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Designing a Court System for Nonexistica: National vs. Provincial Courts, Exams of Criminal procedure

Instructions for a midterm exam focusing on designing a court system for the mediterranean country of nonexistica. The exam includes ten questions, each with recommended answer lengths and directions to use course materials and the fact pattern provided. The fact pattern describes nonexistica's current legal system, its democratic republic structure, and its desire to adopt an american-style court system. The need for a national and provincial court system, jurisdiction, court levels, judge selection, lawyer regulation, courthouse employees, and access to legal services.

Typology: Exams

2009/2010

Uploaded on 03/07/2010

jfreyes
jfreyes 🇺🇸

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CJ 4044 – Midterm Exam
Spring 2010
“Design a Court System”
Directions
This is a ten (10) question written, short answer exam. Review the textbook readings, supplementary
readings, and lecture slides (“course materials”). You may also find it helpful to review the wikis. Read
the fact pattern and answer the questions based on the information presented in the fact pattern and
course materials. Type your answer below each question, paying attention to the recommended answer
length guidelines. You must answer the questions in complete, grammatically correct sentences with
appropriate paragraph development (if more than 3 sentences are required to answer the question).
You do not need to provide any citations.
Save your document in Microsoft Word format as YourLastName_midterm.doc. Upload the document
to the Blackboard dropbox by 11:59 pm on Tuesday, March 9, 2010.
Fact Pattern
The Mediterranean country of Nonexistica has always settled legal disputes by a simple coin flip
(although it has plenty of attorneys). Recently, Nonexistica decided to adopt an American-style court
system. Nonexistica specifically desires a national court system (similar to the U.S. federal courts) and is
also willing to consider provincial court systems (similar to the U.S. states). Nonexistica is a democratic
republic with a national constitution identical to the U.S. Constitution and numerous national laws.
Additionally, Nonexistica’s 12 provinces have their own constitutions and laws, which are valid so long as
they do not conflict with national laws.
Nonexistica’s national government has exclusive powers over foreign affairs, banks and bankruptcy, and
immigration. The provincial governments have exclusive powers over police powers, education,
licensing, and family and juvenile issues. The national and provincial governments both have powers of
criminal punishment and taxation. Nonexista has an extremely complex national tax code of over
500,000 specific regulations. It takes years of study to understand the tax code. Nonexistians, both
individuals and businesses, are often involved in heated disputes over the tax code, with billions of
dollars at stake each year. Additionally, in the past 20 years Nonexistica has seen a huge increase in
bankruptcy filings.
Nonexistica’s 8 eastern provinces are densely populated with many urban areas. Because of a long
history of industrialization and terrible working conditions in industrial factories, the residents of the
eastern provinces are very focused on preventing workplace accidents and holding both workers and
employers accountable for medical costs related to workplace injury. The eastern provinces have
struggled with political corruption and electoral fraud since the country was founded. Nonexistica’s 4
western provinces are sparsely populated in comparison to the east, and contain many rugged rural
areas. Residents of the western provinces prize individuality and accountability above all else.
Additionally, some of the western provinces have a substantial minority popular of Native Nonexistians
and a complex system of ownership rights for rivers, lakes, and other waterways.
(Exam begins on next page)
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CJ 4044 – Midterm Exam Spring 2010 “Design a Court System” Directions This is a ten (10) question written, short answer exam. Review the textbook readings, supplementary readings, and lecture slides (“course materials”). You may also find it helpful to review the wikis. Read the fact pattern and answer the questions based on the information presented in the fact pattern and course materials. Type your answer below each question, paying attention to the recommended answer length guidelines. You must answer the questions in complete, grammatically correct sentences with appropriate paragraph development (if more than 3 sentences are required to answer the question). You do not need to provide any citations. Save your document in Microsoft Word format as YourLastName_midterm.doc. Upload the document to the Blackboard dropbox by 11:59 pm on Tuesday, March 9, 2010. Fact Pattern The Mediterranean country of Nonexistica has always settled legal disputes by a simple coin flip (although it has plenty of attorneys). Recently, Nonexistica decided to adopt an American-style court system. Nonexistica specifically desires a national court system (similar to the U.S. federal courts) and is also willing to consider provincial court systems (similar to the U.S. states). Nonexistica is a democratic republic with a national constitution identical to the U.S. Constitution and numerous national laws. Additionally, Nonexistica’s 12 provinces have their own constitutions and laws, which are valid so long as they do not conflict with national laws. Nonexistica’s national government has exclusive powers over foreign affairs, banks and bankruptcy, and immigration. The provincial governments have exclusive powers over police powers, education, licensing, and family and juvenile issues. The national and provincial governments both have powers of criminal punishment and taxation. Nonexista has an extremely complex national tax code of over 500,000 specific regulations. It takes years of study to understand the tax code. Nonexistians, both individuals and businesses, are often involved in heated disputes over the tax code, with billions of dollars at stake each year. Additionally, in the past 20 years Nonexistica has seen a huge increase in bankruptcy filings. Nonexistica’s 8 eastern provinces are densely populated with many urban areas. Because of a long history of industrialization and terrible working conditions in industrial factories, the residents of the eastern provinces are very focused on preventing workplace accidents and holding both workers and employers accountable for medical costs related to workplace injury. The eastern provinces have struggled with political corruption and electoral fraud since the country was founded. Nonexistica’s 4 western provinces are sparsely populated in comparison to the east, and contain many rugged rural areas. Residents of the western provinces prize individuality and accountability above all else. Additionally, some of the western provinces have a substantial minority popular of Native Nonexistians and a complex system of ownership rights for rivers, lakes, and other waterways. (Exam begins on next page)

  1. Will you use a single national court system for all of Nonexistica or will you recommend separate court systems for the overall nation and its provinces? Why? (Recommended answer length: 3 – 5 sentences.)
  2. If you recommend separate court systems, briefly describe the jurisdiction of each. What categories of cases will each system (not each type of court within the system) hear? Will it be possible for litigants to move from one system to the other? (Recommended answer length: 100 – 150 words.)
  3. Describe the vertical jurisdiction of the national court system. How many levels of courts will you recommend? How will cases flow through the court system? Will jurisdiction be mandatory or discretionary? How will policy flow through the court system? (Recommended answer length: 3 – 5 sentences.)
  4. Consider the horizontal jurisdiction of the court system(s) at the lower level. Will you recommend any specialized courts for the national system? For any of the eastern provinces? For any of the western provinces? Why or why not? (Recommended answer length: 100 – 150 words.)
  5. Describe the system(s) that Nonexistica and its provinces should use to select judges ( e.g. , elective systems, appointive systems)? Why did you recommend a particular selection process? (You may recommend a different process for national and provincial courts but for every recommendation, you must state why that selection process is best.) (Recommended answer length: 150 - 200 words.)
  6. What criteria should Nonexistica’s national government use in selecting its judges? Why? (Recommended answer length: 100 – 150 words.)
  7. How will you recommend that Nonexistica regulate its lawyers? Additionally, recommend two specific rules of conduct that Nonexistica’s attorneys must follow and why those rules are important. (Recommended answer length: 100 – 150 words.)
  8. List five (5) types of courthouse employees (other than judges and attorneys) that Nonexistica should use in its courts and provide a very brief description of their duties. (For this question, it is acceptable to use a bulleted list rather than complete sentences in paragraph form. Recommended answer length: 1 – 2 sentences for each type of employee.)