LLM Master of Laws: Law and Justice 4 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: Which Supreme Court case established the exclusionary rule as applicable to state courts through the Fourteenth Amendment?
- Weeks v. United States
- Mapp v. Ohio (Correct answer)
- Terry v. Ohio
- Katz v. United States
Correct answer: Mapp v. Ohio
Mapp v. Ohio (1961) incorporated the exclusionary rule against the states, requiring suppression of evidence obtained through unconstitutional searches.
Question 2: In contract law, the 'mirror image rule' requires that:
- Both parties must sign identical documents
- An acceptance must match the offer exactly without any modification (Correct answer)
- Consideration must be equal in value on both sides
- Contracts must be in writing to be enforceable
Correct answer: An acceptance must match the offer exactly without any modification
Under the mirror image rule, a purported acceptance that changes any term of the offer operates as a rejection and counteroffer.
Question 3: Which theory of adjudication holds that judges discover rather than create law, finding pre-existing legal answers in the system?
- Legal realism
- Critical legal studies
- Legal formalism (Correct answer)
- Sociological jurisprudence
Correct answer: Legal formalism
Legal formalism treats law as a complete, logical system from which judges mechanically deduce correct answers.
Question 4: Under the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties, a state may invoke error as a ground for invalidating consent only if:
- The error relates to a fact or situation assumed to exist at the time (Correct answer)
- Another state deliberately concealed the error
- The treaty was concluded in a foreign language
- The error occurs in the treaty's preamble
Correct answer: The error relates to a fact or situation assumed to exist at the time
Article 48 allows error as an invalidating ground only when it concerns a fact or situation the state assumed to exist at the time of conclusion.
Question 5: Which element distinguishes murder in the first degree from murder in the second degree under most US state statutes?
- The use of a deadly weapon
- Premeditation and deliberation (Correct answer)
- The victim's identity
- Whether the act occurred during a felony
Correct answer: Premeditation and deliberation
First-degree murder typically requires proof that the killing was both premeditated and deliberate, showing advance planning.
Question 6: The principle of 'stare decisis' obligates courts to:
- Follow the reasoning of foreign courts on constitutional questions
- Adhere to prior precedents when deciding similar cases (Correct answer)
- Defer to legislative intent on all statutory questions
- Apply administrative agency interpretations of ambiguous statutes
Correct answer: Adhere to prior precedents when deciding similar cases
Stare decisis promotes consistency and predictability by binding courts to prior rulings on the same legal issue.
Question 7: Which legal concept allows a court to enforce a contract even though it lacks consideration, based on a party's detrimental reliance on a promise?
- Quasi-contract
- Promissory estoppel (Correct answer)
- Accord and satisfaction
- Novation
Correct answer: Promissory estoppel
Promissory estoppel prevents a promisor from reneging when the promisee foreseeably relied on the promise to their detriment.
LLM Master of Laws: Law and Justice 4
Which Supreme Court case established the exclusionary rule as applicable to state courts through the Fourteenth Amendment?