ACCA LW Essential elements of the legal system: practice questions with answers

Answer: B. Civil law governs relations between private persons (individuals and organisations). The injured party (the claimant) brings the action and must prove it on the balance of probabilities, and the usual outcome is a remedy such as damages. Criminal law is enforced by the state, the prosecution must prove guilt beyond reasonable doubt, and the aim is punishment.

Answer: D. UNCITRAL (the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law) is the core legal body of the UN system for international trade law. It drafted the CISG (adopted in Vienna in 1980) and the Model Law on International Commercial Arbitration (1985, amended 2006), as well as the Model Law on International Credit Transfers. UNIDROIT produces the UNIDROIT Principles; the ICC produces Incoterms; the WTO and the OECD deal with trade and economic policy between states.

Answer: D. The separation of powers divides state power between three branches so that no single body holds all of it: the legislature makes the law, the executive implements and enforces it, and the judiciary interprets it and applies it to resolve disputes. An independent judiciary is an important check on the other two branches.

Answer: D. Sharia law draws on two primary sources, the Qur'an and the Sunnah (the sayings and practice of the Prophet Muhammad), and on secondary sources. Ijma is the consensus of Islamic scholars. Qiyas is analogical deduction: where the primary sources do not expressly cover a situation, a rule from a comparable case is applied because the same reasoning holds. Fiqh is the wider body of Islamic jurisprudence developed by scholars from these sources.

Answer: A. UNIDROIT (the International Institute for the Unification of Private Law) works to harmonise private and commercial law between states. Its best-known text is the UNIDROIT Principles of International Commercial Contracts, a 'soft law' restatement of general contract rules. The Principles bind no state and no trader unless the parties choose them to govern their contract (or an arbitral tribunal applies them, for example as general principles of law). They are also used to interpret or fill gaps in international instruments such as the CISG. By contrast, UNCITRAL drafts conventions and model laws (CISG, the Model Laws on arbitration and on international credit transfers), the ICC publishes private rules such as Incoterms and the UCP, and the WTO regulates trade between governments.

Answer: A. The International Court of Arbitration is the arbitration body of the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC). It administers arbitrations under the ICC Arbitration Rules rather than deciding them. Its functions include confirming or appointing arbitrators, deciding challenges to arbitrators, fixing the arbitrators' fees and scrutinising draft awards, approving their form and drawing the tribunal's attention to points of substance before the award is signed. The dispute itself is decided by the arbitral tribunal, and an award is enforced through national courts.