CPCU 530 STUDY GUIDE
Doctrine of stare decisis - Answers :The principle that lower courts must follow
precedents set by higher courts.
Equity - Answers :Fairness, or a body of principles constituting what is fair and right.
Criminal law - Answers :The branch of the law that imposes penalties for wrongs
against society.
Competence - Answers :A quality of evidence that suggests the source is reliable and
the evidence is adequate to justify admission in court.
Hearsay rule - Answers :The rule of evidence that prevents the admission of out-of-
court statements not made under oath by a person who is unavailable to testify.
General verdict - Answers :A kind of verdict that entails a complete finding and a single
conclusion by a jury on all issues presented.
Special verdict - Answers :A kind of verdict reached by a jury that makes findings of fact
by answering specific questions posed by the judge. The judge then applies the law to
the facts as the jury has found them.
Res judicata - Answers :A doctrine that bars parties to a lawsuit on which final judgment
has been rendered from bringing a second lawsuit on the same claim or on related
transactions.
Alternative dispute resolution - ADR - Answers :Procedures to help settle disputes
without litigation, including arbitration, medication, and negotiation.
Civil Law - Answers :A classification of law that applies to legal matters not governed by
criminal law and that protect rights and provides remedies for breaches of duties owed
to others.
Substantive Law - Answers :A classification of law that creates, defines, and regulates
parties' rights, duties, and powers.
Procedural Law - Answers :A classification of law that prescribes the steps, or
processes, for enforcing the rights and duties defined by substantive law.
Equal Protection Clause - Answers :A part of the Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S.
Constitution prohibiting state laws that discriminate unfairly or arbitrarily, and requiring
equal treatment to all persons under the like circumstances and conditions.
National Association of Insurance Commissioners NAIC - Answers :An association of
insurance commissioners from the fifty U.S. states, the District of Columbia, and the five
,U.S. territories and possessions, whose purpose is to coordinate insurance regulation
activities among the various state insurance departments.
Original jurisdiction - Answers :The power of a court in which cases are initiated to hear
those cases.
Diversity jurisdiction - Answers :The authority of federal district courts to hear cases
involving parties from different states that involve amounts in controversy over a legal
minimum.
Writ of certiorari - Answers :An appellate court's order directing a lower court to deliver
its record in a case for appellate review.
Conflicts of law - Answers :A body of law that resolves questions when states' laws
conflict.
Administrative law - Answers :The statutory laws that grant power to administrative
agencies to act and the body of law that is created by administrative agencies
themselves.
Allegation - Answers :A claim made in the complaint by the plaintiff, specifying what the
plaintiff expects to prove to obtain a judgment against the defendant.
Complaint - Answers :The allegations made by a plaintiff in a lawsuit.
Pleading - Answers :A formal written statement of the facts and claims of each party to
a lawsuit.
Cause of action - Answers :A plaintiff's legal grounds to sue a defendant.
Answer - Answers :A document filed in court by a defendant responding to a plaintiff's
complaint and explaining why the plaintiff should not win the case.
Counterclaim - Answers :A complain brought by the defendant against the plaintiff.
Motion - Answers :A formal request for the court to take a particular action.
Motion to dismiss - Answers :A request that a court terminate an action because of
settlement, voluntary withdrawal, or procedural defect.
Motion for summary judgment - Answers :A pretrial request asking the court to enter a
judgment when no material facts are in dispute.
Discovery - Answers :A pretrial exchange of all relevant information between the plaintiff
and defendant.
, Deposition - Answers :A pretrial discovery tool involving oral examination of a witness to
produce a written verbatim record.
Interrogatories - Answers :Specific written questions or requests raised by one party to
a lawsuit that the opposing party must answer in writing.
Subpoena - Answers :A legal order to a witness to appear at a certain place and time to
testify or to product documents.
Direct examination - Answers :Questioning one's own witness during a legal
proceeding.
Cross-examination - Answers :Questioning an opposing party during a legal proceeding
to bring out information favorable to the questioner's own position or to challenge the
witness's testimony.
Relevance - Answers :A quality of evidence that suggests the evidence is more or less
likely to be true.
Materiality - Answers :A quality of evidence that tends to establish a particular element
of the claim that has legal significance.
Mediation - Answers :An alternative dispute resolution (ADR) method by which disputing
parties use a neutral outside party to examine the issues and develop a mutually
agreeable settlement.
Legislative rule - Answers :A type of substantive administration agency rule that comes
from a statutory delegation of authority and that has the same force as a law enacted by
Congress or a legislature.
Interpretative rule - Answers :A type of administrative agency rule that interprets
statutes, providing guidance for agency staff or regulated parties, but that lacks the
force and effect of law and therefore is not binding on individuals.
Procedural rule - Answers :A type of administrative agency rule that prescribes
procedures for agency operations, legislative rule making and adjudication proceedings.
Standing to sue - Answers :A party's right to sue, as one who has suffered or will suffer
a legal wrong or an adverse effect from an action.
Final order - Answers :An administrative agency's final conclusion or disposition of any
material private right of a party, terminating an agency proceeding.
Exhaustion of administrative remedies - Answers :The completion of all possible
administrative procedures and appeals in a case; required before a party can appeal an
agency action to a court.
Doctrine of stare decisis - Answers :The principle that lower courts must follow
precedents set by higher courts.
Equity - Answers :Fairness, or a body of principles constituting what is fair and right.
Criminal law - Answers :The branch of the law that imposes penalties for wrongs
against society.
Competence - Answers :A quality of evidence that suggests the source is reliable and
the evidence is adequate to justify admission in court.
Hearsay rule - Answers :The rule of evidence that prevents the admission of out-of-
court statements not made under oath by a person who is unavailable to testify.
General verdict - Answers :A kind of verdict that entails a complete finding and a single
conclusion by a jury on all issues presented.
Special verdict - Answers :A kind of verdict reached by a jury that makes findings of fact
by answering specific questions posed by the judge. The judge then applies the law to
the facts as the jury has found them.
Res judicata - Answers :A doctrine that bars parties to a lawsuit on which final judgment
has been rendered from bringing a second lawsuit on the same claim or on related
transactions.
Alternative dispute resolution - ADR - Answers :Procedures to help settle disputes
without litigation, including arbitration, medication, and negotiation.
Civil Law - Answers :A classification of law that applies to legal matters not governed by
criminal law and that protect rights and provides remedies for breaches of duties owed
to others.
Substantive Law - Answers :A classification of law that creates, defines, and regulates
parties' rights, duties, and powers.
Procedural Law - Answers :A classification of law that prescribes the steps, or
processes, for enforcing the rights and duties defined by substantive law.
Equal Protection Clause - Answers :A part of the Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S.
Constitution prohibiting state laws that discriminate unfairly or arbitrarily, and requiring
equal treatment to all persons under the like circumstances and conditions.
National Association of Insurance Commissioners NAIC - Answers :An association of
insurance commissioners from the fifty U.S. states, the District of Columbia, and the five
,U.S. territories and possessions, whose purpose is to coordinate insurance regulation
activities among the various state insurance departments.
Original jurisdiction - Answers :The power of a court in which cases are initiated to hear
those cases.
Diversity jurisdiction - Answers :The authority of federal district courts to hear cases
involving parties from different states that involve amounts in controversy over a legal
minimum.
Writ of certiorari - Answers :An appellate court's order directing a lower court to deliver
its record in a case for appellate review.
Conflicts of law - Answers :A body of law that resolves questions when states' laws
conflict.
Administrative law - Answers :The statutory laws that grant power to administrative
agencies to act and the body of law that is created by administrative agencies
themselves.
Allegation - Answers :A claim made in the complaint by the plaintiff, specifying what the
plaintiff expects to prove to obtain a judgment against the defendant.
Complaint - Answers :The allegations made by a plaintiff in a lawsuit.
Pleading - Answers :A formal written statement of the facts and claims of each party to
a lawsuit.
Cause of action - Answers :A plaintiff's legal grounds to sue a defendant.
Answer - Answers :A document filed in court by a defendant responding to a plaintiff's
complaint and explaining why the plaintiff should not win the case.
Counterclaim - Answers :A complain brought by the defendant against the plaintiff.
Motion - Answers :A formal request for the court to take a particular action.
Motion to dismiss - Answers :A request that a court terminate an action because of
settlement, voluntary withdrawal, or procedural defect.
Motion for summary judgment - Answers :A pretrial request asking the court to enter a
judgment when no material facts are in dispute.
Discovery - Answers :A pretrial exchange of all relevant information between the plaintiff
and defendant.
, Deposition - Answers :A pretrial discovery tool involving oral examination of a witness to
produce a written verbatim record.
Interrogatories - Answers :Specific written questions or requests raised by one party to
a lawsuit that the opposing party must answer in writing.
Subpoena - Answers :A legal order to a witness to appear at a certain place and time to
testify or to product documents.
Direct examination - Answers :Questioning one's own witness during a legal
proceeding.
Cross-examination - Answers :Questioning an opposing party during a legal proceeding
to bring out information favorable to the questioner's own position or to challenge the
witness's testimony.
Relevance - Answers :A quality of evidence that suggests the evidence is more or less
likely to be true.
Materiality - Answers :A quality of evidence that tends to establish a particular element
of the claim that has legal significance.
Mediation - Answers :An alternative dispute resolution (ADR) method by which disputing
parties use a neutral outside party to examine the issues and develop a mutually
agreeable settlement.
Legislative rule - Answers :A type of substantive administration agency rule that comes
from a statutory delegation of authority and that has the same force as a law enacted by
Congress or a legislature.
Interpretative rule - Answers :A type of administrative agency rule that interprets
statutes, providing guidance for agency staff or regulated parties, but that lacks the
force and effect of law and therefore is not binding on individuals.
Procedural rule - Answers :A type of administrative agency rule that prescribes
procedures for agency operations, legislative rule making and adjudication proceedings.
Standing to sue - Answers :A party's right to sue, as one who has suffered or will suffer
a legal wrong or an adverse effect from an action.
Final order - Answers :An administrative agency's final conclusion or disposition of any
material private right of a party, terminating an agency proceeding.
Exhaustion of administrative remedies - Answers :The completion of all possible
administrative procedures and appeals in a case; required before a party can appeal an
agency action to a court.
