CRIM 467 EXAM 1 QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS 2025
What is common law? - .....ANSWER... ✔✔ Court decisions
or precedents, law made by judges through court decisions.
True or false, most law schools focus more on issues and
common law, less on people or "society" of law. It could be
beneficial for them to teach this more. - .....ANSWER... ✔✔
True
Why study law? - .....ANSWER... ✔✔ 1. Determine what the
law is.
2. Determine morality of law.
3. Determine effective responses to social issues.
4. Determine is positive law complies with natural law.
Who determines what the law is? - .....ANSWER... ✔✔
Lawyers, judges, law students.
Who determines the morality of the law? - .....ANSWER...
✔✔ Legal philosophers.
,2|Page
Who determines effective responses to social issues? -
.....ANSWER... ✔✔ Politicians.
Who determines if positive law complies with natural law? -
.....ANSWER... ✔✔ Legl theologians.
What is positive law? - .....ANSWER... ✔✔ Written, on the
books law, manmade law. Statutes, case law.
What is natural law? - .....ANSWER... ✔✔ Law of human
rights, law of god, morals principles. "God-made".
True or false, law usually lags behind society? - .....ANSWER...
✔✔ True
Why do sociologists study law? - .....ANSWER... ✔✔ • To
understand why societies have law
• To understand what purposes and functions law fulfills in
society
• To understand how law impacts society and vice versa• To
understand what institutions societies create to make, enforce,
and interpret the law
• To understand how the law evolves as societies evolve
• To understand how law behaves
• To understand how and why the law in action differs from the
law on the books
,3|Page
• To understand law as a social fact apart from its morality
Why do institutions use the law? - .....ANSWER... ✔✔ 1.
How does law evolve?
2. How does law behave?
3. Why does de facto law differ from de jure law?
4. Understand law as a social fact, objectively?
True or false, sociologists are more theoretical when it comes
to the law. - .....ANSWER... ✔✔ True.
Why is there a friction between lawyers and sociologists? -
.....ANSWER... ✔✔ 1. Different languages, legal vs statistics.
2. Different methodologies, legal vs social science.
3. Different objectives, pragmatic vs theoretical.
4. "Law" vs "law", single laws vs the concept of law.
True or false, the states cannot deny rights given to individuals
by the federal government. - .....ANSWER... ✔✔ True, states
can only give more rights, not less.
True or false, many legal theologians like MLK say natural law
supersedes common law, but others disagree? - .....ANSWER...
✔✔ True
, 4|Page
True or false, we must remain wary of natural law. It can be
used for evil. - .....ANSWER... ✔✔ True
What is De Jure law? What is De Facto Law. - .....ANSWER...
✔✔ De Jure: Law as it is written.
De Facto: Law as it is enforced.
True or false, there is often a difference between De Jure and
De Facto law? - .....ANSWER... ✔✔ True
What is the concept of police discretion? - .....ANSWER...
✔✔ Affects the difference between De Jure and De Facto,
police do not always need to issue tickets, punishment, or
arrests depending on scenario. Can do so at their own
discretion.
True or false, some states have mandatory arrest laws? -
.....ANSWER... ✔✔ True
True or false, the difference between De Jure and De Facto
law is an often studied area? - .....ANSWER... ✔✔ True
What does Blackstone believe? - .....ANSWER... ✔✔ Rules
of action are prescribed by superior elites for inferior to obey.
"Only on books."