49 Fun Facts About Law

How many justices sit on the Supreme Court of the United States?

Nine justices have sat on the Supreme Court since the Judiciary Act of 1869 fixed the number by statute.

Which 1803 case established the US Supreme Court's power of judicial review?

Marbury v. Madison (1803): Chief Justice John Marshall used William Marbury's undelivered commission to establish the Court's power of judicial review.

Who was the first Chief Justice of the United States, nominated by George Washington in 1789?

John Jay was confirmed on 26 September 1789, two days after the Judiciary Act created the Court, and served as Chief Justice until 1795.

Who became the first woman to serve on the US Supreme Court in 1981?

Sandra Day O'Connor, an Arizona appeals judge nominated by Reagan, was confirmed 99-0 in September 1981 as the first woman on the Court.

How many of his 32 Supreme Court civil rights cases did NAACP lawyer Thurgood Marshall win?

Thurgood Marshall won 29 of the 32 cases he argued before the Supreme Court for the NAACP, the biggest being Brown v. Board of Education.

In which year was Brown v. Board of Education decided?

The vote was 9-0 and Chief Justice Earl Warren wrote it; the case began when Oliver Brown's daughter was turned away from her neighbourhood school in Topeka.

Brown v. Board of Education partially overruled which 1896 'separate but equal' decision?

Homer Plessy had been arrested for sitting in a whites-only railway car in Louisiana.

What was the vote in the 1966 Supreme Court ruling requiring police to tell suspects of their right to silence?

Miranda v. Arizona was decided 5-4 in 1966, with Chief Justice Earl Warren writing the majority opinion requiring the warnings.

How did Clarence Earl Gideon write the Supreme Court petition that won poor defendants a free lawyer?

In pencil on jail stationery, Clarence Earl Gideon petitioned the Supreme Court; Gideon v. Wainwright (1963) was unanimous, and a jury acquitted him at his retrial.

Roe v. Wade was decided in 1973 by what margin?

Justice Harry Blackmun wrote the opinion; 'Jane Roe' was Norma McCorvey; the ruling was overturned by Dobbs in 2022.

Which 2022 case overruled Roe v. Wade?

The decision returned abortion regulation to the states after 49 years.

What is the Fifth Amendment protection against being tried twice for the same offence called?

Double jeopardy is the Fifth Amendment bar on a second trial for the same offence; England and Wales relaxed their rule in the Criminal Justice Act 2003.

The Latin phrase habeas corpus, the name of the writ against unlawful imprisonment, literally means what?

'You shall have the body' is the literal sense of habeas corpus; the Habeas Corpus Act 1679 codified the writ, and Lincoln suspended it in 1861.

How many times has the US Constitution been amended since it took effect in 1789?

The Constitution has 27 amendments; the Bill of Rights came in 1791, and the 27th, on congressional pay, was ratified in 1992 after a 202-year wait.

Which Founding Father is popularly called the 'Father of the Constitution'?

James Madison drafted the Virginia Plan, kept the fullest notes of the 1787 Convention, and later served two terms as president from 1809.

The Twenty-first Amendment of 1933 is unique in US history for what reason?

It repealed an earlier one: the Twenty-first Amendment undid the Eighteenth on 5 December 1933, ending Prohibition, which the Volstead Act had enforced.

Which is the only US state whose private law is based on civil law rather than English common law?

Louisiana's civil code descends from French and Spanish law; its judges follow jurisprudence constante rather than binding precedent, and its counties are called parishes.

Roughly what fraction of the world's population lives under common law or mixed common-law systems?

About one-third of the world's people live under common law or mixed common-law systems, a legacy of the British Empire carrying English law abroad; India alone supplies much of that share.

Which English king set up travelling royal judges, laying the foundation of the common law?

Henry II sent itinerant royal justices on circuit from the 1160s, applying law 'common to all England' in place of local custom.

Magna Carta was sealed by King John at Runnymede on 15 June of which year?

1215: King John sealed Magna Carta at Runnymede on 15 June; Pope Innocent III annulled it within weeks, setting off the First Barons' War.

How many original exemplars of King John's Magna Carta survive?

Four original exemplars of King John's Magna Carta survive: two in the British Library, one at Lincoln Castle and one at Salisbury Cathedral.

The Code of Hammurabi is inscribed on a stele of which stone?

Basalt is the stone of the Hammurabi stele, found at Susa by Jacques de Morgan's French expedition in 1901-02 and now in the Louvre.

The 'eye for an eye' principle found in the Code of Hammurabi is known by what Latin name?

Lex talionis, the law of retaliation, is the 'eye for an eye' principle; Hammurabi's penalties also varied with the victim's social class.

How many men formed the Roman commission that wrote its first law tables around 450 BC?

Ten men, the decemviri, wrote Rome's first law code around 450 BC after plebeian agitation; the tables were posted publicly in the Forum.

In which year did the Napoleonic Code come into force?

The Napoleonic Code came into force on 21 March 1804, replacing the patchwork of feudal and regional laws across France.

Socrates was tried in Athens in 399 BC on charges of impiety and what else?

Corrupting the youth and impiety were the charges; a jury of about 501 Athenians convicted Socrates, who drank the hemlock at about 70.

How many people were executed by hanging in the Salem witch trials of 1692-93?

Nineteen people, 14 women and 5 men, were hanged; Giles Corey was separately pressed to death with stones for refusing to plead.

The 1925 Scopes 'Monkey Trial' pitted Clarence Darrow for the defence against which famous prosecutor?

William Jennings Bryan, three-time presidential candidate, led the prosecution; Scopes was fined $100, and WGN made it the first US trial broadcast on radio.

Which lawyer told the O. J. Simpson jury 'If it doesn't fit, you must acquit'?

Johnnie Cochran delivered the line in closing; Simpson was acquitted on 3 October 1995, and a civil jury found him liable in February 1997.

The main Nuremberg trial of Nazi leaders was held from November 1945 to October 1946 in which building?

The Palace of Justice was chosen because it was largely undamaged and had a prison attached; the tribunal sat in its courtroom 600 from 20 November 1945.

The International Court of Justice, the UN's principal judicial organ, sits in which building?

The Peace Palace in The Hague, built with Carnegie money and opened in 1913, has housed the court since 1946; it is the only principal UN organ outside New York.

How many judges sit on the International Court of Justice?

The ICJ has 15 judges, elected by the General Assembly and Security Council with no two from the same state; five seats are renewed every three years.

What was the traditional number of jurors in England?

Twelve jurors has been the English norm since the Middle Ages; Scotland uses larger criminal juries, and Williams v. Florida (1970) let US states use six.

A US federal grand jury has how many members?

16 to 23 members sit on a federal grand jury under Rule 6 of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure; it decides whether to indict, while the petit jury tries the case.

Where does the term 'the bar', as in 'called to the bar', come from?

A railing dividing a medieval courtroom gave 'the bar' its name: the barrier separated judges and advocates from the public, and qualifying lawyers were 'called' past it.

Which branch of the legal profession in England and Wales specialises in courtroom advocacy?

Barristers, members of an Inn of Court, do most higher-court advocacy in England and Wales; solicitors belong to the Law Society, and Scotland's equivalents are advocates.

The statue of Lady Justice on the dome of London's Old Bailey is unusual because she lacks what?

A blindfold is missing: the Old Bailey's gilded 1907 figure by F. W. Pomeroy holds only sword and scales, whereas Hans Gieng's 1543 statue in Bern is an early blindfolded Justice.

What do the scales carried by Lady Justice represent?

Weighing the evidence of both sides is what the scales stand for, inherited from the Roman goddess Justitia; the sword signifies the power to enforce the verdict.

The Old Bailey, London's Central Criminal Court, was built on the site of which notorious prison?

Newgate Prison stood beside the old sessions house; it was demolished in 1904, and Edward VII opened the present Central Criminal Court on the site in 1907.

Which British barrister coined 'presumed innocent until proven guilty' in 1791?

William Garrow, an Old Bailey defence counsel, used the phrase 'presumed innocent until proven guilty' in 1791; he later became Solicitor General and a judge.

Who holds attorney-client privilege and may waive it?

The person represented, the client, owns the privilege and alone may waive it; Berd v. Lovelace (1577) is among the earliest English cases recognising it.

In which year was trial by combat abolished in England?

Parliament abolished trial by battle in 1819 after Abraham Thornton demanded it in Ashford v Thornton (1818) and his accuser declined to fight.

The Eighteenth Amendment, which brought in Prohibition, was ratified in which year?

The Eighteenth Amendment was ratified on 16 January 1919 and took effect a year later; the Volstead Act enforced it until repeal in 1933.

Roughly how many petitions does the US Supreme Court receive each year, and how many does it grant?

About 7,000; about 80 is the Court's own description of its docket: most cases arrive as petitions for certiorari, and the term opens on the first Monday in October.

US Supreme Court justices hold office 'during good behavior', which in practice means what?

Life tenure is the practical effect of the 'good behavior' clause: justices serve until they die, retire, resign or are removed by impeachment.

The charter signed in Philadelphia in 1787 is the world's oldest what still in force?

Written national constitution: the US document signed on 17 September 1787 and in effect from 4 March 1789 is the oldest such charter in continuous operation.

Under Roman law as recorded in Justinian's Digest, on whom does the burden of proof lie?

On him who asserts, not on him who denies: the Digest's 'ei incumbit probatio qui dicit, non qui negat' is an ancestor of the presumption of innocence.

Which Sumerian ruler is credited with the oldest surviving law code?

Ur-Nammu, founder of the Third Dynasty of Ur around 2100 BC, is credited with the oldest surviving law code, written as casuistic 'if ... then' statements.

In which book did Baron de Montesquieu advocate a separation of powers?

The Spirit of the Laws (1748) set out Montesquieu's separation of legislative, executive and judicial powers, drawing on his reading of the English constitution.