How Much Do You Really Know About Foundations Of Canadian Law?

1. By virtue of what legal authority did the Parliament of Canada obtain the right to create the Supreme Court of Canada?

S 101 of the Constitution Act, 1867

S 96 of the Constitution Act, 1867

The Royal Prerogative

The Statute of Westminster, 1931

The Judicial Committee (Appeals In British North America) Act, 1868

2. What is the name of the highest court in the Australian judicial hierarchy?

The Supreme Court of Australia

The Judicial Committee of the Privy Council

The Supreme Court of Australasia

The High Court of Australia

The Court of Appeal for Australia

3. Which of the following was the basis for the existence of a separate legal system in Quebec?

The Royal Proclamation of 1763

The Quebec Act, 1774

The Constitutional Act, 1791

The Property and Civil Rights Act, 1792

The Colonial Laws Validity Act, 1865

4. Which of the following distinguishes the Supreme Court of Canada from the Supreme Court of the United States?

The Supreme Court of Canada is not bound by its own decisions, while the Supreme Court of the US is

The Supreme Court of Canada is bound by its own decisions, while the Supreme Court of the US is not

5. According to Blackstone, which of the following is a correct statement of legal principle which applies to new territory acquired by conquest or session?

The right to legislate for the new territory is acquired immediately by the Imperial parliament

The pre-existing legal order continues in force until changed or altered by the Imperial parliament

The common law immediately comes into force in the new territory upon the formal acquisition of British sovereignty

6. What was the name given to the tradition of centrally-based judges going around the Kingdom on the circuit?

The King's Bench

The Court of Nisi Prius

The Court of Requests

The Assizes

The Curia Regis

7. What was referred to by the expression “the common law courts”?

The King’s Bench, the Common Pleas, and the Court of Chancery

The King’s Bench, the Common Pleas, the Exchequer, and the Curia Regis

The King’s Bench, the Common Pleas, and the Exchequer

The King’s Bench, the Common Pleas, the Exchequer, and the Court of Chancery

The King’s Bench, the Common Pleas, the Court of Chancery, and the Justiciar’s Court

8. Which of the following best encapsulates Montesquieu’s thesis as propounded in his famous work, L’esprit des Lois (The Spirit of the Laws)?

The concept of natural law cannot exist within the rubric of a constitutional state

9. Which of the following statements best describes the legacy, for legal purposes, of the Roman occupation of Britain?

10. Which of the following statements does not accurately describe the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council?

It acted as the final court of appeal for the British Empire

Its shares a common root with the British Cabinet

Though the last Canadian appeal took place in 1959, appeals were formally abolished by the Canada Act, 1982 (Imp) [1949]

Its judges include both Law Lords and members of the highest courts from those jurisdictions which maintain appe`als

It does not issue actual judgments; rather, it only issues advice

11. Who was responsible for the summoning of the first parliament by that name?

Richard Cour de Lion

King John

Simon de Montfort

Henry I

Thomas a Becket

12. Which of the following statements best describes the legacy, for legal purposes, of the agreement that was reached between Edward the Confessor and his cousin, William the Duke of Normandy, about succession to the throne of England following Edward's death?

Edward’s religious piousness gave William the justification to attempt to introduce a Roman-based legal system following the Conquest in 1066

It led to the weaving of the Bayeux Tapestry, which commemorates the events leading up to the Norman Conquest

13. Which of the following courts does not sit at the same hierarchical level as the others?

The Supreme Court of Canada

The Court of Appeals for England and Wales

The High Court of Australia

The Judicial Committee of the Privy Council

The Supreme Court of the United States

14. Which of the following was not understood to be one of “the Dominions” at the time of the passage of the Statute of Westminster, 1931?

Australia

Canada

India

Newfoundland

South Africa

15. Which Sovereign is sometimes referred to as the Father of the Common Law?

William the Conquerer

Henry I

Henry II

Henry III

Richard the Lionheart

16. What is the significance of the Case of Prohibitions del Roy?

It held that the King could no longer create crimes without Parliament’s approval

It held that the King could no longer levy taxes without Parliament’s approval

It held that the King could no longer dismiss judges; that right existed in Parliament

It held that the King could no longer take an active part in the adjudication of cases

17. Which of the following statements is incorrect?

Most Writs were written in Latin

In a trial by ordeal by fire, the act of healing was taken as a sign of innocence

In a trial by ordeal by immersion, the act of sinking was taken as a sign of innocence

18. Which of the following statements best captures the relationship which exists between equity and the common law?

The common law trumps equity, except in cases involving fraud or breach of trust

The common law trumps equity, except where equity is resorted to first

Equity trumps the common law, except in cases involving intentional torts

19. Which of the following statements is not accurate?

The four Inns of Court are Lincoln’s Inn, Gray’s Inn and the Inner and Middle Temple

A QC takes precedence over junior counsel

Every lawyer in England must belong to one of the Inns of Court

On ceremonial occasions, QCs are entitled to wear a judge’s wig

20. Which of the following factors was most important in giving rise to the system of Equity?

The fact that the language of the common law courts was French

The fact that techniques of proof in the common law were primitive

The fact that the Chancellor maintained custody of the Great Seal

The fact that the King’s Bench continued to follow the King, while the Common Pleas remained stationary at Westminster

The fact that the Church disapproved of non-judicial trials

21. Which of the following best describes the constitutional significance of the increase in activity of parliament in the formulation and passing of legislation that took place in the Tudor era?

It led to the development of the substance and procedure relating to the common law of real property

It facilitated the decline of the writ system

22. Which of the following does not describe a feature which distinguishes the Court of Queen’s Bench of New Brunswick from the Court of Appeal for Ontario?

The former is a Court of Inherent Jurisdiction, while the latter is a creature of statute

The two courts’ judges are appointed by different levels of government

One is a court of first instance, while the other is an appellate court

The two courts’ judges are appointed from different provincial bars

23. Which of the following statements best captures the point of intellectual agreement between Thomas Hobbes and John Locke?

The proper function of government was to lift man out of a state of nature

There were certain natural limits that are imposed upon governments, else they lose their legitimacy

Acts of regicide (i.e. killing a sitting monarch) are permissible in order to protect private property rights

Without a constitutionally enshrined bill of rights, civil society cannot be said to exist

24. Which of the following is least able to be asserted to be a proximate source of the move to federate the four British North American colonies in 1867?

The American Civil War

The appointment of Benjamin Boothby as Chief Justice of South Australia

The invention of the telegraph

The cost of constructing the Inter-Colonial Railway line

The personal ambition of John A MacDonald

25. What is the title of the head of the Queen’s Bench Division of the High Court of Justice in England?

The Lord Chancellor

The Chief Justice of the Queen's Bench

The Lord Chief Justice of Great Britain

The Lord Chief Justice of England

The President

A new post was created under the provisions of the Constitutional Reform Act 2005, leaving the Lord Chief Justice as President of the Courts of England and Wales, Head of the Judiciary of England and Wales and Head of Criminal Justice.

Explanation

A new post was created under the provisions of the Constitutional Reform Act 2005, leaving the Lord Chief Justice as President of the Courts of England and Wales, Head of the Judiciary of England and Wales and Head of Criminal Justice.

26. Which of the following statements is least correct?

The first lay Chancellor was St Thomas More

Charles Dickens’ parody of the procedures in Chancery served as a significant impetus for fusion of law and equity

The present-day Lord Chancellor is the head of the judiciary in the United Kingdom

While this position was at one time head of the judiciary, this function has now been assumed by the Lord Chief Justice.

Explanation

While this position was at one time head of the judiciary, this function has now been assumed by the Lord Chief Justice.

27. Which of the following is least able to be a reason to state that Magna Carta is worthy of study today?

Because through their demands, the Barons showed that they had accepted the notion of central rule

Because Magna Carta was one of the first enunciations of what we today would recognize as “enshrined” civil rights

Because Magna Carta solidified the notion of the administration of justice as being distinct from the King’s person

28. What is conventionally understood to be the holding in Dr Bonhams's Case?

The King could no longer take an active part in the drafting of statutes

If a statute offends a principle of natural law, the courts can disregard it

29. Which of the following was not part of Lord Durham’s plan for British North America?

The legislative union of Britain’s North American colonies

The assimilation of the Crown’s French-speaking subjects in Lower Canada

The imposition of tariffs to support industrial development in Upper and Lower Canada

A more efficient system of defence for British North America

The introduction of responsible government in British North America

30. Which of the following correctly describes the court hierarchy (in ascending order) in England and Wales?

High Court of Justice, Court of Appeal, House of Lords

High Court of Justice, Court of Appeal, House of Lords, Privy Council

Court of Queen’s Bench, Court of Appeal, House of Lords

High Court of Justice, Court of Appeal, Supreme Court, House of Lords

Supreme Court of Justice, Court of Appeal, House of Lords

31. What was the name of the founder of the Litchfield Law School, which Dean Holloway described as arguably the parent of all law schools in North America today?

Christopher Columbus Langdell

John Falconbridge

Judge William Elliott

Tapping Reeve

William Meredith

32. Which of the following does not describe an aspect of the Order of Sergeantry?

As a badge of rank, Sergeants used to wear a Coif

Sergeants had a monopoly of appearance in the Common Pleas and the Exchequer

As a sign of fraternity, Sergeants referred to one another as “Brother”

The Order of Sergeantry eventually fell into disrepute as a consequence of “patronage appointments”

Only Sergeants could be appointed to the Bench

33. Which of the following is least able to be described as a legacy, for legal purposes, of Feudalism?

The fact that after the introduction of the common law, the language of the courts was for several centuries French

34. Which of the following statements is not accurate?

Dalhousie Law School is the oldest faculty of common law in the British Empire

Cecil Augustus (“Caesar”) Wright was appointed Dean of Law at Harvard in 1870

The notion of a university-based legal education was not fully accepted in Ontario until 1957

A Faculty of Law at Western was first opened in 1885

The LSAT was first written in 1948

35. Which of the following does not correctly describe the traditionally accepted basis of the reception of common law in the jurisdiction in question?

Nova Scotia - settlement

Ontario - conquest

Fiji - cession

Australia - settlement

New Brunswick - conquest

36. Which of the following can least well be described as a factor contributing to the continuing significance of Blackstone’s Commentaries?

It set out in succinct form the rules regarding the reception of English law within the British Empire

It represented the first time that the common law had been considered, in a scholarly way, as a system

Its timing coincided with, and contributed to, the foment leading up to the American Revolution

It propounded, for the first time, the constitutional theory of the separation of powers