1
Marks: 2
Which
of the following judges in Texas is NOT required to be a lawyer?
Choose
one answer.

a. District
court judge.

b. County
judge (sitting on the constitutional county court)

c. Judge on
one of the 14 regional courts of appeals

d. A member of
the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals

e. County-court-at-law
judge.

Question2
Marks: 2
In
a purely hypothetical situation, I shoot my wife to death in our home in Sugar
Land after thinking about it and planning it for several weeks. I took my .357
Magnum Smith&Wesson, loaded it with magnum load, hollow-point bullets, and
emptied all six rounds into her (a rather brutal murder). Based on that
information, can I be sentenced to death for capital murder in Texas?
Choose
one answer.

a. Yes,
because I murdered my wife

b. No, because
she was not a police officer or firefighter on duty; nor, before killing her,
did I kidnap her, rob her, sexually assault her, commit arson to kill her, or
kill my neighbor who walked into the house just after I murdered my wife (no
lethal injection for me!)

c. Yes,
because it was a particularly heinous and premeditated murder

d. Yes,
because I killed her with a gun

e. Yes, simply
because I committed murder

Question3
Marks: 2
The
legislature has divided Texas into 14 state court of appeals districts and
established a court of appeals in every district. These courts hear what kind
of appeals?
Choose
one answer.

a. Both civil
and criminal case appeals

b. Civil
appeals only in the odd numbered courts of appeals (e.g., First, Third,
Fifth, etc.)

c. Capital
punishment and other criminal appeals

d. Appeals
from state district courts only

e. Both state
court and federal court appeals that occured in state of federal courts
within Texas

Question4
Marks: 2
Members
of the Texas Supreme Court are
Choose
one answer.

a. elected to
the bench by the Texas Senate in a vote of the full Senate under the
authority of their advice and consent power.

b. always
appointed to the bench by the president of the United States.

c. always
appointed to the bench by the governor of Texas.

d. appointed
for a life term by a vote of the plural executive.

e. normally
elected to the bench by the voters of Texas.

Question5
Marks: 2
The
person who brings the allegations or changes against another in a trial is
called the
Choose
one answer.

a. witness.

b. plaintiff.

c. judge.

d. appellant.

e. defendant.

Question6
Marks: 2
If
a person is convicted of the death penalty in Texas, his conviction is
automatically appealed to the
Choose
one answer.

a. Texas Court
of Criminal Appeals.

b. United
States Supreme Court.

c. Texas
Supreme Court

d. Texas court
of appeals for the region in which the capital murder case was held.

e. Fifth
Circuit Court of Appeals.

Question7
Marks: 2
In
Texas, the trial court which hears felony criminal cases is
Choose
one answer.

a. municipal
court.

b. the justice
of the peace court.

c. the county
commissioners court.

d. the
constitutional county court or a county court-at-law.

e. the
district court.

Question8
Marks: 2
The
method of judicial selection (a model not used by Texas) in which a nominating
committee appointed by the governor nominates candidates for a judicial
vacancy, the governor then appoints one for a term of office and during the
next general election he/she runs unopposed on a nonpartisan ballot is called
Choose
one answer.

a. the
Missouri Compromise.

b. the Texas
Plan.

c. the
California Plan.

d. the
Cafeteria Plan.

e. the
Missouri Plan

Question9
Marks: 2
Texas
and one other state in the U.S. have bifurcated high courts. What is the other
state?
Choose
one answer.

a. Nebraska

b. Mississippi

c. Louisiana

d. New York

e. Oklahoma

Question10
Marks: 2
The
process of selecting a trial jury, known as voir dire, is
Choose
one answer.

a. handled
exclusively and totally by the trial judge.

b. handled by
judges from the appellate court branch of the state’s judicial system.

c. used only
in cases involving federal questions.

d. used only
when picking juries for appellate cases.

e. a process
of elimination, essentially in that after challenges have removed potential
juries from the jury panel the first 12 remaining are selected to serve on
the jury.

Question11
Marks: 2
Your
neighbor borrowed your new lawn mower and used it to trim his rock garden thus
destroying it. Your lawn mower which cost you $100 at Home Depot. Your neighbor
refuses to pay for it. You have to sue him in a Texas court to be compensated
for your loss. What court will you go to?
Choose
one answer.

a. A court of
appeals

b. A
justice-of-the-peace court

c. The Texas
Supreme Court

d. A probate
court

e. District
court

Question12
Marks: 2
A
commonly used form of adternative dispute resolution used in the Texas judicial
system is known as
Choose
one answer.

a. exclusive
jurisdiction.

b. adjudication.

c. bifurcation.

d. partisan
election.

e. mediation.

Question13
Marks: 2
County
courts in Texas, both statutory and constitutional, can handle what type of
criminal cases?
Choose
one answer.

a. misdemeanors,
such as DWI cases

b. felonies,
such as capital murders

c. either
misdemeanors or felonies

d. capital
murder cases

e. cases
involving federal questions

Question14
Marks: 2
Most
district courts in Texas are authorized to try
Choose
one answer.

a. federal
cases.

b. both civil
and criminal cases.

c. criminal
cases only.

d. civil cases
only.

e. probate
cases.

Question15
Marks: 2
Who
writes the “charge to the jury?”
Choose
one answer.

a. The
district clerk

b. The
foreperson of the trial jury

c. The defense
attorney

d. The grand
jury foreperson

e. The trial
judge

Question16
Marks: 2
The
Texas legislature has given special jurisdiction to certain courts in
proceedings involving the estates of deceedents. The type of law dealing with
these matters is known as
Choose
one answer.

a. administrative
law.

b. tort law.

c. small
claims law.

d. contract
law.

e. probate
law.

Question17
Marks: 2
A
common form of alternative dispute resolution used in Texas is called
Choose
one answer.

a. orchestration.

b. jury
deliberation.

c. jury
nullification.

d. litigation.

e. mediation.

Question18
Marks: 2
Which
of the following areas of law do Texas courts NOT consider regardless of their
jurisdiction?
Choose
one answer.

a. Regulations
adopted by state agencies

b. Judge-made
common law

c. Provisions
of the Texas Constitution

d. Statutes
enacted by the Texas legislature

e. Matters
pertaining federal law when the incident to be adjudicated occurs within
Texas borders

Question19
Marks: 2
In
Texas, judges are usually
Choose
one answer.

a. all
appointed to the bench by the Governor.

b. elected to
the bench by the voters.

c. appointed
to the bench by the President with the approval of the Senate.

d. approved by
the voters after being appointed to the bench by a committee of the local
Bar.

e. appointed
to the bench under the Missouri Plan.

Question20
Marks: 2
A
proceeding in a court of last resort (made up solely of judges, no juries)
where a lower court’s decision is being reviewed for errors made in the
application of the law is called a/an
Choose
one answer.

a. appeal.

b. indictment.

c. remand

d. trial.

e. judicial
review.

Question21
Marks: 2
In
a civil trial in a state district court in Texas, how many jurors does it take
to decide the outcome of the case?
Choose
one answer.

a. a unanimous
vote of the 12

b. a vote of
no less than 6

c. None
because all verdicts are determined by trial judges in civil district courts
in Texas

d. a vote of 7
or more of the 12

e. a vote of
10 out of the 12

Question22
Marks: 2
Probate
law deals with
Choose
one answer.

a. issues of
patent and copyrights.

b. criminal
issues.

c. personal
injury matters.

d. the
disposition of a deceased person’s property and wishes (i.e., wills and
estates).

e. divorce and
custody issues.

Question23
Marks: 2
The
preliminary examination which the judge and attorneys make in a trial of
prospective jurors to determine their qualification and suitability to serve as
jurors for the trial jury is called
Choose
one answer.

a. stare
decisis.

b. the charge
to the jury.

c. cross-examination.

d. voir dire.

e. direct
examination.

Question24
Marks: 2
The
role of an appellate court is to
Choose
one answer.

a. to listen
to and weigh the opinions and rulings from the appellate jury selected to
hear the case in the appellate court.

b. look for
errors made in the application of the law by a lower court based upon the
written record provided by the lower court..

c. to make
sure that a criminal defendant has every possible chance in every situation
no matter what the circumstances to prove his innocence.

d. examine new
evidence presented to it.

e. study new
or unpresented evidence which could help those the judges believe to be truly
innocent.

Question25
Marks: 2
State
and county judges in Texas
Choose
one answer.

a. serve for
life.

b. are all
appointed by the governor.

c. normally
are elected to the bench by the voters in their jurisdiction in partisan
elections.

d. are all
selected by a panel created by the Texas Supreme Court.

e. are
selected by the Texas legislature.

26
Marks: 2
You’ve
lost in your trial. You’ve been convicted of felony auto theft in state
district court in Houston. You’ve appealed to the First Court of Appeals in
Houston and lost in that court also. So, you plan to appeal to one of Texas’
highest courts of appeals. Where are you going to file your appeal?
Choose
one answer.

a. Texas Court
of Criminal Appeals

b. you can
appeal your case no further since you lost in the intermediate appellate
court level

c. Texas
Supreme Court

d. to the
nearest federal district court

e. either the
Texas Supreme Court or Court of Criminal Appeals, whichever has room on its
docket

Question27
Marks: 2
A
body empanelled by a district judge to sit and consider felony criminal cases
presented by the prosecutor for possible indictment and then trial in a
district court in a given jurisdiction is known as a
Choose
one answer.

a. hung jury.

b. petit jury.

c. tryer of
fact.

d. grand jury.

e. trial jury.

Question28
Marks: 2
County
courts created by the Texas Legislature are know as county-courts-at-law or
Choose
one answer.

a. justice of
the peace courts.

b. administrative
courts.

c. statutory
county courts.

d. common law
courts.

e. constitutional
county courts.

Question29
Marks: 2
How
many constitutional county courts are there in Texas?
Choose
one answer.

a. 200

b. 435

c. 254

d. 80

e. 31

Question30
Marks: 2
Municipal
courts are operated by
Choose
one answer.

a. the Supreme
Court of Texas.

b. cities.

c. counties.

d. appellate
jurisdictions.

e. the federal
government.

Question31
Marks: 2
A
serious crime such as murder, kidnapping, sexual assault or burglary is called
a
Choose
one answer.

a. capital
offense.

b. probate
matter.

c. felony.

d. misdemeanor.

e. statutory
crime.

Question32
Marks: 2
There
are never any juries in a
Choose
one answer.

a. county
court-at-law.

b. court of
appellate jurisdiction.

c. federal
trial court.

d. court of
original jurisdiction.

e. state trial
court.

Question33
Marks: 2
When
a criminal trial jury is unable to reach a unanimous verdict, what declaration
will the trial judge issue?
Choose
one answer.

a. Mistrial
(for a “hung jury”)

b. Remand

c. Voir dire

d. JNOV
(judgment notwithstanding the verdict)

e. Replevin

Question34
Marks: 2
How
many intermediate level appellate courts called Courts of Appeals are there in
Texas in the state judicial system?
Choose
one answer.

a. 14

b. 10

c. two

d. 12

e. 13

Question35
Marks: 2
Only
two states have two courts at the state supreme level (also known as a
“bifurcated system”), Oklahoma and
Choose
one answer.

a. Florida.

b. Arkansas.

c. Missouri.

d. Texas.

e. Louisiana.

Question36
Marks: 2
Tort
cases are handled in
Choose
one answer.

a.bifurcated courts only.

b.municipal courts only.

c. civil
courts only.

d. criminal
courts only.

e. federal
courts only.

Question37
Marks: 2
When,
if ever, does the Governor of Texas appoint judges?
Choose
one answer.

a. The
governor lacks the power to appoint Texas judges under any circumstance.

b. All Texas
judges are appointed by the governor.

c. The
governor may appoint judges to federal district courts that are seated in
Texas only.

d. The governor
may appoint a judge to serve out an unexpired term for any state court where
a vacancy is created by death or resignation.

e. The
governor appoints only the judges of the Texas Supreme Court and Court of
Criminal Appeals.

Question38
Marks: 2
Law
that defines behavior which is against the public order and provides for
punishment in the form of deprivation of life or personal freedoms is called
Choose
one answer.

a. statutory
law.

b. constitutional
law.

c. civil law.

d. common law.

e. criminal
law

Question39
Marks: 2
To
file a case in a civil court in Texas, the plaintiff must first file
a(n)____________ with the court.
Choose
one answer.

a. petition.

b. warrant.

c. writ.

d. answer.

e. indictment

Question40
Marks: 2
The
state courts of Texas adjudicate what types of matters?
Choose
one answer.

a. Civil law
matters only

b. Matters of
federal law

c. Criminal
law matters only

d. Matters of
Texas law only

e. Matters of
federal or Texas law

Question41
Marks: 2
A
serious crime which can be punished by fine and confinement in prison is called
a
Choose
one answer.

a. probate
matter.

b. tort.

c. misdemeanor.

d. criminal
violation.

e. felony.

Question42
Marks: 2
Which
of the following bodies are involved in regulating the state’s lawyers in
Texas?
Choose
one answer.

a. The Texas
Commission on Law Enforcement Standards and Education

b. The Texas
Supreme Court solely

c. The State
Bar of Texas solely

d. Both the
State Bar of Texas and the Texas Supreme Court

e. The Texas
Courts of Appeals

Question43
Marks: 2
The
group of questions given by a judge to a trial jury in a civil case to
establish facts is called
Choose
one answer.

a. the charge
to the jury.

b. an
information.

c. special
questions.

d. the
petition.

e. an
indictment.

Question44
Marks: 2
The
decision rendered by the jury in a trial court is called the
Choose
one answer.

a. tryer of
the fact.

b. charge to
the jury.

c. appeal.

d. verdict.

e. brief.

Question45
Marks: 2
Appellate
courts
Choose
one answer.

a. often seat
juries to listen to new evidence being presented in criminal cases on appeal
to their courts.

b. will, on
occasion, seat juries, but only when dealing with cases and controversies
dealing with federal questions.

c. are made up
of judges only.

d. seat a jury
in criminal cases but never in civil matters.

e. are courts
exclusively of original jurisdiction and, hence, seat juries as a matter of
court to make determinations of fact in reaching verdicts.

e. the U.S.
Constitution.