Business Law practice exam

1. Which of the following statements are true?

I. The US Constitution contains many prohibitions against government regulation, and many of these are contained in the Bill of Rights, which consists of the first 10 Amendment to the Constitution.
II. The US Constitution is the highest source of law in the United States.

a. I only
b. II only
c. Both I and II
d. Neither I nor II

2. All of the following statements are true, EXCEPT:

a. Any lawsuit may be filed in state or federal court, regardless of the issues presented or the amount in controversy.
b. Alternative dispute resolution (ADR) mechanisms share many advantages over trials: they are generally quicker, cheaper, less complicated procedurally, and receive les publicity, for example.
c. A voluntary alternative dispute mechanism sometimes used when negotiation seems to be failing is mediation. Here, the parties to the dispute choose a third party to assist them in settling it.
d. After a case goes to trial, a party may appeal the case to an appellate court. Generally, appellate courts don't hear witnesses or determine facts. Their job is to review the proceedings in the trial court, and correct any legal errors made by the trial judge.

3. Which of the following statements are true?

I. The Commerce Clause of the US Constitution gives the federal government the power to regulate commerce with foreign nations and among the several states.
II. State governments have inherent powers, so they can enact laws that directly discriminate against interstate commerce, and they can enact laws that unduly burden interstate commerce, regardless of the Commerce Clause.

a. I only
b. II only
c. Both I and II
d. Neither I nor II

4. All of the following statements are true, EXCEPT:

a. A "tort" is generally described as a civil legal wrong, other than a breach of contract.
b. There are torts that stem from intentional conduct, and those that stem from unintentional conduct.
c. All intentional torts require some sort of improper physical contact.
d. Battery occurs when one person intentionally touches another in some way that is harmful or offensive, and where there was no valid consent to the touching.

5. Which of the following statements is true?

a. For there to be a case of assault under tort law, there must be both the apprehension of physical contact, and the actual contact.
b. There can be no assault without there also being a battery.
c. Due to the qualified privileged of conducting one's business affairs, there cannot be false imprisonment if a store owner improperly detains a suspected shoplifter and prevents the suspect from leaving a back room in the store.
d. Many states have passed statutes giving immunity to store owners, under certain circumstances, from civil actions for false imprisonment following their detention of suspected shoplifters.

6. Which of the following statements are true?

I. Defamation consists of the publication of statements injuring another person's reputation or character regardless of whether the statements are true.
II. Spoken defamation is termed "slander," but defamation communicated by the mass media, whether spoken or written, is properly termed "libel."

a. I only
b. II only
c. Both I and II
d. Neither I nor II

7. All of the following statements are true, EXCEPT:

a. There are certain privileges under the law that may provide valid defenses to lawsuits for defamation.
b. The media is given additional protection from defamation lawsuits when public figures or public officials are involved.
c. There is a conditional privilege of truth that can be presented as a defense in an action for defamation. If an otherwise defamatory statement is true, the person making it cannot be held liable for defamation, but only if she made the statement in good faith, not knowing whether it was true or false.
d. For a public official or public figured to prevail against the media in a defamation action, he or she must show the allegedly defamatory statement was made with actual malice.

8. Which of the following statements is true?

a. If someone attends a matter of public interest, like a trial of a famous person, and a newspaper publishes a picture that person watching the trial, without that person's authorization, the newspaper will be legally liable for the tort of invasion of privacy.
b. There are no tort actions for invasion of property rights. If someone improperly enters your land or takes your personal property they can be prosecuted under the criminal law, but the property owner doesn't have any action against them under tort law.
c. It is possible, under certain circumstances, to have a tort cause of action against someone else based on invasion of privacy, even if the facts published were true.
d. Tort law provides remedies only for injuries to one's person?not for injuries to one's reputation, or property.

9. Which of the following statements are true?

I. To establish a cause of action for negligence, one must show there was an intentional breach of a legal duty that causes injury or damage to someone else.
II. All persons owe others the duty of reasonable care, which is a different, and higher, legal standard than the duty of ordinary care.

a. I only
b. II only
c. Both I and II
d. Neither I nor II

10. All of the following statements are true, EXCEPT:

a. Legal duties can be created by statutes.
b. In order to satisfy the "reasonable person" standard of conduct, one must comply with legal duties arising from statutes and from the common law.
c. If one establishes the breach of a legal duty by another person, one has established all the elements necessary to prevail in a cause of action for negligence against that person.
d. The violation of a legal duty created by a statute can constitute negligence by itself under the legal doctrine of negligence per se.

11. Which of the following statements is true?

a. Under the law of most states, if a party bringing a negligence lawsuit is himself negligent in any respect, his cause of action is barred under the doctrine of contributory negligence.
b. Under the law of most states, whichever party to an accident had the last clear chance to avoid the accident is solely legally responsible for damage that results form the accident.
c. A party must be shown to have been negligent for her to be legally liable to another party. Under no circumstances can a party be found strictly liable to another for engaging in certain activities that result in injury or damage.
d. Under the doctrine of assumption of the risk, one's recovery from another in negligence is barred if one is found to have assumed the ordinary risks attendant in the activity giving rise to the lawsuit.

12. Which of the following statements are true?

I. A plaintiff injured by a product may bring an action based in negligence, strict liability or breach of warranty.
II. One may bring an action in strict products liability only if there was a manufacturing defect causing the product to be unreasonably dangerous, but not if the product was defectively designed or was defective because of inadequate instructions or warnings.

a. I only
b. II only
c. Both I and II
d. Neither I nor II

13. Which of the following statements is true?

a. If you have an offer and an acceptance you have a contract. No additional elements need be demonstrated.
b. Society carefully regulates contracts to prevent there from being freedom of contract.
c. A voidable contract is one that can be cancelled by either or both parties to the contract because of the failure to satisfy some applicable legal requirement.
d. Contracts involve the exchange of one promise for another. You can't have a contract where a promise is exchanged for the performance of another party.

14. Which of the following statements are true?

I. An offer is the manifestation of a willingness to enter into a bargain. What the person making the offer might be thinking is not what determines whether there is an offer, or what constitute its terms.
II. To constitute an offer, a communication must be sufficiently definite so it demonstrates a willingness to enter into a binding contract.

a. I only
b. II only
c. Both I and II
d. Neither I nor II

15. All of the following statements are true, EXCEPT:

a. In many cases, an advertisement will be viewed as an invitation to make an offer, not as an offer to enter into a binding contract.
b. The offeror can generally invite acceptance of the offer in any means she specifies, as long as the means of acceptance aren't illegal or in violation of public policy.
c. Once someone makes an offer to enter into a contract, the offer must be held open for the time specified in the offer, or for a reasonable time, and revoking the offer before this will constitute breach of contract.
d. Once rejected, an offer to enter into a contract can't be accepted thereafter.

16. Which of the following statements is true?

a. If one tries to accept an offer to enter into a contract by altering its terms, in many cases this will not constitute an acceptance, and will constitute a rejection of the offer.
b. A party making an offer to enter into a contract generally can bind another party to a contract by requiring them to speak or else be bound under the contract. Remaining silent when in receipt of an offer generally constitutes acceptance of the offer.
c. If one party promises to do something for another, and the other party agrees, there's a contract even if the other party has no obligation whatsoever under the contract.
d. If I promise to perform a certain service for you in 10 days, and you promise to pay me $500 for this, but I later say I won't perform this service unless you pay me $1,000, and you agree to do so, we have a valid, enforceable contract for me to perform the service for you for $1,000.

17. Which of the following statements are true?

I. All lawsuits begin in state courts, but can thereafter be appealed to federal courts.
II. All citizens are entitled to have their cases ultimately heard in the U.S. Supreme Court, once they have gone through all the lower state and federal appeals courts.

a. I only
b. II only
c. Both I and II
d. Neither I nor II

18. Which of the following statements is true?

a. The "common law" is that created by legislation passed by Congress and state legislators.
b. If a state legislature disagrees with a provision in the constitution, it can enact a statute that declares the federal constitutional provision is null and void in that state, and if it does so, the constitutional provision must give way to the state statute.
c. Congress can enact laws that override conflicting state laws, as long as the laws don't violate the United States Constitution.
d. The courts may be called upon to declare state or federal laws unconstitutional, but the courts will not interpret laws and determine their meaning in cases brought before the courts.

19. Which of the following statements are true?

I. Any case may be begun in either state or federal court.
II. For a case to be brought in federal court, there must be some question of federal law, or under the U.S. constitution, that is presented by the case.

a. I only
b. II only
c. Both I and II
d. Neither I nor II

20. All of the following statements are true, EXCEPT:

a. For a court to hear a case, it must have both subject matter jurisdiction, and personal jurisdiction, or in personam jurisdiction, over the parties.
b. To bring a case before a court, a party must establish he is entitled to have the court to decide it, i.e. he has standing to sue.
c. Personal jurisdiction over a defendant is obtained by the service of a summons, which is a notice to appear in court.
d. State long-arm statutes?those that allow service of process on out-of-state defendants?have been declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court.

21. All of the following statements are true, EXCEPT:

a. The discovery process involves the pre-trial exchange of information among the parties to the lawsuit.
b. Among the purposes of discovery are to narrow the issues at trial, and to facilitate settlement of lawsuits.
c. The discovery process involves the exchange of documents, but not the questioning of any of the parties to the lawsuit.
d. Interrogatories are written question submitted to a party to a lawsuit before trial.

22. Which of the following statements are true?

I. If a party is unsuccessful in a lawsuit, that party may re-file the same lawsuit in the attempt to get a more favorable result.
II. When a case is appealed to an appellate court, normally appellate courts will only rule on errors of law, and they will not re-try the facts of an individual lawsuit.

a. I only
b. II only
c. Both I and II
d. Neither I nor II

23. Which of the following statements is true?

a. If one tries to accept an offer to enter into a contract by altering its terms, in many cases this will not constitute an acceptance, and will constitute a rejection of the offer.
b. A party making an offer to enter into a contract generally can bind another party to a contract by requiring them to speak or else be bound under the contract. Remaining silent when in receipt of an offer generally constitutes acceptance of the offer.
c. If one party promises to do something for another, and the other party agrees, there's a contract even if the other party has no obligation whatsoever under the contract.
d. If I promise to perform a certain service for you in 10 days, and you promise to pay me $500 for this, but I later say I won't perform this service unless you pay me $1,000, and you agree to do so, we have a valid, enforceable contract for me to perform the service for you for $1,000.

24. Which of the following statements is true?

a. All contracts must be in writing to be enforceable.
b. Contracts for the transfer of an interest in land do not have to be evidenced by a writing to be enforceable.
c. For a contract for the sale of goods over $500 to be enforceable, all of its terms must be set out in writing.
d. If a contract is fully performed, it doesn't have to be in writing to be enforced, if all the other elements of a valid contract are demonstrated.

25. Which of the following statements is true?

a. The failure to timely reject an offer to enter into a contract generally constitutes acceptance of the offer.
b. One can generally accept an offer to enter into a contract by changing its terms, and making a counteroffer.
c. Usually, unless the offer to enter into a contract specifies otherwise, an acceptance becomes effective when sent?not when received.
d. As long as there is an offer to enter into a contract, and an acceptance of the offer, there is a valid, legally-enforceable contract.