Deck 20: History of Courts

Question 1

In general, early English courts and Western legal tradition can be traced to the first known legal code, the Code of _______, dating back to 1760 B.C.

A) Samsonite
B) Apollo
C) Odysseus
D) Hammurabi

Answer 1

D

Question 2

Which of the following was an early method for clearing an individual accused of a crime through a series of oaths and by others attesting to the innocence of the accused?

A) Compurgation
B) Assessment
C) Calculus
D) Convocation

Answer 2

A

Question 3

Trial by water and trial by _______ were primary types of trial by ordeal, as used in earlier times to determine innocence.

A) cannonball
B) hot iron
C) spikes
D) blasphemy

Answer 3

B

Question 4

In 1166, the _______ established that 12 men from each hundred and 4 others from each township would determine who was responsible for a crime and order the sheriff to bring them to the court.

A) Code of Hammurabi
B) Statute of Winchester
C) Assize of Clarendon
D) London Metropolitan Justice Act

Question 5

The evolution of U.S. courts was notably influenced by the _______ in Philadelphia in 1787, in which disagreement occurred over the structure of state and federal courts.

A) Republican Assemblage
B) Constitutional Convention
C) Framers Meeting
D) Democratic Conference

Question 6

Which of the following created many new judgeships and expanded the jurisdiction of the lower federal courts?

A) The Judiciary Act of 1801
B) The U.S. Constitution
C) The Court Structure and Safe Society Act of 1799
D) The Declaration of Independence

Question 7

A series of U.S. Supreme Court decisions under Chief Justice Earl Warren that recognized concerns for civil rights and liberties began with which significant case, where the court decided to desegregate Southern schools?

A) Gideon v. Macon School District
B) Miranda v. Arizona
C) Mapp v. Ohio
D) Brown v. Board of Education

Question 8

English common law heavily influenced the development of laws and the court system in the United States.

Question 9

Lawyers were restricted from signing the Declaration of Independence.

Question 10

Nationalists distrusted the prejudices of the states and believed a strong central government would support economic and political cohesiveness for the new country (the United States).

Question 11

The Ordinance of 1787, also known as the Northwest Ordinance, prescribed the law for most of the western territories of the United States.

Question 12

The Judiciary Act of 1789 established a federal judicial system that included three Supreme Courts, 36 district courts, and 52 municipal courts.

Question 13

Plea bargaining was first introduced in the courts immediately following the Civil War.

Question 14

In Escobedo v. Illinois (1964), the Supreme Court ruled that the accused has the right to counsel during interrogations.

Question 15

Explain the various means of justice that existed in the early English courts.

Question 16

How have court practices and development changed in the United States beginning in the 1950s?