CAMPION COLLEGE

CAPE LAW UNIT 1 (6A)

EXAMINATIONS DECEMBER 2010

INSTRUCTIONS TO CANDIDATES

1. This paper consists of 10 pages. The pages for SECTION A and C must be
answered by circling your choice of the right answer and turned in with
your answer book.

2. This paper consists of TWO compulsory sections: SECTION A and SECTION

B; and one optional section, SECTION C

3. SECTION A consists of 15 multiple choice questions Answer ALL 15

questions.

4. SECTION B consists of TWO questions for Legal System module and TWO
for the Public Law module; and 15 multiple choice questions and one
essay question for the criminal law module.

5. In Section B, answer one question from each module. The 10 multiple

choice questions are regarded as one question. You should either do the
multiple choice questions or the essay, not both.

6. You may for 10 bonus marks attempt the five multiple choice questions in
Section C. There is no penalty for failure to attempt Section C or for any
wrong answers.

2 HOURS AND 20 MINUTES

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 SECTION A
1. A person is guilty of carnal abuse if he has sex with a girl under 16 years old even
where she consents. This is
(a) A result and a conduct crime
(b) A situational or state of affairs crime*
(c) Act or conduct crime
(d) Conduct and state of affairs crime

2. A person who commits a crime by a failure to act may be as culpable as the person
who deliberately acts only if

(a) He is under a moral and legal duty to act

(b) He is under a legal duty to act
(c) The crime is capable of being committed by omission
(d) The crime is capable of being committed by omission and he is under a duty to
act*

3. In Khan v Khan [1998] the case of the drug-dealers and the 15-year old prostitute
who ingested heroin supplied by the Ds and lapsed in a coma. The Ds were charged
with murder. The judge should direct the jury that

(a) Supplying a juvenile with illegal substance causing death makes Ds guilty of
murder
(b) The Ds omission to summon medical assistance rendered them liable for her
death
(c) Before they convict they must be sure that the Ds were criminally responsible for
the situation
(d) Before the Ds can be convicted it is required that they are standing in such a
relation to the V that they are under a duty to act*

4. Which case is incorrectly matched as authority for the duty for which it is cited?
(a) Duty arising out of contractual liability (Pittwood [1902])
(b) Duty arising out of a special relationship (Gibbins and Proctor [1918])
(c) Duty arising from the assumption of care for another (Stone and Dobinson)
(d) Duty arising from the creation of a dangerous situation (Santana-Bermudez
[2003])
(e) None of the above*

5. Airdale NHS Trust v Bland [1993] stands for which of the following proposition?
(a) There is no absolute rule that a patient’s life had to be prolonged regardless*
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 (b) Doctors may take positive steps to end a patient’s life
(c) Euthanasia is legal in some circumstances
(d) A surgical procedure that would inevitably lead to the death of one conjoined
twin but saving the other is lawful

6. The following are legal sources of law except

(a) Law books*
(b) Constitution
(c) Statutes
(d) Judicial precedents

7. Positivists believe all the following except

(a) Only just laws should be obeyed
(b) All laws must be obeyed*
(c) Law is a system of rules which are established after following specific procedures
(d) Religion and morals have no place in law

8. The highest appellate court for Jamaica is

(a) Caribbean Court of Justice
(b) House of Lords
(c) Judicial Committee of the Privy Council*
(d) Court of Appeal

9. Jewel is given a traffic ticket by Officer Sebastian. She vows to have her day in court.
In which court will her matter likely commence?
(a) Court of Appeal
(b) Supreme Court
(c) Resident Magistrate’s Court*
(d) Privy Council

10. Which is the highest source of law in Jamaica?

(a) Treaties
(b) Constitution*
(c) Law books
(d) Statutes

TRUE OR FALSE
11. Jamaica operates under Parliamentary Sovereignty
(a) True
(b) False*

12. If any law is found to be ultra vires the Constitution it shall be made null and void
(a) True*
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 (b) False

13. The Supreme Court is the guardian of the Constitution

(a) True*
b) False

14. A Judicial Review application is made in the Resident Magistrate Court

(a) True
(a) False*

15. The Judicial Services Commission regulates criminals and prisoners

(a) True
(b) False*

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 SECTION B
Answer ONE question from each module

MODULE 1: CARIBBEAN LEGAL SYSTEMS

16. Evaluate the constitution as a legal source of law with other legal sources.
[20 marks]

OR

17. “Law is uncertain when influenced by morals and religion.” Discuss

[20
marks]

MODULE 2: PRINCIPLES OF PUBLIC LAW

18. “Collymore affirms the supremacy of the Constitution in the Commonwealth
Caribbean.” Discuss
[20
marks]

OR

19. Explain the nature, role and jurisdiction of the following Commissions:
a. Judicial Service Commission
b. Police Service Commission
c. Public Service Commission
[20 marks]

MODULE 3: CRIMINAL LAW

In this module answer either 10 multiple choice questions (Q.20-29) OR the

essay question (Q. 30)
20. In Wollin D’s conviction of murder was
(a) Affirmed because it was virtually certain that throwing a baby against a wall
would result in serious injury

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 (b) Reversed because the trial judge misdirected the jury that D was guilty if he
appreciated that there was a ‘substantial risk’ that the child would be seriously
injured
(c) Reversed because this was clearly a case of manslaughter not murder
(d) None of the above

21. In Matthews and Alleyne D and E pushed V from a bridge into the river despite the
fact that he had told them he could not swim. V fell about 25 feet and drowned. The
judge told the jury that “if drowning was a virtual certainty and D and E appreciated
that… they must have had the intention of killing him.’ Upon their appeal against a
conviction of murder, the Court of Appeal did one of the following

(a) Affirmed the conviction because it was impossible to see how the jury could not
have drawn the inference that D and E intended V’s death
(b) Held that the direction given by the judge went beyond what was permitted by
Nedrick/Wollin because he equated foresight with intention
(c) Did (a) only
(d) Did both (a) and (b)

22. Which is the best definition of recklessness?

(a) Recklessness generally involves D taking an unjustifiable risk of a particular
consequence occurring
(b) Recklessness is the mens rea state sufficient for may crimes some very serious
including manslaughter, rape, malicious wounding and assault occasioning actual
bodily harm.
(c) Recklessness is when an accused should have foreseen that the particular kind of
harm might be done and yet gone on to take the risk of it
(d) Recklessness occurs when D does an act and he has not given any thought to the
possibility of their being any such risk or has recognized that there was some risk
involved and has nonetheless gone on to do it.

23. “Simple lack of care as will constitute civil liability is not enough.” The judge is talking
about the requirement for
(a) Recklessness
(b) Gross negligence in certain civil cases
(c) Manslaughter
(d) The standard of criminal liability for negligence

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 24. “If D, with the mens rea of a particular crime, does an act that causes the actus reus
of that crime, then he faces liability. It is no excuse to say that the way in which the
actus reus was carried out was not exactly as D intended it.” This is talking about
which of the following?

(a) Coincidence of actus reus and mens rea

(b) Transferred malice
(c) Causation
(d) None of the above

25. D was involved in a disagreement with V. he took off his bent and swung it at V. The
belt glanced off V and E, who was nearby, received virtually the full impact of the
blow. These are the facts of which of the following case?
(a) Latimer
(b) Pembiliton
(c) Attorney-General Reference (No.3 of 1994)
(d) Mitchell

26. Suppose that D, the victim of domestic violence, forms a vague intention to kill her
husband, V, at some convenient moment in the future if it should present itself,
perhaps by pushing him off a set of ladders while he was painting the house. Ten
minutes later, D reverses her car from the garage, oblivious of the fact that V is sitting
in the driveway attempting to repair the lawnmower, and runs over him, killing him
instantly. Is D guilty of murder?

(a) Yes, based on the authority of Fagan v Metropolitan Police Commissioner

(b) No, based on the authority of Thabo Meli
(c) Yes, because D had a continuing intention that coincided with the actus reus
(d) No, because although D did cause V’s death, and had formed the intention to do
so, both elements were separated in time.

27. Which answer is the most accurate?

(a) Strict liability means that no mens rea at all is required for the offence.
(b) For all offences there is a rebuttable presumption that mens rea is required only
applies to common law offences.
(c) Due diligence and mistake are not defences to crimes of strict liability.
(d) The only time strict liability is imposed is where the issue is one of social concern.

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 28. ‘Factual’ causation uses which of the following tests
(a) Supervening cause test
(b) The ‘but for’ test
(c) Not that D’s act was the sole or main cause of V’s death or injuries but something
more than a trifling link
(d) Substantial cause test

29. Which of the following cases stand for the proposition that factual causation on its
own is insufficient?
(a) White
(b) Dalloway
(c) Corbett
(d) Roberts

[20 marks]

OR
30. To what extent is a person criminally responsible in circumstances where, having
joined a criminal enterprise, another participant performs a criminal act during the
enterprise which is not planned between them beforehand?
[20 marks]

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 SECTION C

BONUS (MAKE-UP) MARKS

The following questions are OPTIONAL, but you can earn up to 10 bonus marks. This will be
added to your final mark. The exam is still marked out of 90.

31. Which case lays down the “daft’ test for assessing whether the action of the V is a
supervening cause?
(a) Corbett
(b) Marjoram
(c) Williams and Davis
(d) Roberts

32. What is Beldam LJ’s test in Cheshire?

(a) It is no answer to a homicide charge that V refuses treatment. D must accept that
V may be irrational, stupid or afraid of hospital.
(b) Where the third party’s act is a reasonable response to D’s initial act, the chain
will not be broken.
(c) Only a daft reaction by V is capable of breaking the chain of causation.
(d) The test is not whether the wound was still ‘operating’ but rather whether D’s act
or omission could still be said to have contributed significantly to V’s death.

33. Dire ct intention refers to

(a) The situation when D desires an outcome
(b) A case of murder which requires as its mental element intention to kill or cause
grievous bodily harm
(c) An intention that is based D’s belief that the required consequence is virtually
certain
(d) None of the above

34. If D has knowledge of the actions of the principal, plus the duty or right to control
them, but deliberately chooses not to, then he may be guilty of which of the
following?
(a) Aiding and abetting
(b) Abetting by omission
(c) Counseling and procuring
(d) Joint enterprise liability

35. Which of the following is the most inaccurate with regard to effective withdrawal
from participation in criminal activity?
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 (a) In pre-planned criminal activity, mere repentance without action is not enough
but it is sufficient for spontaneous criminal activity to just walk away.
(b) D must communicate his withdrawal to E in such a way as to serve unequivocal
notice upon the other party to the common unlawful cause that If he proceeds
any further, he is on his own.
(c) A declared intent to withdraw from a conspiracy to dynamite a building is not
enough, if the fuse has been set; he must step on the fuse.
(d) In a joint enterprise to burgle a house, when the householder surprised D and E,
D told E, “Let’s go!” and jumped through the window. D is not liable for E’s
subsequent killing of the householder.

[10 marks]

END OF PAPER

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