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THE UNIVERSITY OF WESTERN ONTARIO
FACULTY OF LAW
Law 327A – The Foundations of Canadian Law
Fall Semester, 2008
Final Examination
DATE: Monday, December 8, 2008
TIME: 1:00 – 2:30
ROOMS: 38, 51, 52
EXAMINER: Ian Holloway
INSTRUCTIONS: PLEASE READ CAREFULLY
1. This is a CLOSED BOOK examination.
4. The answer sheet must be completed in HB pencil.
5. You should also circle your answers on the exam paper itself. This will serve as a
check in case of scanning faults.
QUESTIONS
1 Which of the following statements is inaccurate?
a. The Court of Appeal for Ontario is a court of inherent jurisdiction
b. The Federal Court of Canada was created by virtue of s 101 of the
Constitution Act, 1867
c. The Ontario Court of Justice was created by virtue of provincial legislation
d. The Supreme Court of British Columbia has authority to hear trials in
complex tort matters
e. The High Court of Ontario no longer exists
2 What was the name given to the tradition of centrallybased judges traveling
around the Kingdom on individual circuit?
a. the King’s Bench
b. the Assizes
c. the Court of Nisi Prius
d. the Court of Inquests
e. The Old Bailey
3 Which of the following statements is least accurate?
a. The concept of radical title is a remnant of feudalism that remains important
in the Canadian context
b. Feudalism was built on the notion of mutual obligation: in return for carrying
out obligations to those above one in the social chain, those above were
obliged to provide protection
c. One of the things that contributed to the evolution of the English, and
ultimately Canadian, constitutional system was the fact that after the Norman
Conquest, William effectively “leased back” part of his newacquired
dominions to the preexisting AngloSaxon power base
d. In feudal theory, the difference between Serfs and Villeins was that Villeins
could, subject to the overriding rights of their Lord, own land; Serfs could not
e. The English Civil War, led as it was by the forces of Parliament, was one of
the things that hastened the end of feudalism as a working system
4 Which of the following cases can best be described as the low water mark in
terms of the authority of the courts to engage in judicial review of administrative
action?
a. Anisminic v The Foreign Compensation Commission
b. Ridge v Baldwin
c. Cooper v Wandsworth Board of Works
d. R v Nat Bell Liquors
e. CUPE v New Brunswick Liquor Corporation
5 Why is the judgment of the House of Lords in Salomon v Salomon & Co Ltd
considered to be a case of importance?
a. It stands for the proposition that bootmakers and other craft workers are
permitted to incorporate for business purposes
b. It stands for the proposition that a validly incorporated company is a distinct
legal personality, independent of the personality of the majority shareholder(s)
c. It stands for the proposition that in the case of corporate insolvency, unpaid
wages take precedence over unsecured debts
d. It stands for the proposition that in the case of incorporation of a sole
proprietorship or family business, shares in the company are assessed for
purposes of insolvency at fair market value
e. It stands for the proposition that limited liability legislation was intended to
protect only independent bona fide shareholders
6 Which of the following statements is least accurate?
a. The Enlightenment played a significant role in shaping the development of
public law in the common law world
b. Even in the aftermath of the Norman Conquest, there cannot be said to have
been a system of absolute monarchy in England
c. The notion of natural law played a role in the debate about constitutional
reform in the seventeenth and eighteen centuries
d. Had it not been for the rise of Equity, there could have been no Glorious
Revolution
e. The Stuart period represented the last gasp of a claim to absolutism in English
constitutional history
7 Which of the following is an accurate statement about the writ of Certiorari?
a. Certiorari lies only to correct errors of jurisdiction
b. Certiorari lies only to correct errors of law on the face of the record
c. Certiorari lies only to correct errors of fact
d. Certiorari lies only to correct errors of errors of jurisdiction and errors of law
on the face of the record
e. Certiorari became effectively defunct as a consequence of the holding in
Rooke’s Case
8 Which of the following statements is most accurate?
a. The civil law relies to a rather greater extent than the common law on judicial
texts as a source of authoritative legal pronouncements
b. Napoleon’s imperial conquests had the impact of stemming the growth of the
common law in Egypt and India
c. What chiefly distinguishes the civil law systems from the common law is the
fact that common law systems never contain codifications of the law
d. A civil code typically contains broad statements of principle, from which judges
induce what should be done in a given case
e. In contrast to the common law, the civil law reflects a topdown philosophy of
social governance
9 Which of the following represents an accurate statement of the holding in Cooper
v Wandsworth Board of Works?
a. The court asserted a right to strike down a statute if it were “against common
right or reason” – the implicit reasoning being that there were certain things that
no earthly man could do
b. The court held that even if a statute does not contain an explicit provision
requiring the government to provide someone with a hearing before
interfering with their rights, the common law would imply such a right
c. The court held that even in the face of an act of Parliament that vested
complete discretion in the Sewer Commissioners to decide how to allocate the
costs of repairing irrigation ditches among benefiting landowners, the court
had a right to decide whether the Commissioners had acted unfairly
d. The court held that everyone owes a duty of care to their neighbour
e. The court held that the Crown could no longer deem acts to be criminal in
nature; this power was vested exclusively in Parliament
11 Which of the following is not an accurate statement?
a. The first legal corporations in the common law world were corporations sole
b. Corporations sole were a vehicle used by London merchants to limit their
liability when engaged in crossChannel and overseas trade
c. Medieval Guilds were associations of skilled craftsmen and merchants
d. Despite the existence of Guilds, the early common law considered all business
to be carried on by sole proprietorships
e. The concept of trading on joint account through the creation of a partnership
involves partners incurring joint liability for the debts of their other partners
12 Why is Anisminic v The Foreign Compensation Commission considered to be an
important case in administrative law?
a. Because it signified an end to Britain’s claim to the Suez Canal Zone, and
hence to judicial primacy over the Commonwealth
b. Because it signified an increased willingness on the part of the courts to defer
to the judgments of expert public servants
c. Because it signified an increased reluctance on the part of the courts to accept
limitations on their power to engage in judicial review
d. Because the leading speech was written by Lord Reid, a Scottish judge who
did not share the same instinctive reverence for precedent as his English
counterparts
e. Because it coincided in time with the emergence of the Beatles
13 Which of the following statements is accurate?
a. The Supreme Court of Canada was created by virtue of legislative authority
vested in the Parliament of Canada by s 96 of the Constitution Act, 1867
b. By virtue of the Statute of Westminster, 1931, Canadian appeals to the Judicial
Committee of the Privy Council were abolished at the same time as appeals
from Australia, New Zealand and the other Dominions
c. The court of final resort in the United Kingdom is known as the High Court of
Justice
d. The head of the English Court of Appeal is known as the Lord Chief Justice
e. The Judicial Committee of the Privy Council has no authority to deliver
judgments; it merely issues advice to the Queen.
14 Which of the following factors played the most significant role in the adoption of
the modern system of Canadian labour law?
a. The Black Death of the Fourteenth Century
b. The emergence of the Luddite Movement in the early 1800s
c. The overthrow of Tsar Nicholas II, and the onset of the Russian Revolution in
1917
d. The election of Franklin D Roosevelt as President of the United States in 1933
e. Canada’s participation in the Second World War
15 Which of the following statements is accurate?
a. It was during the Tudor period that the formula governing the relationship
between Law and Equity was determined
b. Sir Edward Coke served as Chancellor during the reign of James I
c. Lord Ellesmere was the Chancellor parodied by Dickens in Bleak House
d. Sir Thomas More was the last Chancellor who was a Bishop
e. The chancellorship of Lord Eldon was one of the causes of the passage of the
Judicature Acts
16 Which of the following statements best describes a convention of the Canadian
constitution?
a. the Governor General has the right to act contrary to the advice of the Prime
Minister if she thinks that the Prime Minister is acting politically unwisely
b. The Governor General is obliged to appoint a Prime Minister, even though the
office is not referred to in the Constitution Act
c. If the government loses the confidence of either the Senate or House of
Commons, it must resign
d. The Governor Generalship alternates between a Francophone and an
Anglophone
e. Money bills in Canada can only be introduced by the Senate
17 Which of the following can least well be said to have been a contributor to the
development of the incorporated business company?
a. The fact that the old common law did not recognize monopolies
b. The period of imperial expansion that began in the sixteenth century
c. The fact that after the Glorious Revolution, Sovereign retained status as a
corporation sole
d. The repeal of the Bubble Act in 1825
e. The financial success of the East India Company
18 Which of the following statements about Magna Carta is most correct?
a. Magna Carta can be seen as a precursor to the Constitution Act, 1867
b. Magna Carta signaled a shift from an AngloSaxon based legal system to
common law in postConquest England
c. The existence of the three common law courts was a direct consequence of
Magna Carta’s requirement that the common pleas be heard in a fixed place
d. The seeds of parliamentary government can be seen in Magna Carta’s
enforcement mechanism
e. Without Magna Carta, it is unlikely that the separate system of Equity would
have developed
19 Which of the following statements is inaccurate?
a. The Companies Act of 1856 is often spoken of as the first modern companies
legislation in the British Empire
b. Opponents of the introduction of limited liability argued that allowing the
directing minds of companies to escape the moral obligations of their actions
would be to encourage dishonesty
c. The Joint Stock Companies required that all incorporated companies have
their essential details made available to the public, as a safeguard against
fraud.
d. The Limited Liability Act provided that shareholders could only be liable to a
company’s creditors for the unpaid portion of their shares
e. Hadley v Baxendale stands for the proposition that the measure of damages in
a case of stock fraud by an unincorporated company is the loss which can be
supposed naturally to stem from the fraudulent act, except if there has been
prior notice of special circumstances
20 Which of the following was a consequence of the passage of the Judicature Acts
of 1873 and 1875?
a. The establishment of the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council as a final
court of appeal for the British Empire
b. The formalization of the principle of security of tenure for members of the
judiciary
c. The fusion of the administration of Law and Equity
d. A simplification of the system of pleading
e. The establishment of the Court of Chancery
21 What does the expression “employment law” refer to?
a. The law relating to the employment of nonunionized workers
b. The law relating to the employment of unionized workers
c. The law relating to the employment of temporary migrant workers
d. It is a synonym for the old common law of master and servant
e. It is a synonym for the legal process for the unionization of a workplace
22 What was the significance of the London St Tramways Case?
a. It effectively decided that the Supreme Court of Canada was bound by
decisions of the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council, even in non
Canadian appeals
b. It represented the highwater mark in the doctrine of stare decisis
c. It represented the lowwater mark in the doctrine of stare decisis
d. It represented a de facto repudiation of the doctrine of the supremacy of
parliament
e. It effectively freed the supreme courts of the Dominions from susbstantive
control by the House of Lords
23 Which of the following can least well be said to have been a contributor to the
development of modern administrative law?
a. The process of urbanization that followed on from the Industrial Revolution
b. The fusion of the administration of law and equity following the passage of
the Judicature Acts
c. The creation of a large civil service as a result of the process of urbanization
d. The emergence after the Reform Acts of a politicallyvocal middle class
e. The emergence in the Victorian era of a fashion for rationalism and science
24 Which of the following statements is accurate?
a. Because she subscribed to the theory of the divine right of kings, Elizabeth I
attempted as much as she could to govern without the involvement of
Parliament
b. The accession to the Throne of William and Mary was constitutionally
significant, in that it represented an acknowledgment that parliament
ultimately had the right to determine the occupant of the English throne
c. The English Civil War represented a class struggle between the Commons and
the House of Lords
d. As a consequence of the Tudor Era, Members of Parliament came to enjoy
absolute legal immunity for things said during debate
e. The Glorious Revolution culminated in the Bill of Rights, 1689, which
enshrined a freedom of worship in England
27 Which of the following statements is most accurate?
a. The Indian Act was passed partly in response to the holding of the Privy
Council in the St Catharines Milling case
b. The intent of the Parliament of Canada in passing the Indian Act was to
preserve the integrity of Aboriginal culture and a distinct Aboriginal way of
life
c. As recently as the 1920s, governments in Canada continued to treat
Aboriginal groups as if they had the status of nations
d. The 1969 White Paper on Indian Affairs proposed a program of Aboriginal
courts in which Aboriginal people could be tried according to Aboriginal law
e. Section 35 of the Constitution Act, 1982 enshrined a new set of substantive
rights for the Aboriginal peoples of Canada
28 What does the expression “Common Law Courts”, when used in historical
context, refer to?
a. King’s Bench, Exchequer, Chancery
b. Exchequer, Chancery, Common Pleas
c. Chancery, Common Pleas, King’s Bench
d. King’s Bench, Exchequer, Common Pleas, Chancery
e. King’s Bench, Common Pleas, Exchequer
29 Which of the following statements best describes the significance of the Bill of
Rights 1689?
a. it represented an assertion by the judiciary of its supremacy
b. it represented an acknowledgment by the Crown that freedom of association
existed in England
c. it represented an assertion by the House of Commons of its supremacy
d. it enshrined the notion of an independent judiciary
e. it represented an acknowledgment by the Crown that its authority was subject
to the overriding authority of parliament
30 Which of the following distinguishes the Supreme Court of Canada from the
Supreme Court of the United States?
a. the Supreme Court of Canada is not bound by its own decisions, while the
Supreme Court of the US is
b. the Supreme Court of Canada is bound by its own decisions, while the
Supreme Court of the US is not
c. the Supreme Court of Canada may only sit in panels of nine, while the
Supreme Court of the US ordinarily sits in panels of seven
d. the Supreme Court of Canada acts as a final court of appeal on all questions of
law arising in Canada, while the Supreme Court of the US has a limited
jurisdiction
e. the Supreme Court of the United States sits only in the national capital, while
the Supreme Court of Canada, as a descendent of the English Court of King’s
Bench, is peripatetic
31 What is the name of the highest court in the Australian judicial hierarchy?
a. the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council
b. the Supreme Court of Australia
c. the High Court of Australia
d. the Superior Court of Australia
e. the Court of Appeal for Australia
31. What is the expression used to describe the process of obtaining permission to
appeal a matter to the Supreme Court of Canada?
a. Permission to Appeal
b. Leave to Appeal
c. Right to Appeal
d. a Writ of Mandamus
e. Licence to Appeal
32 Which of the following is least able to be stated as a proximate cause of the
execution of Magna Carta?
a. the fact that King John employed the services of the infamous Sheriff of
Nottingham, and other corrupt local officials, to terrorize the common folk
b. the fact that Richard the Lionheart squandered much of the royal purse on the
Crusades during his reign
c. the fact that King John had lost most of England’s territory in France during
his reign
d. the fact that Feudalism was still the basis for government in England at the
beginning of the thirteenth century
e. the fact that King John was a vain man who coveted the Throne
33 Which of the following factors was most important in giving rise to the system of
Equity?
a. the fact that the language of the common law courts was French
b. the fact that techniques of proof in the common law were primitive
c. the fact that early Chancellors were Bishops
d. the fact that the King’s Bench continued to follow the King, while the
Common Pleas remained stationary at Westminster
e. the fact that the Church disapproved of nonjudicial trials
34 Which of the following does not describe a feature which distinguishes the Court
of Queen’s Bench of Alberta from the Court of Appeal for Ontario?
a. the two courts’ judges are ordinarily appointed from different provincial bars
b. the two courts’ judges are appointed by different levels of government
c. the former is a Court of Inherent Jurisdiction, while the latter is a creature of
statute
d. the former has a right to hear any type of case at first instance, while the latter
has only a limited jurisdiction
e. one is a court of first instance, while the other is an appellate court
35 Which of the following statements is least accurate?
a. a country without a written constitution cannot be said to have a constitutional
system of government
b. in a federation, a written constitutional document is usually necessary in order
to divide the totality of state power between the central government and the
governments of the constituent parts
c. the traditional notion of a constitution embodies the concept of negative
liberty
d. provisions relating to positive liberty could not be found in the Canadian
constitution before 1982
e. the US constitution enshrines the formal notion of the separation of powers in
a way that the Canadian constitution does not
36 Which of the following best describes the constitutional significance of the
increase in activity of parliament in the formulation and passing of legislation that
took place in the Tudor era?
a. it meant that the Church of England would be separate from the Church in
Rome, which ensured that England would remain a common law jurisdiction
b. it marked the beginning of the division between what we now call legislative
power, and what we refer to as executive power
c. it led to the development of the substance and procedure relating to the
common law of real property
d. it led to conflict between the Lord Chief Justice and the Chancellor over the
relative primacy of the common law and equity
e. it facilitated the decline of the writ system
37 Which of the following statements best captures the relationship which exists
between equity and the common law?
a. the common law trumps equity, except in cases involving fraud or breach of
trust
b. equity trumps the common law, but in cases involving disputes over
ownership of land, the common law must be resorted to first
c. the common law trumps equity, except where equity is resorted to first
d. equity trumps the common law, but it must first be demonstrated that equity
needs to be resorted to in lieu of the law
e. equity trumps the common law, except in cases involving intentional torts
38 Which of the following was not understood to be one of “the Dominions” at the
time of the passage of the Statute of Westminster, 1931?
a. Australia
b. Canada
c. India
d. Newfoundland
e. South Africa
39 Which of the following is least able to be described as a significant contributor to
Canada’s evolution from what Dean Holloway described as a “supercolony” to
an independent nation?
a. the Paris Peace Conference of 1919
b. the Chanak Crisis of 1922
c. the Balfour Declaration of 1926
d. the Statute of Westminster, 1931 (Imp)
e. the appointment of Vincent Massey as the first Canadianborn Governor
General of Canada in 1952
40 Who was the Prime Minister of Canada at the outbreak of the First World War?
a. Sir John a Macdonald
b. Sir Wilfred Laurier
c. Sir Robert Borden
d. Jan Smuts
e. William Lyon Mackenzie King
41 Which Sovereign is sometimes referred to as the Father of the Common Law?
a. William the Conqueror
b. Henry I
c. Henry II
d. Henry III
e. Richard the Lionheart
42 Which of the following can least well be said to have played a contributing role in
the development of modern administrative law?
a. Lester B Pearson
b. Gamal AbdAl Nasser
c. Lord Reid
d. Chief Justice Brian Dickson
e. The Rt Hon Clement Atlee (the British Prime Minister, 1945 – 1951)
43 Which of the following is not a correct name of a Canadian superior court?
a. The Court of Queen’s Bench of Manitoba
b. The Supreme Court of Newfoundland
c. The Superior Court of Ontario
d. The Court of Queen’s Bench of Prince Edward Island
e. The Supreme Court of British Columbia
44 Which of the following statements is least accurate?
a. The intent of King George III in the Royal Proclamation of 1763 was to limit
the ability of European settlers to cheat Aboriginal people out of their
traditional lands
b. Today, hearsay evidence may be introduced in legal proceedings relating to
Aboriginal land claims
c. It was in the immediate aftermath of the St Catharines Milling case that the
Imperial Parliament moved to set up the network of residential schools
d. Even after passage of the Indian Act, Canadian governments continued to treat
Aboriginal groups as if they had the status of nations
e. The Trudeau government’s 1969 White Paper on Indian Affairs proposed a
program of “freeing” Aboriginal people from their separate status
45 Which of the following factors is least able to be stated as a proximate cause of
the move to reform court procedure in England in the latter half of the nineteenth
century?
a. The satire of Charles Dickens
b. The appointment of people other than Bishops as Lords Chancellor
c. The socalled “Field Code” of New York
d. The expansion of the electoral franchise in England
e. The backlog in cases in the Court of Chancery