Public Law 1: Constitutional Law 2022-2023

Chioma N. Duru
LLBS334

GRADUATE SCHOOL OF MANAGEMENT

CLASS TEST ON PUBLIC LAW I: CONSTITUTIONAL LAW
(graded)
1. What is a constitution?
a) A written law passed by the legislative on both the federal and state level stating what the
law of the land is.
b) The organic law, basis of all the laws from which the institutions of state derive their
creation, legitimacy and very being.
c) Draft laws or tentative version, of what might become part of the written law.
d) A legislative proclamation modifying the existing body of law.

2. Which of the statement is the most accurate description of constitutional law?

a) Constitutional law is an aspect of public law.
b) Constitutional law relates to controlling conduct or wrong-doing of private citizens.
c) Constitutional law relates to the enforcement of international law.
d) Constitutional law is a form of private law and involves the relationships between the
state and individuals.

3. Which options best stipulates the constitutionalism principles:

a) Separation of power, power allocation, pacta sunt servanda, rule of law, popular
sovereignty, accountability, permanence.
b) Power allocation, separation of power, rule of law, accountability, individual rights,
permanence, popular sovereignty.
c) Accountability, separation of power, permanence, justice, res judicata, estoppel, rule of
law.
d) Rule of law, justice, estoppel, bona fide, separation of power, individual rights, power
allocation.

4. Which statement(s) is/are true?

a.) International treaties and not international customary laws are immediately a source of
constitutional law.
b.) Where a country ratifies a treaty, these treaties in a monist country would have direct
application in the country, and where a dualist country is applicable when a local
legislation is enacted.
c.) All international laws are not a source of constitutional law.
d.) Where an international treaty has not been ratified, it is well established principle that
national law should be interpreted, where possible, in compliance with the treaty
(particularly in supranational settings and in parts of international law.

5. Which of the following is the most accurate description of the supremacy clause?
a) The supremacy clause establishes the separation of power between different branches of
government, therefore giving the supremacy of power to the people.

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Public Law 1: Constitutional Law 2022-2023
Chioma N. Duru
LLBS334
b) The supremacy clause helps establish the rule of law and therefore ensuring that no one
law is supreme over other laws.
c) The supremacy clause embodies conflict-of-laws rule specifying which national acts take
priority over any state act that conflicts with national law.
d) All are accurate.

6. Which of the following(s) is/are NOT a meaning of the term 'common law'?
a) The system of law made by the House of Commons.
b) The body of law as made by judges through the determination of cases.
c) A legal system that is based on that of England.
d) Laws created by Parliament.

7. Which statement(s) is incorrect.

a) Separation of power helps monitor liberty in a society, political parties.
b) Separation of power curtails power being put into one hand and the possibility of abuse
of power.
c) Separation of power serves as a checks and balance on those in power.
d) Separation of power is homogenously applied in all nations.

8. What was decided in the UK case of Chenye v Conn 1968?

a) ‘No state legislator or executive or judicial officer can war against the Constitution
without violating his solemn oath to support it”.
b) “The accumulation of all powers, legislative, executive and judicia[l] in the same hands,
whether of one, a few, or many, and whether hereditary, self–appointed, or elective, may
justly be pronounced the very definition of tyranny”.
c) “It is the law which prevails over every other form of law, and it is not for the court to
say that a parliamentary enactment . . . is illegal”.

9. Which laws are considered highest in the legal order in the UK, USA, Cote d’Ivoire and
Nigeria?
a) Parliament Acts, the constitution
b) Parliament Acts, federal laws, legislation
c) International Law, Parliament Acts
d) Common law, federal laws, international laws

10. What is supranational legal order?

a) International law is supreme in the national legal order
b) Community law is supreme in the national legal order
c) Treaties are supreme in the national legal order
d) International acts are supreme in the national legal order

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Public Law 1: Constitutional Law 2022-2023
Chioma N. Duru
LLBS334
11. Who can the following statement be attributed to:
“There can be no liberty…if the judiciary powers is not separated from the legislative and
executive……. there would be an end of everything if the same person or body, whether of the
nobles or of the people, were to exercise all there powers”.
a.) Aristotle
b.) John Locke
c.) Thomas Hobbes
d.) Baron de Montesquieu

PLEASE BRIEFLY ANSWER ALL OF THE FOLLOWING QUESTIONS.

12. What is a written constitution? Give two examples of nations that use a written constitution.
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13. What is an unwritten constitution? Give two examples of nations that use an unwritten
constitution.
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14. List the sources where constitutional rules and principles can be found?
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15. Define parliamentary sovereignty?

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16. Is a federal constitution the same as a multi-layered constitution? Please explain.

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Public Law 1: Constitutional Law 2022-2023
Chioma N. Duru
LLBS334
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17. Interpretation of contemporary theory of separation of power includes 4 aspects. Please list
them.
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18. Do you believe that separation of power should be strictly applied in nations? (You are free
to use the countries earlier discussed in class to support your answer).
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