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Understanding American Common Law
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Understanding American Common Law

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Questions and Answers

What was previously the only statutory course taught in first-year law school?

  • Criminal Procedure
  • Civil Procedure (correct)
  • Constitutional Law
  • Civil Rights
  • What has appreciably eroded in the field of common law?

  • The role of judges in lawmaking
  • The significance of prior decisions
  • The importance of litigants in shaping the law
  • The doctrine of stare decisis (correct)
  • What is the author's stance on the common law?

  • It should be left as it is, as a valuable method of developing the law (correct)
  • It should be abolished as a relic of the past
  • It should be strictly limited to avoid judicial overreach
  • It should be replaced by a more democratic system of lawmaking
  • What is the author's primary concern in the given text?

    <p>The majority of judges' work involving statutory interpretation</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What is the characterization of judges, according to Madison, mentioned in the text?

    <p>A natural aristocracy</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What is the primary focus of the field of Antonin Scalia, according to the text?

    <p>Litigation and Lawyers</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What is the estimated proportion of constitutional issues in the Supreme Court?

    <p>Less than a fifth of all issues</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What is the primary focus of the author's discussion?

    <p>The significance of statutory interpretation in judicial work</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What is the author's argument regarding the development of private law by judges?

    <p>It is a desirable limitation upon popular democracy</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What is the author's opinion about the Constitution being a charter for judges to develop an evolving common law?

    <p>The author thinks it is wrong</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What is the main reason the author does not want to debate the role of constitutional interpretation?

    <p>A very small proportion of judges' work is constitutional interpretation</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What is the primary characteristic of the common law in the Anglo-Saxon tradition?

    <p>It is a set of laws developed by the judges.</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What is the author's view on the purpose of a written constitution?

    <p>It is to provide a clear framework for governance</p> Signup and view all the answers

    According to the passage, what is the role of customary practice in influencing common law decisions?

    <p>Well-established commercial or social practices can sometimes inform common law decisions.</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What is the significance of the doctrine of stare decisis in the context of common law?

    <p>It renders prior judicial decisions 'custom', providing a basis for future decisions.</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What is the significance of Oliver Wendell Holmes's book, The Common Law?

    <p>It is a seminal work that continues to influence legal education.</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What is the primary subject matter of the Year Books?

    <p>English judicial decisions from the 13th to 16th centuries.</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What can be inferred about the development of the common law over time?

    <p>It has evolved to address more complex and refined questions.</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What is the main concern about combining the power of judging with the legislative, according to Montesquieu?

    <p>The life and liberty of the subject would be exposed to arbitrary control.</p> Signup and view all the answers

    How did the prevailing image of the common law view judges' role in the 18th century?

    <p>As discoverers of the law.</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What is the primary function of Sutherland's Statutes and Statutory Construction?

    <p>A litigator's research tool and expert witness</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What is the term used to describe the idea that judges in fact 'make' the common law?

    <p>Legal realism.</p> Signup and view all the answers

    Why is there a lack of comprehensive treatises on statutory interpretation?

    <p>There is no need for a comprehensive treatise since it can be learned through reading cases</p> Signup and view all the answers

    How many volumes does Sutherland's Statutes and Statutory Construction currently comprise?

    <p>Eight volumes</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What was the main motivation behind the law-codification movement of the 19th century?

    <p>To address the uncomfortable relationship between common-law lawmaking and democracy.</p> Signup and view all the answers

    Who associated with the law-codification movement of the 19th century?

    <p>Robert Rantoul and David Dudley Field.</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What is the title of the sole comprehensive treatise on statutory interpretation mentioned in the text?

    <p>Sutherland's Statutes and Statutory Construction</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What is the criticism of judge-made law, according to Robert Rantoul?

    <p>It is unjust because it is ex post facto law.</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What is the primary focus of the majority of treatises in the field of law?

    <p>Substantive fields of law</p> Signup and view all the answers

    When was the first edition of Sutherland's Statutes and Statutory Construction published?

    <p>1891</p> Signup and view all the answers

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