Law, Social Change, And The Class – Exam Questions – Ch.11

CHAPTER 11

LAW, SOCIAL CHANGE, AND THE CLASS STRUGGLE

MULTIPLE CHOICE QUESTIONS

1. Which statement about social change is not true?

a) It is inevitable.

b) It is usually resisted most strongly by those with the most to gain from change.

c) It is most prevalent in large industrialized societies.

d) It often confuses and alienates some individuals.

2. The role of law in social change

a) has historically been minor.

b) has hugely increased in the last two centuries.

c) has been used to resist change.

d) all of the above.

e) a and c only.

3. Legal thinkers who believe that social changes should be resisted if they are not in accordance with the customs, laws, and traditions of the people tend to believe that

a) natural law should determine the direction of social change.

b) social change is wrong if not in conformity with universalistic principles of justice.

c) laws should be supportive of social change only to right some specific defect.

d) laws should support social change to the extent that they increase social perfection.

4. Which court case(s) was/were not identified as influencing the American Revolution?

a) Scott v. Sandford

b) Somerset v. Stewart

c) Joseph Knight v. Wedderburn

d) all of the above

5. Many revolutionaries considered the Declaration of Independence to be

a) the culmination of a civil war.

b) a formal statement of revolution.

c) a document designed to do away with hated British legal and cultural practices.

d) a legal bill of “divorce” from Great Britain.

6. Constitutions serve the general purposes of

a) legalizing the existing political order and legitimizing its ideology.

b) providing a framework for administrating the government.

c) regulating social and institutional behavior.

d) all of the above.

e) b and c only.

7. The Soviet concepts of “counter revolutionary” and “enemy of the people” allowed the Soviets to create “instant” offenses not designated as crimes in their penal code. This practice is expressly forbidden under the common law concept of _____.

a) mens rea

b) aut dedire, aut punir

c) corpus delecti

d) ex post facto

8. Which practice was not one encouraged by the Soviet state to weaken the “bourgeois” family?

a) free love

b) the elimination of monetary family allowances

c) divorce on demand

d) legitimization of unmarried cohabitation

9. Which of the following forms of authority does the U.S. Supreme Court not have?

a) rational-legal

b) fiduciary

c) traditional

d) charismatic

10. The U.S. Supreme Court was established under Article III of the

a) Declaration of Independence.

b) Judiciary Act.

c) Bill of Rights.

d) Constitution.

11. A strict constructionist

a) is a constitutional fundamentalist.

b) looks for the Framers’ “original intent.”

c) believes that moral concerns are the business of the Congress.

d) all of the above.

e) a and b only.

12. Democratic governments everywhere have encouraged all of the following except

a) the formation of trade unions.

b) the local control of police and militia.

c) the regulation of business.

d) a progressive income tax.

13. The U.S. Constitution

a) is changeable only by the president of the United States.

b) is the world’s only constitution.

c) has a fixed legal meaning.

d) is whatever the Supreme Court says that it is.

14. Which Supreme Court chief justice said, “Those who own the country ought to govern it”?

a) John Marshall

b) John Jay

c) Roger Taney

d) Thurgood Marshall

15. The Supreme Court enjoys its greatest popularity among

a) middle-class liberals.

b) minorities and the poor.

c) the wealthy class.

d) women.

16. The Supreme Court used everything mentioned below against the working classes except

a) the obligation of contract clause in the Constitution.

b) Fourteenth Amendment.

c) Sherman Anti-trust Act.

d) Wagner Act.

17. In which famous case did the Supreme Court lay down the doctrine of federal authority over the states?

a) McCulloch v. Maryland

b) Gibbons v. Ogden

c) Plessey v. Ferguson

d) Fletcher v. Peck

18. The Dred Scott decision (Scott v. Sandford)

a) caused the Civil War.

b) declared the Missouri Compromise unconstitutional.

c) held that slavery was unconstitutional.

d) split the Republican Party and gave the 1860 election to the Democrats.

19. The chief justice in Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka was

a) Warren Burger.

b) John Marshall.

c) William Rehnquist.

d) Earl Warren.

20. The Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka decision was opposed by

a) Southern school boards.

b) most Southern governors.

c) the president of the United States.

d) all of the above.

e) a and b only.

21. The act that ceded territories west of the Appalachians to the Indians and infuriated prominent colonists was the

a) Stamp Act.

b) Mutiny Act.

c) Indian Resettlement Act.

d) Proclamation Act.

e) Appalachian Settlement Act.

22. Which of the below is not a constraint on the Supreme Court’s ability to induce social change?

a) the limits of the Constitution

b) The Court lacks the necessary independence from other branches of government.

c) The Court is free of election concerns.

d) The Court lacks the necessary tools to implement its decisions.

23. The form of authority generated by exceptional pomp, circumstance, and even quasi-supernatural qualities attributed to it is

a) traditional.

b) charismatic.

c) rational/legal.

d) monarchial.

24. Judicial activism is

a) the opposite of strict constructionism.

b) similar to natural law.

c) usurping the role of the president.

d) all of the above.

25. In the case of In Re Debs, the Supreme Court ruled that

a) labor unions are socialist.

b) strikes that hinder commence are illegal.

c) Debs was illegally convicted.

d) a and c only.

26. The Human Rights Watch has frequently voiced the opinion that U.S. labor laws

a) are grossly at odds with international human rights laws.

b) protect workers better than labor laws elsewhere.

c) fail to meet even minimal human rights.

d) are the products of a century of Supreme Court protection.

27. Which case is not among the famous 1895 triad of cases in which the Supreme Court struck blows against each of the three reform activities encouraged by democratic nations?

a) Pollock v. Farmer’s Loan and Trust

b) United States v. Butler

c) In Re Debs

d) United States v. E. C. Knight

28. The first case in which the Supreme Court ruled in favor of the working classes by upholding Washington state’s minimum wage law in 1937 was

a) Brown v. Board of Education.

b) Missouri v. Jenkins.

c) Engel v. Vitale.

d) West Coast Hotel Co. v. Parrish.

29. The view of the Court’s power that maintains that it is very effective in inducing social change is the ____view.

a) dynamic

b) vibrant

c) judicial activist

d) strict constructivist

30. Democratic constitutions do everything below except

a) legalize the existing political order.

b) provide a framework for the administration of government.

c) serve notice to individuals regarding their obligations and responsibilities.

d) enumerate national goals and inspirations.