FOLLOWING ARE STUDENT STUDY AIDES .  SOME ARE FROM THE OVERHEADS I HAVE USED IN CLASS.  THEY ARE NOT INCLUSIVE NOR MEANT TO BE A SUBSTITUTE FOR READING THE MATERIAL AND ATTENDING CLASS.  FOLLOWING THESE REVIEWS ARE SOME EXAMPLES OF THE TYPES OF QUESTIONS THAT WILL APPEAR ON THE EXAMS.

CHAPTER 1 REVIEW

What are the five parts of a case brief

Answer:  1. Case Name, Citation and Court;  2. Summary of the Key Facts; 3. The issue(s); 4. The Holding; 5. Summary of the Court's Reasoning.

Know what is meant by Common Law and Stare Decisis.

Know (understand what they stand for) the eight schools of jurisprudential thought:

Natural Law, Historical, Analytical, Sociological, Command, Law & Economics, Critical Legal Studies &. Feminist

NATURAL SCHOOL - LAW BASED ON MORALITY & ETHICS

HISTORICAL SCHOOL - LOOK TO PRECEDENT TO SOLVE TODAY'S PROBLEMS

ANALYTICAL SCHOOL - LAW IS SHAPED BY LOGIC

SOCIOLOGICAL SCHOOL - LAW SHOULD SHAPE SOCIAL BEHAVIOR

COMMAND SCHOOL - LAW REFLECTS THE RULING CLASS

LAW & ECONOMICS SCHOOL - LAW SHOULD BE DETERMINED BY FREE MARKET PRINCIPLES

CRITICAL LEGAL STUDIES SCHOOL - LEGAL DECISIONS SHOULD BE BASED ON WHAT IS FAIR UNDER THE CIRCUMSTANCES WITH NO OTHER RULES.

FEMINIST JURISPRUDENCE - A WOMAN'S PERSPECTWE SHOULD BE TAKEN INTO ACCOUNT IN LEGAL DECISIONS.

CHAPTER 2 REVIEW

THE STATE COURT SYSTEMS

1.  GIVE THE DEFINITION AND AN EXAMPLE OF EACH STATE COURT:

2.   DIVERSITY OF CITIZENSHIP: IF PLAINTIFF BRINGS AN ACTION IN STATE COURT THE DEFENDANT CAN MOVE TO HAVE THE MATTER TRANSFERRED TO FEDERAL COURT.

THE FEDERAL COURT MUST APPLY THE SUBSTANTIVE LAW OF THE STATE, BUT WILL APPLY THE PROCEDURAL LAW OF THE FEDERAL COURT.

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3.  In which federal court would each case be heard?

1.  A small business owner who failed to pay quarterly income taxes.

2  a representative of the Mexican government disputing a clause in the NAFTA trade                   agreement.

3  a marketer of a bank credit card who has been accused of mail fraud.

Answers:

1  U.S. Tax Court

2  U.S. Court of International Trade

3  U.S. District Court

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4. What dispute resolution does each of the following situations describe?

Parties have a court to appoint a retired judge to render a judgment on a product liability case.

Lawyers for each side present their cases to a third party in a session lasting about a day, then agree to meet after a week to negotiate a settlement.

Judicial referee.

Minitrial.

CHAPTER 3 REVIEW

1. What Bill of Rights freedoms would be at issue in the following instances?

Moore yells, “Fire!” in a crowded classroom.

Hoffman Beer Company is prohibited by statutes from putting up beer ads in university student centers.

Freedom of speech (unprotected speech)

Freedom of speech (commercial speech)

CHAPTER 4 REVIEW

Identify each of the following international courts:

Court located in Luxembourg which has jurisdiction to enforce European Community law.

Court which would hear commercial disputes between U.S. companies and foreign parties.

Judicial branch of the United Nations that may not hear commercial disputes.

European Court of Justice

U.S. Federal District Court

International Court of Justice

CHAPTER 5 REVIEW

1.  Explain the difference between these torts:

Assault / Battery

False imprisonment / Merchant protection statutes

Transferred intent doctrine / Intentional infliction of emotional distress

2.  Define each type of trespass:

Trespass to land

Trespass to personal property

Conversion of personal property

Answers:

Interference with an owner’s right to exclusive possession of land.

Injury to another person’s personal property that interferes with that person’s enjoyment of that property.

Deprivation of a true owner of the use of personal property by taking it over.

NORTH DAKOTA GOOD SMARITAN ACT

32-03.1-02 - No person, or the person's employer,......who renders aid or assistance necessary or helpful in the circumstances to other persons who have been injured or are ill as the result of an accident or illness, or any mechanical, eternal or organic trauma, may be named as a defendant or held liable in any personal injury civil action by any party in this state for acts or omissions arising out of a situation in which emergency aid ar assistance is rendered, unless it is plainly alleged in the complaint and later proven that such person's acts or omissions constituted intentional misconduct or gross negligence.

32-03.1-01 subparagraph 4 - "Gross negligence" means acts or omissions falling short of intentional misconduct which nevertheless show a failure to exercise even slight care or any conscious interest in the predictable consequences of the acts or omissions. For the purposes of this chapter, "gross negligence" includes the failure of an aider to relinquish direction of the care of an injured or ill person when an appropriate person licensed or certified by this state or by any state or province to provide medical care or assistance assumes or attempts to assume responsibility for the care of the injured or ill person.

NORTH DAKOTA DRAM SHOP ACT (and SOCIAL HOST LIABILITY)

5-01-06.1 Claim for relief for fault resulting from intoxication. Every spouse, child, parent, guardian, employer, or other person who is injured by any obviously intoxicated person has a claim for relief for fault under section 32-03.2-02 against any person who knowingly disposes, sells, barters or gives away alcoholic beverages to a person under twenty-one years of age, an incompetent, or an obviously intoxicated person, and if death ensues, the survivors of the decedent are entitled to damages defined in section 32-21-02.....

GUEST STATUTE IN NORTH DAKOTA LIMITED TO AIRPLANE PASSENGERS.

EMOTIONAL DISTRESS: 32-03.2-04 - ECONOMIC AND NONECONOMIC DAMAGES FOR WRONGFUL DEATH OR INJURY TO PERSON. In any civil actin for damages for wrongful death or injury to a person and whether arising out of breach of contract or tort, damages may be awarded by the trier of fact as follows:

1. Compensation for economic damages,.......

2. Compensation for noneconomic damages, which are damages arising from pain, suffering, inconvenience. physical impairment, disfigurement, mental anguish, emotional distress, fear of injury, loss or illness, loss of society and companionship, loss of consortium, injury to reputation, humiliation, and other nonpecuniary damage.

NEGLIGENCE DEFENSES:

Contributory Negligence - Plaintiff > 0% at fault, no recovery

Comparative Negligence - Plaintiff recovers whatever % of fault is not attributable to himself or herself.

NEGLIGENCE DEFENSE: North Dakota uses Modified (partial) Comparative Fault - 32-02.2-02 - Contributory fault does not bar recovery in an action by any person to recover damages for death or injury to person or property unless the fault was a great as the combined fault of all other persons who contribute to the injury, but any damages allowed must be diminished in proportion to the amount of contributing fault attributable to the person recovering......Under this section, fault includes negligence, malpractice, absolute liability, dram shop liability, failure to warn, reckless or willful conduct, assumption of risk, misuse of product, failure to avoid injury, and product liability, including product liability involving negligence or strict liability or breach of warranty for product defect.

Plaintiff < 50% at fault can recover

Plaintiff > 50% at fault no recovery

PRIVATE NUISANCE - 42-01-02 - One which affects a single individual or a determinate number of persons in the enjoyment of some private right not common to the public.

PUBLIC NUISANCE - 42-01-06 - One which at the same time affects an entire community or neighborhood or any considerable number of persons, although the extent of the annoyance or damage inflicted upon the individuals may be unequal.  Actions for public nuisance are normally brought by a public official. Private persons can bring actions under very restricted circumstances.

SAMPLE EXAM QUESTIONS: (give the best answer)

1. Which of the following is not a source of law in the United States?

a. administrative rules

b. judicial decisions

c. ordinances

d. model legislation proposed by legal scholars   (answer d)

2.  Kyle CEO says, "In our corporation, we comply with our duty to make the safest products for our customers, no matter what the consequences to our bottom line."  Kyles's beliefs are grounded in which theory of ethics?

a. utilitarian theory

b. ethical fundamentalism

c. Kantian ethics

d. Rawl's social justice theory  (answer c)

3. The stage in the pretrial litigation process in which paperwork is filed with the court to initiate and respond to a lawsuit is called:

a. discovery

b. dismissal

c. pretrial judgment

d. pleadings  (answer d)

4. Which is the best statement of how the principle of comity relates to sources of international law?

a. The principle of comity is a source of international law.

b. The principle of comity is rarely relevant because it is not a source of international law.

c. The principle of comity is an alternative to applying law. Sometimes countries do not resort to law to resolve a dispute.  Instead, they rely on extensions of courtesy.

d. Sometimes courts rely on the principle of comity to resolve international disputes when they do not have a clear understanding of the law of a particular country.

(answer c)

5.  What kind of regulation of speech is of the most interest to businesses?

a. the regulation of fully protected speech

b. the regulation of limited protected speech

c. the regulation of unprotected speech

d. businesses rarely get involved in free speech issues, so none of the above is of  interest

(answer b)

6.  After a big ice storm, Kaleigh decides to go shopping in downtown Fargo.  She puts on her fanciest high heel shoes for the occasion.  In front of the Petite Sophisticate clothing store, Kaleigh slips and falls.  She sues the store for not removing the ice from the walk.  Which of the following defenses to negligence is most likely to help Petite Sophisticate?

a. assumption of the risk

b. contributory negligence

c. misuse of a product

d. both a and b are correct   (answer d)