CHAPTER 3 – FAMILIES OF LAW
Multiple Choice
1. The most typical form of borrowing from legal traditions is to combine aspects of which
families of law?
A. Common and Socialist
B. Common and Civil
C. Civil and Canon
D. Civil and Socialist
2. The international human rights movement emerged after World War II to prevent which
type of incidents from occurring again?
A. The Holocaust
B. Global warming
C. Spread of HIV/AIDS
D. Valentine’s Day Massacre
3. Law that is developed by modern states in their legislatures or through their regulatory
process that deals largely with the relations between government and citizens is:
A. Private Law
B. Civil Law
C. Public Law
D. Criminal Law
4. Law that regulates behavior between individuals is:
A. Private Law
B. Public Law
C. Criminal Law
D. Secular Law
5. Judicial independence is characteristic of:
A. Civil Law
B. Socialist Law
C. Common Law
D. Islamic Law
6. Which legal tradition is one that combines different aspects of more than one legal
tradition:
A. Civil Law
B. Socialist Law
C. Common Law
D. Hybrid
7. The Mesopotamian system is best known for the development for:
A. Confucianism
B. Germanic code
C. Code of Hammurabi
D. Talmudic law
8. Approximately how many persons are included in the 3,000 indigenous nations present in
the world today?
A. 200 million
B. 500 million
C. 500,000 thousand
D. 200,000 thousand
9. The primary characteristic of Common Law that distinguishes it from Civil Law is:
A. The scope of subject matter
B. The complexity of application
C. Its influence on legal education
D. Its reliance on precedent
10. The Roman Catholic Church developed its own law, which is called:
A. Commercial Law
B. Cannon Law
C. Ten Commandments
D. Civil Law
11. Which Supreme Court case extended the exclusionary rule, formerly required in federal
cases to states?
A. Mapp v. Ohio
B. Roe v. Wade
C. Miranda v. Arizona
D. Weeks v. United States
12. Who was one of the major proponents of communism in the 1800’s?
A. Friedrich Nietzsche
B. Emile Durkheim
C. Karl Marx
D. Max Weber
13. Socialist Law is historically grounded in:
A. Civil Law Tradition
B. Common Law Tradition
C. Sacred Law Tradition
D. It was never grounded in any other system of law
14. Under Shari’a Law what is the punishment of last resort?
A. Death
B. Imprisonment
C. Amputation
D. Banishment
15. The primary sources of Islamic Law are:
A. Shari’a and Civil Law
B. Sunnah and Qur’an
C. Shari’a and Sunnah
D. Shari’a and Mohammed
Sentence Completion
1. The four major legal families found in the world today are ______________,
_____________, _______________, and ____________.
2. __________ is the only model country that can be considered a hybrid legal system.
3. The oldest known legal system was the ______________ system.
4. ____________________ are native laws of persons who originate from or live in a
particular area.
5. ________________ is defined as an offense against the state rather than as a dispute
between individuals.
6. The _______________ tradition is the most pervasive legal tradition in the world.
7. In the sixth century A.D., the Byzantine emperor Justinian arranged for the compilation
and codification of the law then in force in the Roman world, the result was the
__________________.
8. ______________ is a body of legislation that deals with the exchange of goods between
cities or nations.
9. The Latin term _______________ is used in Common Law countries to signify the legal
force of precedent.
10. ______________, which orders public servants to perform the duties that are part of their
jobs, is an equity procedure that is common to us today.
11. The political, economic, and social term used to describe socialism is ______________.
12. ____________________ is law that does not pertain to religion or any religious body.
13. _______________ is based on the rules of conduct revealed by God with two primary
sources: the Shari’a and the Sunnah.
14. _____________ are crimes against God, and are seen a violation of “natural law.”
15. Private wrongs against individuals or against society are called ________________.
TRUE/FALSE
1. During the last 50 years, more widely shared notions of justice have emerged as countries
have communicated through the United Nations and other regional and international
organizations about issues of common concern.
2. The families of law continue to guide the operation of the police, courts and corrections
within individual countries.
3. All modern legal systems combine written laws that place limits on behavior, and rules
that derive from decisions about particular cases.
4. The most typical form of borrowing is to combine some aspects of Sacred Law and
Socialist Law.
5. Examples of private law include constitutional law, criminal law and tax law.
6. An example of a type of Civil Law would be the Ten Commandments.
7. Napoleon Bonaparte rose to power in France and enacted a series of governmental
reforms that significantly changed the administrative and legal structures of that country.
8. Both the French and the German codes have been enormously influential in the
development of law over the past two centuries.
9. The Civil Law is more ancient, more complex and more difficult than the French and
German codes.
10. Equity courts arose out of the practice of appealing directly to the king to rule on cases
that did not fit well into the Common Law structure.
11. The United States and England still have separate equity courts to handle equity cases.
12. Common Law is based on precedent and therefore law is not written down in one place
within this tradition.
13. The procurator has the same duties and roles in both the Socialist and Civil Law
traditions.
14. Throughout history religion and religious texts have always been important sources of
influence on the law.
15. Women are seen as equals to men under Islamic Law in terms of legal participation.
Short Answer
1. List the six characteristics of Socialist Law that in general distinguish it from Civil Law.
2. Give two examples of the historical origins of the legal traditions and explain how the
examples are either of a code based system or a case based system.
3. What is the difference between political and nonpolitical justice?
4. Discuss the various types of laws: public law, private law, civil law and criminal law.
Give an example of each.
Essays
1. What are the primary differences between the Common Law and the Civil Law families?
2. Explain the importance of the French and German Civil Codes in the development of law
during the past two centuries.
3. Discuss the Sacred Law in terms of its other designation Islamic Law. Discuss the
following: the two primary sources of Islamic Law, Crime and Punishment under Shari’a,
and equality and Islamic Justice.