General Legal Concepts #2 Trivia Quiz

Answer: A Silk

A Queen's Counsel is a Barrister in Commonwealth Countries who has basically been 'recognized' for their outstanding capabilities. Today the title is mostly awarded out of internal legal politics and is viewed as a continuing anachronism. The title itself does not confer any real advantages (except in England, where title can still get you into the right circles), except the ability to charge even more for your services than a regular barrister or solicitor.

The Q.C. and Judges ensembles are comprised of a silk robe with a slit sleeve, and a wool waistcoat, which is where the name 'Silk' derives from.

Answer: John Hancock

John Hancock had no need to be a lawyer, considering that he was perhaps one of the wealthiest Signers of the Declaration of Independence. Hancock's father died while he was still a boy, but he was adopted by his uncle, the richest merchant in Boston.

After his uncle's death in 1764, he became the wealthiest man in Boston and the State, which gave him considerable influence in his community, and which also subsequently provided him the means to be included in the momentous events that were to follow. George Wythe was a member of the Virginia Bar where he is reputed to have been one of its finest lawyers. Jefferson applied himself to the study of the law under the tuition of George Wythe after leaving College.

At the close of his life, in 1806, it was found that Mr. Wythe had bequeathed his library and philosophical apparatus to his pupil, as a testimony of the estimation in which he was held by his early preceptor and aged friend. Jefferson was called to the bar in the year 1766. John Adams was admitted to the Bar in 1758 and not only became one of the most prominent lawyers of his time, but also wrote in 1765, 'Essay on the Canon and Feudal Law,' a work distinguished for its power and eloquence, which spoke out against the King's abuses, using the law as a weapon to do so.

Answer: Pro Bono

While there is a common perception that lawyers are perhaps the biggest money-grubbers on the face of the planet, it is little known that virtually all legal professions in the Western World strongly encourage their members, particularly well established members to represent clients for free.

Many of the biggest names in the legal profession in North America and the United Kingdom have represented clients Pro Bono, often in cases which become highly publicized.

Answer: 2nd Amendment Only

The Second Amendment reads as follows: Amendment II - Right to bear arms. Ratified 15 December, {1791;} 'A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed'. In the case District of of Columbia v. Heller (2008) the Supreme Court, in a landmark decision, struck down legislation which banned handguns in Washington DC. Constitutional questions are ordinarily decided within the Supreme Court on the principles of the intentions of the Founding Fathers. This means that when the Supreme Court attempts to construe the actual meaning of a Constitutional Provision or Amendment, it tries to do so bearing in mind what the intentions of the original Founding Fathers would have been. This was the first occasion in which the Supreme Court had applied the Second Amendment and declared a gun law unconstitutional.

Thew Supreme Court was split 5-4. Justice Scalia, who wrote the decision for the majority, said: "Undoubtedly some think that the Second Amendment is outmoded in a society where our standing army is the pride of our nation, where well-trained police forces provide personal security and where gun violence is a serious problem. That is perhaps debatable, but what is not debatable is that it is not the role of this court to pronounce the Second Amendment extinct."

Before this decision, the general consensus was that there was no right to 'bear arms', viz. the Second Amendment allowed American citizens to bear arms NOT for their own personal security, BUT as part of a national or local militia. At the the time the 2nd Amendment was written, the Founding Fathers had a great fear of invasion from a number of potential enemies and passed the Amendment so that United States citizens could hastily form militias (basically national guard or army reserve units) to defend the United States from invasion. It was thought the Amendment did not state that individual citizens could possess fire arms purely for their own personal security.

Answer: In Rem Jurisdiction

In Rem Jurisdiction is the power of a court over a thing possessed by the court which it has seized and holds for some specific legal purpose.

Answer: 12

After 216 court sessions, on Oct. 1, 1946, the verdict on 22 of the original 24 defendants was handed down. (Robert Ley committed suicide while in prison, and Gustav Krupp von Bohlen und Halbach's mental and physical condition prevented his being tried.) Three of the defendants were {acquitted;} Hjalmar Schacht, Franz von Papen, and Hans Fritzsche. Four were sentenced to terms of imprisonment ranging from 10 to 20 years: Karl Donitz, Baldur von Schirach, Albert Speer, and Konstantin von Neurath. Three were sentenced to life imprisonment: Rudolf Hess, Walther Funk, and Erich Raeder. Twelve of the defendants were sentenced to death by hanging. Ten of them, Hans Frank, Wilhelm Frick, Julius Streicher, Alfred Rosenberg, Ernst Kaltenbrunner, Joachim von Ribbentrop, Fritz Sauckel, Alfred Jodl, Wilhelm Keitel, and Arthur Seyss-Inquart, were hanged on Oct. 16, 1946. Martin Bormann was tried and condemned to death in absentia, and Hermann Goring committed suicide before he could be executed.

Answer: John Adams

On the evening of the 5th of March, 1770, a small party of British soldiers was assailed by several of the citizens, with balls of snow, and other weapons. The citizens were fired upon by order of the commanding officer: a few were killed, and several others were wounded.

The 'Boston massacre' had occurred. John Adams was solicited by the British officers and soldiers to undertake their defence, on the indictment found against them, for their share in that tragical scene. This was a severe test of his professional firmness.

He was well aware of the popular indignation against these prisoners, and he was at that time a representative of Boston in the general court, an office which depended entirely upon popular favour. But he knew that is was due to his profession, and to himself, to undertake their defence, and to hazard the consequences.

The trial was well managed. The captain was severed in his trial from the soldiers, who were tried first, and their defence rested in part upon the orders, real or supposed, given by the officer to his men to fire.

This was in a good measure successful. On the trial of Capt. Preston, no such order to fire could be proved. The result was, as it should have been, an acquittal. It was a brave thing that the counsel and jury undertook, showing that they had nerve sufficient to breast the torrent of public feeling. It also showed Britain that she had not a mere mob to deal with, but resolute and determined men, who could restrain themselves.

Answer: True

One of the most revered principles of modern Common Law usage, the right of a criminally accused to remain silent and not have their silence used against was abolished in the United Kingdom in 1994. The Criminal Justice and Public Order Act, 1994 changed the right of silence, to being a right to silence, but that if an accused remains silent, then their silence may be construed against them in a Court of Law.

This Act also amended the right to gather for peaceful protest, declared obstructing a fox hunt illegal and gave the police further powers.

It is most remarkable because these rights had become almost sacrosanct within English Common Law and been adopted throughout the Commonwealth and the United States as some of the most protected rights.

Answer: 80 Lashes

The Shari'ah is the substance of traditional Shari'ah law, being the fundamental religious concept of Islam. It was systematized during the 2nd and 3rd centuries of the Muslim era (8th-9th centuries AD)and demands total and unqualified submission to the will of Allah (God), which in application, constitutes a system of duties that are incumbent upon a Muslim by virtue of his religious belief. Shari'ah duties are broadly divided into those that an individual owes to Allah (the ritual practices or 'ibadat) and those that he owes to his fellow men (mu'amalat).

It is the latter category of duties alone which constitutes 'law' in the Western sense. It is only for six specific crimes that the punishment is fixed (hadd): death for heresy and for highway {robbery;} amputation of the hand for {theft;} death by stoning for extramarital sex relations (zina) where the offender is a married person and 100 lashes for unmarried {offenders;} 80 lashes for an unproved accusation of unchastity (qadhf) and for the drinking of any intoxicant.

Answer: Caveat Emptor

One of the most commonly recited legal maxims, Caveat Emptor is a common law principle which cautions the buyer in a purchase negotiation that their failure to spot a easily discovered defect will bar them from recovering their loss after the purchase has been finalized.

In many countries this has now been made redundant for the most part, as sales of merchandise and private sales have inherent protections included for the buyer through legal safeguards called 'Warranties', the rules of strict liability and statute governed failsafes.