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CONSTITUTIONAL LAW MPTC STUDY GUIDE
LATEST UPDATE EXAM 2024\2025 QUESTIONS AND
CORRECT ANSWERS| GRADED A+
1st Amendment - Ans: Establishes freedom of religion, speech, press, assembly,
and petition.
Mass Constitution Article 12 (XII) Definition - Ans: No Subject shall be held to
answer for any crimes or offense, until the same is fully and plainly, substantially
and formally, described to him; or be compelled to accuse, or furnish evidence
against him. And no subject shall be arrested, imprisoned, despoiled, or deprived of
his property, immunities, or privileges, put out of the protection of the law, exiled,
or deprived of his life, liberty, or estate , but by the judgement of his peers, or the
law of the land.
Mass constitution Article 14 (XIV) - Ans: Every subject has a right to be secure
from all unreasonable searches, and seizures, of his person, his house, his papers,
and all his possessions.
Statutory Law - Ans: Written and enacted by legislative branches of state or federal
governments. Declare, command, or prohibit something.
Case Law - Ans: Decisions by federal and mass courts, primarily the U.S. Supreme
Court, the SJC, and Mass appeals court.
Objective - Ans: "Others" - What a reasonable person would do, act, or believe
Subjective - Ans: "Self" - What an individual person did or believed
Reasonable Suspicion - Ans: Must be based on specific and articulable facts
which, when taken together, would convince a person of reasonable caution to
believe that a person has committed, is committing, or is about to commit a crime.
Probable Cause - Ans: Trustworthy facts and circumstances sufficient to convince
a person of reasonable caution to believe that it is more likely than not.
Probable Cause - in the case of a search. - Ans: A specific item subject to seizure
will be found in the place to be searched.
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Probable Cause - in the case of an arrest - Ans: A crime has been committed and
the person to be arrested has committed it.
Collective Knowledge - Ans: Knowledge of one is the knowledge of all.
Information held by one may be used to establish reasonable suspicion or probable
cause even if not witnessed firsthand by or communicated to the officer making the
stop, search, or arrest.
Veracity - Ans: Whether the source is reliable or believable
Basis of Knowledge - Ans: Is how the source or witness acquired the information
Specific + Articulable facts - Ans: Area of encounter, Reason for encounter,
Officer Training experience, familiarity of defendant, Defendants nervousness or
evasive conduct, High crime area
Exclusionary Rule - Ans: Makes any evidence obtained by police in a
unreasonable search and seizure inadmissible in court.
Fruit of the Poisonous Tree - Ans: Any evidence directly derived from the illegal
search or evidence found incidental to the unlawful search will, generally speaking,
be suppressed.
Exclusionary Rule Exceptions - Ans: Attenuation/Purging the taint, Independent
source, Defective warrant, Invalid arrest
Definition of religion under the 1st amendment - Ans: Citizens have the right to
worship a god or supreme being (Or not to hold such beliefs). The government can
not require or force observations or compel citizens to follow any particular
religion.
Definition of Speech under the 1st amendment - Ans: Protected speech includes
spoken and written words, the act of not speaking and symbolic conduct.
What are the following types of speech not protected by the 1st amendment. - Ans:
Obscenity, fighting words, threats, incendiary speech.
CONSTITUTIONAL LAW MPTC STUDY GUIDE
LATEST UPDATE EXAM 2024\2025 QUESTIONS AND
CORRECT ANSWERS| GRADED A+
1st Amendment - Ans: Establishes freedom of religion, speech, press, assembly,
and petition.
Mass Constitution Article 12 (XII) Definition - Ans: No Subject shall be held to
answer for any crimes or offense, until the same is fully and plainly, substantially
and formally, described to him; or be compelled to accuse, or furnish evidence
against him. And no subject shall be arrested, imprisoned, despoiled, or deprived of
his property, immunities, or privileges, put out of the protection of the law, exiled,
or deprived of his life, liberty, or estate , but by the judgement of his peers, or the
law of the land.
Mass constitution Article 14 (XIV) - Ans: Every subject has a right to be secure
from all unreasonable searches, and seizures, of his person, his house, his papers,
and all his possessions.
Statutory Law - Ans: Written and enacted by legislative branches of state or federal
governments. Declare, command, or prohibit something.
Case Law - Ans: Decisions by federal and mass courts, primarily the U.S. Supreme
Court, the SJC, and Mass appeals court.
Objective - Ans: "Others" - What a reasonable person would do, act, or believe
Subjective - Ans: "Self" - What an individual person did or believed
Reasonable Suspicion - Ans: Must be based on specific and articulable facts
which, when taken together, would convince a person of reasonable caution to
believe that a person has committed, is committing, or is about to commit a crime.
Probable Cause - Ans: Trustworthy facts and circumstances sufficient to convince
a person of reasonable caution to believe that it is more likely than not.
Probable Cause - in the case of a search. - Ans: A specific item subject to seizure
will be found in the place to be searched.
, Page 2 of 10
Probable Cause - in the case of an arrest - Ans: A crime has been committed and
the person to be arrested has committed it.
Collective Knowledge - Ans: Knowledge of one is the knowledge of all.
Information held by one may be used to establish reasonable suspicion or probable
cause even if not witnessed firsthand by or communicated to the officer making the
stop, search, or arrest.
Veracity - Ans: Whether the source is reliable or believable
Basis of Knowledge - Ans: Is how the source or witness acquired the information
Specific + Articulable facts - Ans: Area of encounter, Reason for encounter,
Officer Training experience, familiarity of defendant, Defendants nervousness or
evasive conduct, High crime area
Exclusionary Rule - Ans: Makes any evidence obtained by police in a
unreasonable search and seizure inadmissible in court.
Fruit of the Poisonous Tree - Ans: Any evidence directly derived from the illegal
search or evidence found incidental to the unlawful search will, generally speaking,
be suppressed.
Exclusionary Rule Exceptions - Ans: Attenuation/Purging the taint, Independent
source, Defective warrant, Invalid arrest
Definition of religion under the 1st amendment - Ans: Citizens have the right to
worship a god or supreme being (Or not to hold such beliefs). The government can
not require or force observations or compel citizens to follow any particular
religion.
Definition of Speech under the 1st amendment - Ans: Protected speech includes
spoken and written words, the act of not speaking and symbolic conduct.
What are the following types of speech not protected by the 1st amendment. - Ans:
Obscenity, fighting words, threats, incendiary speech.
