Test - Judicial Branch

Match the following

• statutory law

• a body of law regulating private rights and obligations

• criminal law

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

• civil law

• unwritten law made by court decisions

• common law

• rules of conduct established by society

• laws

• written law passed by legislative bodies

Match the following

• felony

• someone being sued or someone being tried for a crime

• misdemeanor

• someone bringing suit against another

• plaintiff

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

• prosecution

• a serious offense punishable by long imprisonment and maybe death

• defendant

• brings charges against an accused person

Match the following

• original jurisdiction

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

• adversary system

• the authority to review cases previously decided by  lower courts

• appellate jurisdiction

• the authority to hear a case's initial trial

• appeal

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

• judicial review

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

Match the following

• writ of habeas corpus

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

• precedent

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

• arraignment

• money paid to guarantee a defendant will appear in court

• recognizance

• sets a standard for future action

• bail

• a promise to appear without necessity of bail

Match the following

• indictment

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

• petit jury

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

• arrest

• to take into legal custody

• grand jury

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

• hung jury

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

Match the following

• dissenting 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

• 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

• 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

• concurring opinion

• 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 restraint

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

Match the following

• 14th Amendment

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

• Civil Rights Cases

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

• Roe v. Wade

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

• 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

• Plessy v. Ferguson

• 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

• Miranda v. Arizona

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

• Marbury v. Madison

• established the principle of Judicial Review

• Mapp v. Ohio

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

• Judicial Act of 1789

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

• Gideon V. Wainwright

• 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