Lesson 1: Legal Aspects of Real Estate

Question 1

community property law

Answer 1

the system that governs how married people own property in California (and in eight other states).

Question 2

civil law system

Answer 2

used in France, Germany, Mexico, Japan, and many other countries, places the duty of creating the law squarely on the shoulders of the legislature.

In the civil law system, when judges decide cases, their decisions have less effect on the decisions of later judges, and they do not build a large body of case law.

Question 3

common law system

Answer 3

judges follow rules or decisions made by judges in earlier, similar cases. in doing so, they create a body of law, known as case law, that the district from the statues passed by legislature

Question 4

equitable remedies

Answer 4

injunction, specific performance, rescission

Question 5

injunction

Answer 5

a court order prohibiting someone from performing an act, or commanding the performance of an act.

Question 6

specific performance

Answer 6

a legal remedy for breach of contract where a court orders the breaching party to perform the contract as agreed

Question 7

rescission

Answer 7

when a contract is terminated and both parties are restored to their original positions

Question 8

plaintiff

Answer 8

the person who is suing

Question 9

defendant

Answer 9

the person who is being sued

Question 10

litigants

Answer 10

Both the plaintiff and the defendant

Question 11

criminal law

Answer 11

A legislative body decides what conduct will be considered a crime and passes criminal statutes.

The government (rather than a private party) brings a criminal suit against a defendant, and the penalties may include incarceration, fines, community service, or restitution.

Question 12

tort law

Answer 12

the duty to take reasonable care to avoid injuring others or damaging their property.

Question 13

contract law

Answer 13

If one party breaches a valid contract by failing to make good on her promise, the other party can sue for compensation or ask the court to make the breaching party do what she promised to.

Question 14

conversion

Answer 14

the misappropriation of property

Question 15

tort

Answer 15

Failure to exercise reasonable care is called negligence. If a person’s negligence causes an injury, he has committed a tort.

Question 16

property law

Answer 16

governs the use and transfer of real and personal property

Question 17

standard of proof

Answer 17

the degree to which a jury must be convinced of a plaintiff’s or prosecutor’s case in order to decide against the defendant.

Question 18

state action requirement

Answer 18

constitution protects civil rights against violations by the government, not against violations by private individuals or entities.

Question 19

order

Answer 19

an order is a brief statement of the court’s decision.

Question 20

opinion

Answer 20

An opinion is a detailed, written explanation of how the court reached its decision.

Question 21

case law

Answer 21

Case law is made up of rules that are taken from judicial opinions.

Question 22

stare decisis

Answer 22

The doctrine of stare decisis holds that a court should decide cases by applying rules established in earlier cases, or precedents.

Question 23

precedent

Answer 23

An earlier case similar to the case that’s being decided is a precedent.

A binding precedent is one that a lower court is required to follow, because it was decided by a higher court in the same jurisdiction.

Question 24

dissent

Answer 24

A dissent is an opinion written by judges who disagree with the majority.

A dissent has no value as a precedent.

Question 25

distinguishing a case

Answer 25

Distinguishing a case refers to looking for facts in a current case that make it different from an established precedent.

This allows the court to reach a different result in the current case than the one reached in the precedent.

Question 26

administrative law judge

Answer 26

An administrative law judge is a judge employed by an agency.

Although a part of the agency, an ALJ is supposed to be impartial in resolving disputes.