Second Test Flashcards
What governs evidence in federal courts?
Federal Rules of Evidence
How many basic types of evidence are there?
4
What is a testimony?
Oral questioning under oath by a competent witness
What defines a lay witness?
A witness who gives a testimony about a subject he has personal knowledge of
What defines an expert witness?
A witness who testifies about conclusions that may be drawn based on her expertise
Federal rule of evidence 601 provides what?
The General Rule of Competency
FRE 701 defines what?
Opinions and expert testimony
FRE 702 governs what?
Testimony by experts
What is an exhibit?
A physical piece of evidence that is offered to the court for examination
How many types of exhibits are there?
3
What is actual evidence?
Tangible items that could be admitted into evidence on basis of a motion
What is documentary evidence?
Type of actual evidence that can include writings
What is demonstrative evidence?
Type of actual evidence that is created for use in court (diagrams/photographs)
What does FRE 1001 define?
Contents of writings, recordings, and photographs
True or false: a duplicate cannot be defined as an original, even if it accurately reproduces the original
False
What are stipulations?
Undisputed facts which the parties have agreed upon through their lawyers
What is judicial notice?
An action taken by the court when it believes that the information is common knowledge or public record
Which is more common: direct or circumstantial evidence?
Circumstantial
Direct evidence essentially does what?
proves a point
Circumstantial evidence is used for what?
Drawing inferences
What is relevancy?
the standard by which testimony or physical evidence is evaluated
What are the two prongs to the relevancy test?
1- Whether the evidence tends to prove or disprove a fact of consequence
2- Whether the evidence should be withheld from the jury because it is confusing or unduly prejudicial
What does FRE 402 state?
Relevant evidence is generally admissible; irrelevant evidence is inadmissible
What is impeachment in a court setting?
a technique used to attack a witness’ credibility
What are the most common attributes used to discredit a witness?
- Personal bias
- Prior inconsistent statements
- Prior convictions
- Character for untruthfulness
What does FRE 607 say about who can impeach?
Any party can impeach, including the one calling the witness
What does FRE 608 control?
How to present evidence or character and conduct of a witness
What does FRE 801 define?
Hearsay
What is hearsay?
A statement made while the other speaker is not in court and not under oath, but is offered to prove the truth of a statement
True or false: Hearsay can be admissible evidence, thanks to over 20 exceptions
True
True or false: FRE 801 (c) defines hearsay. FRE 801 (d) defines what is not hearsay
True
FRE 803 and 804 provide what?
over 20 exceptions to the hearsay rule
Having the actual speaker come into court gives the attorneys the opportunity to do what?
Scrutinize the testimony
Laws are categorized according to their sources as either:
Constitutional law or case law
The Constitution has how many articles and how many amendments?
7 Articles, 27 amendments
Stare Decisis is limited in what two ways?
- Only applies between higher and lower courts
- only applies to decisions within the legal system from which they came
What are statutes at large?
laws enacted by legislature that are published in the order that they are passed
What is a code?
A topical organization of statutes
When drafted, a proposal is called what?
A bill
Tax bills must originate from where?
The House
What are executive options?
The President’s power to sign/approve the bill or veto it
If the Congress is adjourned, and the President does nothing with the bill, what happens?
Pocket veto
True or false: a 2/3 majority of each house is required to override a presidential veto
True
In the states, statutory law may be created through voter process, called what?
Initiative
Sponsors take their proposal to the general public as what?
a petition
Some laws initiated in state legislatures may need voter approval, called what?
Referendum
What is the process of locating, digesting, and understanding the law on a particular topic?
Legal Research
What constitutes a primary source in legal collections?
Constitutions, statutes, rules/regulations, case law
What constitutes a secondary source in legal collections?
Dictionaries, encyclopedias, periodicals, digests, citations
What are the three steps to doing legal research?
- Know the facts
- Analyze the facts
- identify the issues
Facts may be what?
- Relevant
- Explanatory
- Unnecessary
Finding tools are secondary sources that contain what?
Annotations
What is a law review?
An in-depth coverage of a specific legal issue or case, published by a law school
What is a treatise?
Books that review a specific field of law, often called a hornbook
What is a digest?
Sets of books that provide an index to reported cases arranged by subject with a brief of summary cases
What are reporters (case law)?
Cases collected in sets of books
Who provides Lexis-Nexis?
Reed Elsevier
Who provides Westlaw?
West Publishing Company
Cases decided by federal courts are published in what?
Federal Reporters
What are the United States Reports?
Official publication of supreme court cases that is published by the federal government
What is the Supreme Court Reporter?
An unofficial publication of all supreme court cases, published by west publishing company
What is the lawyer’s edition?
An unofficial publication of all Supreme Court cases, published by Lexis-Law
Opinions of US Courts of appeals appear in the what?
Federal Reporter
Cases from US district courts appear in the what?
Federal Supplement
What are the seven regional reporters?
- Atlantic
- Northeastern
- Northwestern
- Pacific
- Southeastern
- Southern
- Southwestern
What is a case brief?
A short summary of a published case
Judicial history, facts, issues, rules, analysis, conclusion are parts of what?
A case brief
Citing legal authorities follows what style?
Bluebook style
What is a concurring opinion?
Separate opinion that agrees with the majority opinion, but with different reasoning
What is a dissenting opinion?
Disagreement with majority opinion
What is an informal, interoffice document written to communicate the results of legal research and subsequent legal analysis called?
A legal memorandum
What are point headings?
Headings at the beginning of each section in a memorandum that guide the reader through it
True or false: a legal memo should have a statement of facts and a conclusion/answer bank
True
