Test - Judicial Branch

Match the following

• statutory law

• unwritten law made by court decisions

• common law

• rules of conduct established by society

• laws

• a body of law regulating private rights and obligations

• civil law

• a body of law regulating offenses against the community as a whole

• criminal law

• written law passed by legislative bodies

Match the following

• plaintiff

• someone being sued or someone being tried for a crime

• misdemeanor

• a serious offense punishable by long imprisonment and maybe death

• felony

• brings charges against an accused person

• defendant

• a minor crime punishable by a crime and/or a short prison sentence

• prosecution

• someone bringing suit against another

Match the following

• adversary system

• a system in which both sides are given the chance to present their case

• appellate jurisdiction

• the process of determining whether a law is constitutional or not

• appeal

• the authority to review cases previously decided by  lower courts

• judicial review

• the authority to hear a case's initial trial

• original jurisdiction

• a request for a new hearing; to ask a higher court to review the decision of an earlier case

Match the following

• arraignment

• court order requiring the government to release a prisoner unless good cause for imprisonment can be shown

• recognizance

• sets a standard for future action

• precedent

• a promise to appear without necessity of bail

• bail

• court appearance at which the accused hears the charges and enters a plea

• writ of habeas corpus

• money paid to guarantee a defendant will appear in court

Match the following

• hung jury

• a panel of citizens who reviews evidence presented against a person and determines if there is enough evidence for an incictment

• indictment

• when the decision of a trial jury is not unanimous in a criminal case

• grand jury

• a panel of citizens who determine if a person is guilty or innocent; determines the verdict in civil and criminal cases

• petit jury

• to take into legal custody

• arrest

• officially charges a person with a violation of a criminal law, usually a felony

Match the following

• dissenting opinion

• official called the opinion of the court; announces the Court's decision in a case and sets out the reasoning upon which it is based

• judicial restraint

• practice of basing decisions on previous decisions dealing with similar legal issues and upholding a law if it does not clearly violate the Constitution

• judicial activism

• written explanation of the views of one or more of the justices who support a decision reached by the majority of the court, but wish to add or emphasize a point not made in the decision

• majority opinion

• written explanation of the views of one or more of the justices who disagreed with the Opinion of the Court

• concurring opinion

• practice of basing decisions on what the Court perceives to ensure public welfare or what the Court determines to be fair and just based on the facts it has been given

Match the following

• Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas

• increased the jurisdiction of the Supreme Court by giving it the authority to rule on the constitutionality of state as well as federal laws; provided or "equal protection" of all citizens

• 14th Amendment

• legalized segregation; established the principle of "separate but equal" and legalized segregation

• Civil Rights Cases

• numerous cases between 1954-1964 which challenged discrimination against minority citizens in case after case

• Plessy v. Ferguson

• reversed an earlier court decision that had legalized segregation; called for the desegregation of public schools

• Roe v. Wade

• ruled that women have the right to end a pregnancy but after the 1st trimester states can set certain limits to this right

Match the following

• Judicial Act of 1789

• established the principle of Judicial Review

• Gideon V. Wainwright

• established the Federal Court system with a Supreme Court, 3 Circuit Courts and 15 District Courts

• Miranda v. Arizona

• ruled that evidence obtained by the police illegally could not be used in a state court against the person from whom it was taken

• Marbury v. Madison

• guarantees that a person will be informed of his/her rights if arrested

• Mapp v. Ohio

• guarantees that a person will be provided with defense counsel, regardless if they can afford one or not

Who defined just and unjust laws?

• John Marshall

• John Jay

• Martin Luther King, Jr.

• Thomas Paine

Actions of civil disobedience do not risk legal penalty because those who commit such actions are breaking immoral laws.

• true

• false