Public Law questions with correct answers 100%

What is law? - Correct Answer The system of rules which a particular country or community recognises as regulating the actions of its members, and which it may enforce by the imposition of penalties. What is the common law? - Correct Answer the body of case law decided by judges ie 'judge made' law - governed by rules of precedent What is the doctrine of stare decisis? - Correct Answer binding precedent - 'stand by what has been decided' What is ratio decidendi? - Correct Answer The reason for decision - the binding part of the judgement. What is obiter dictum? - Correct Answer a judge's comments on an area of law, on which it is not necessary to reach a decision in the case When will a judge distinguish a precedent? - Correct Answer the judge finds that the material facts are sufficiently different to justify not being bound by that precedent What is the leapfrog process? - Correct Answer where a party applies for permission to appeal directly to a higher court because it involves an issue of law that is a matter of public importance eg appeal from High Court to Supreme Court bypassing Court of Appeal What best describes the concept of equity as it is used in the English legal system? - Correct Answer A body of rules and principles designed to remedy the rigidity of the common law. What are the 5 equitable remedies? - Correct Answer - Specific performance - Injunction - Declaration - Rescission - Rectification What is statutory interpretation? - Correct Answer the process of determining what Parliament intended when it enacted a piece of legislation - primarily a task for judges What are human rights? - Correct Answer human beings have rights merely by virtue of being human: no additional test need be met What are the 3 categories of rights under the ECHR? - Correct Answer - Absolute rights: cannot be lawfully interfered with eg freedom from torture - Limited rights: can in some circumstances be lawfully interfered with eg right to a fair trial - Qualified rights: can be lawfully interfered with provided certain legal tests are met eg right to respect for private + family life What 3 circumstances must apply for the state to interfere legitimately with a qualified right? - Correct Answer 1. The interference was prescribed by, or in accordance with, the law. 2. The interference was in pursuit of a legitimate aim. 3. The interference was necessary in a democratic society ie interference must be a proportionate one In what 2 circumstances is international law applicable in the UK? - Correct Answer - Where the UK itself is a party to proceedings before an international court, to which jurisdiction it has agreed to submit (e.g. the European Court of Human Rights, the International Criminal Court) - Where the UK has incorporated international legal rules into its domestic legal system through an enabling Act of Parliament. What 3 sections of the Human Rights Act enables claimants who are victims of an allegedly unlawful breach of their ECHR rights by a public authority to enforce those rights in UK domestic courts? - Correct Answer - s3(1): The courts should, as far as it is possible to do so, interpret UK domestic legislation in a way which is compatible with ECHR rights. - s4(2): If a court considers that legislation is incompatible with a Convention right, it may make a declaration of incompatibility to that effect. - s6(1): Public authorities, including courts and tribunals, are required to act in a way which is compatible with Convention rights. Parliament is not a public authority for the purposes of the Act. What are the primary and secondary sources of EU law? - Correct Answer Primary: - The Treaty on the European Union (1992), also known as the Maastricht Treaty. - The Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (2009 in its current form, originated as the Treaty of Rome in 1957)