
a. Incorrect. This describes an injunction.
b. Correct. Specific performance is an equitable remedy in which a court
orders a party to perform a particular agreement as promised; the remedy
will be granted only if monetary damages are inadequate.
c. Incorrect. Monetary damages are awarded for actions at law.
d. Incorrect. Specific performance is not an action at law, but an equitable
remedy.
6. Which of the following is not a primary source of law?
a.
b.
c.
d.
A state constitution.
Case law (court decisions).
An administrative agency regulation.
A legal encyclopedia.
ANS:
a. Incorrect. A state constitution is a primary source of law because it
establishes law.
b. Incorrect. Case law, or the decisions of the court, are primary sources of
law because they establish law by indicating how a common law principle
or a statute applies to a given set of facts.
c. Incorrect. The rules of administrative agencies establish law, and are thus
primary sources of law.
d. Correct. A legal encyclopedia is a secondary source of law; it is not a
primary source of law because it does not establish law but rather
organizes and summarizes existing laws and legal doctrines.
7. If a law that violates (conflicts with) the U.S. Constitution is challenged in
court, the court will:
a.
b.
c.
d.
enforce the law only if it is one that has been passed by a state legislature.
enforce the law if it is rooted in a state constitutional principle.
not enforce the law, no matter what its source may be.
not enforce the law, because only Congress has the power to enforce
laws that violate the U.S. Constitution.
ANS:
a. Incorrect. No law, regardless of its source, will be enforced if it violates
the U.S. Constitution.
b. Incorrect. No law, regardless of its source, will be enforced if it violates the
U.S. Constitution.
c. Correct. No law, regardless of its source, will be enforced if it violates the
U.S. Constitution.
d. Incorrect. Congress has no such power.
8. One of the major functions of all administrative agencies is:
a. deciding public policy on the issue of welfare rights.
b. limiting the size and scope of government.
c. exercising minimal authority over those persons and industries they
regulate.
d. rulemaking.
ANS:
a. Incorrect. Some agencies, but not all, deal with welfare policy.
b. Incorrect. Administrative agencies increase rather than limit the size and
scope of government.
c. Incorrect. Administrative agencies exercise vast powers over the people
and industries they regulate.
d. Correct. Administrative agencies create or modify many rules.
9. Civil law may best be described as:
a. the law that governs relations between persons and between persons and
the government.
b. the common law of taxes.
c. federal, not state, law.
d. the law governing the relations among nations.
ANS:
a. Correct. Civil law governs relations between persons and between
persons and the government.
b. Incorrect. There is no common law of taxes.
c. Incorrect. Much civil law is state law.
d. Incorrect. The law governing relations among nations is international law.
10. The term cyberlaw is used to describe:
a.
b.
c.
d.
law among Siberians.
the law governing book publishing.
the emerging body of law that governs cyberspace transactions.
a formal classification of law.
ANS:
a. Incorrect. Siberians may use cyberspace, but the term cyberlaw has no
direct relation to these people.
b. Incorrect. Some aspects of online publishing (such as this online test
bank) may be covered by cyberlaw, but the term refers to more than just
publishing.
c. Correct. Cyberlaw refers to the emerging body of law that governs all
cyberspace transactions.
d. Incorrect. Cyberlaw is not really a classification of law at all; rather, it is an
informal term used to describe how traditional classifications of law are
being applied to online activities.