Criminal Law Exam 1

Question 1

that which is laid down, ordained, established…a body of rules of action or conduct prescribed by controlling authority, and having binding legal force.

Answer 1

Law

Question 2

An unwritten rule that underlies and is inherent in the fabric in the fabric of society

Answer 2

norm

Question 3

An unwritten, but generally known, rule that governs serious violations of the social code

Answer 3

more

Question 4

Ethical principles, or principles meant to guide human conduct and behavior; principles or standards of right and wrong

Answer 4

morals

Question 5

Any act or omission in violation of penal law, committed without defense or justification, and made punishable by the state in a judicial proceeding

Answer 5

crime

Question 6

the body of rules and regulations that defines and specifies punishments and specifies punishments for offenses of a public nature or for wrongs committed against the state or society.

Answer 6

Criminal Law

Question 7

The rules of conduct inherent in human nature and in the natural order, which are thought to be knowable through intuition, inspiration, and the exercise of reason without the need to refer to man-made laws.

Answer 7

Natural Law

Question 8

Law that is legitimately created and enforced by governments

Answer 8

Positive law

Question 9

law originating from use and custom rather than from written statutes. The term refers to non statutory customs, traditions, and precedents that help guide judicial decisions making.

Answer 9

common law

Question 10

A jurisdiction in which the principles and precedents of common law continue to hold sway.

Answer 10

common law state

Question 11

The form of the law that governs relationships between parties.

Answer 11

Civil Law

Question 12

A private or civil wrong or injury; “the unlawful violation of a private legal right other than mere breach of contract, express or implied”

Answer 12

tort

Question 13

An individual, business, or other legally recognized entity that commits a tort.

Answer 13

Tortfeasor

Question 14

The part of the law that defines crimes and specifies punishments

Answer 14

Substantive Criminal Law

Question 15

A serious crime, generally one punishable by death or by incarceration in a state or federal prison facility as opposed to a jail.

Answer 15

Felony

Question 16

A minor crime; an offense punishable incarceration, usually in a local confinement facility, for a period of which the upper limit is prescribed by statute in a given jurisdiction, typically one year or less.

Answer 16

misdemeanor

Question 17

a violation of a state statute or local ordinance punishable by a fine or other penalty, but not by incarceration. Also called summary offense.

Answer 17

Infraction

Question 18

Acts that are regarded, by tradition and convention, as wrong in themselves.

Answer 18

mala in se

Question 19

Acts that are considered “wrongs” only because there is a law against them.

Answer 19

mala prohibita

Question 20

A crime committed against property, including (according to the FBI’s UCR Program) burglary, larceny, motor vehicle theft, and arson.

Answer 20

property crime

Question 21

A crime committed against property, including murder, rape, aggravated assault, and robbery.

Answer 21

Personal Crime

Question 22

An act that is willfully committed and that disturbs public peace or tranquility. Included are offenses like fighting, breach of peace, disorderly conduct, vagrancy, loitering, unlawful assembly, public intoxication, obstructing public passage, and illegally carrying weapons.

Answer 22

public-order offense

Question 23

An offense that was originally defined to protect the family and related to protect the family and related social institutions

Answer 23

moral offense

Question 24

The authority of a state to enact and enforce a criminal statute

Answer 24

police power

Question 25

The first ten amendments to the U.S. Constitution, which were made part of the constitution in 1791.

Answer 25

Bill of rights

Question 26

To make criminal; to declare an act or omission to be a criminal or in violation of a law making it so.

Answer 26

Criminalize

Question 27

The body of previous decisions, or precedents, that has accumulated over time and to which attorneys refer when arguing cases and that judges use in deciding the merits of new cases

Answer 27

case law

Question 28

Law in the form of statutes or formal written codes made by a legislature or governing body with the power to make law.

Answer 28

statutory law

Question 29

the legal principle that requires that courts be bound y their own earlier decisions and by those of higher courts having jurisdiction over them regarding subsequent cases on similar issues of law and fact.

Answer 29

stare decisis

Question 30

To argue or to find that a earlier appellate court decision dooes not apply to a case currently under consideration even though an apparent similarity exists between the cases.

Answer 30

distinguish

Question 31

the geographic district or subject matter which the authority of a government body, especially a court, extends

Answer 31

jurisdiction

Question 32

The authority of a court to review the actions of the executive and legislative branches and to declare those not consonant with the constitution void.

Answer 32

judicial review

Question 33

The court system that pits the prosecution against the defense in the belief that truth can best be realized through effective debates over the merits of the opposing sides.

Answer 33

adversarial system

Question 34

The mandate, operative in American Criminal courts, that an accused person is presumed innocent until proven guilty and that the prosecution must prove the defendant’s guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.

Answer 34

Burden of Proof

Question 35

In legal proceedings, an actual and substantial doubt arising from the evidence, from the facts or circumstances shown by the evidence, or from the lack of evidence.

Answer 35

reasonable doubt

Question 36

the standard of proof necessary for conviction in criminal trials `

Answer 36

reasonable doubt standard

Question 37

A standard for determining legal liability, which requires a probability of just over 50% that the defendant did what is claimed

Answer 37

preponderance of evidence

Question 38

The level of factual proof used in civil cases involving issues of personal liberty. The standard requires greater certainty than “more probable than not” but is not as demanding as “no reasonable doubt”

Answer 38

clear and convincing evidence

Question 39

The maximum that an orderly society must be governed by establishing principles and known codes that are applied uniformly and fairly to all of its members. Also called supremecy of law

Answer 39

rule of law

Question 40

the procedures that effectively guarantee individual rights in the face of criminal prosecution

Answer 40

due process