Test your legal history knowledge!
In 1787, in the case of Bayard v. Singleton, North Carolina’s courts were the first in the country to adopt what important legal principle?
A. Contributory negligence
B. Promissory estoppel
C. Judicial review
D. Adverse possession
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C. Judicial review.
In Bayard v. Singleton, 1 N.C. 5 (N.C. Super. L. & Eq. 1787), the court considered the claims of Elizabeth Cornell Bayard, the daughter of a Loyalist who lost his land when it was confiscated by North Carolina during the American Revolution. Singleton, the defendant in the case who purchased the land after its confiscation, cited a law passed by the North Carolina state legislature in 1785 that said that those who held land purchased under the state’s Confiscation Acts of 1777 and 1779 could not be sued for the return of their land. Citing the state constitution, the court declared that the 1785 act was unconstitutional and held that those whose property had been seized were entitled to a trial by jury. This ruling was the first legal decision in the United States in which a court nullified a law because it was found to be unconstitutional!
In 1935, the North Carolina legislature passed the Uniform Driver’s License Act, which made driver’s licenses mandatory in North Carolina for the first time. Under the law, applicants for a driver’s license had to be at least 16 years old and pay a fee of $1.00. What was the final requirement for obtaining a driver’s license under the original act?
A. Pass a driving test
B. State that you are a careful and experienced driver
C. Have two witnesses affirm your experience operating a motor vehicle
D. Provide proof of car insurance
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B. State that you are a careful and experienced driver
Senator Carroll W. Weathers introduced the Uniform Driver’s License Act legislation in 1935 in response to the sharp increase in motor vehicle deaths in state roads. Originally, all one had to do to obtain a driver’s license was be over age 16, pay the fee, and state that you were a careful and experienced driver. It was not until 1948 that the NC Division of Highway Safety began administering examinations for a driver’s license.
What is the title of the first book published in the colony of North Carolina? Hint: It is a law book!
A. Law Tracts by William Blackstone
B. The Office and Duty of the Justice of the Peace by Henry Potter
C. The Man of Business, or Every Man’s law Book by Benjamin Swaim
D. Swann’s Revisal by Samuel Swann
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D. Swann’s Revisal by Samuel Swann
Published in 1751, Swann’s Revisal is the familiar name for A Collection of All the Public Acts of Assembly of the Province of North Carolina: Now in Force and Use, Together with the Titles of All Such Laws as are Obsolete, Expir’d or Repeal’d. This 338-page volume was printed by James Davis, the first printer in the colony. The book is known by the name of its chief contributor, Samuel Swann, who had been charged by Governor Gabriel Johnson with compiling all the laws of the colony into a single volume. It was hoped that such a compilation would alleviate problems with errors and variants in the hand-copied session laws used in courts at the time. toward a Bachelor of Laws at the university.
The state of North Carolina has had three constitutions throughout its history. In what years were the each of the three state constitutions adopted?
A. 1776, 1865, and 1971
B. 1776, 1868, and 1971
C. 1783, 1865, and 1971
D. 1783, 1868, and 1971
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B. 1776, 1868, and 1971
North Carolinians did not wait until the war with Great Britain was won before crafting their own legal authorities. Instead, North Carolina’s delegates to the Fifth Provincial Congress drafted and passed the first state constitution within months of the colonies’ declaration of independence on December 18, 1776. Even though the Civil war ended in 1865, North Carolina did not hold its next constitutional convention until 1868. By order of Congress, North Carolina delegates drafted the second constitution, which was approved at a special election in April 1868. The third state constitution was approved by North Carolina voters in 1971.Cooper was a member of the class of 1925 and holds the distinctive honor of being the first female student editor of the North Carolina Law Review. Doris Roach Bray, Class of 1966, was the first Editor-in-Chief of the North Carolina Law Review.
Which state has the longest constitution in the United States?
A. Alabama
B. North Carolina
C. Texas
D. Utah
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A. Alabama
Alabama has the longest state constitution at approximately 388,882 words. The runner up is the Texas state constitution at approximately 86,936 words. Utah actually has the shortest state constitution at 8,565 words. North Carolina is right in the middle of the pack, with approximately 17,000 words. That’s still quite a lot of words, especially when you consider that the United States Constitution is approximately 7,591 words, including all amendments!
Christopher Columbus Langdell, Dean of Harvard Law School from 1870-1895, is known in the legal field as the pioneer of the modern American law school. In addition to introducing the case method as the chief method for instructing law students, he also authored the first casebook. What subject did the first casebook address?
A. Property
B. Contracts
C. Constitutional Law
D. Torts
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B. Contracts
The first casebook, entitled A Selection of Cases on the Law of Contracts (1871), featured a selection of settled cases that Langdell believed would illuminate the foundational principles and doctrines of contracts law. Langdell’s students used this casebook much like modern law school students – they read the cases ahead of time and came prepared to analyze them via Socratic method questioning in class. In the second edition of Langdell’s casebook, he also included a complete outline of the law of contracts, in the hopes that this additional guide would aid students’ grasp of the larger concepts and how they all fit together to form the law of contracts. You could think of this outline as an early predecessor to the study aid!
