The Nature of Law | AQA A-Level Law (7162)

The Nature of Law

243 questions
17 subtopics
The nature of law and the English legal system, 25 marks on every paper
Paper 1, Paper 2 and Paper 3

What law is for and how it relates to society, morality and justice — including the Hart-Devlin debate and the rule of law.

Sat by everyone, as part of the 25 marks each paper gives to the nature of law and the English legal system.

Sample questions from The Nature of Law

Answer each one closed book first, then open the answer.

Distributive and Corrective Justice

How does corrective justice apply when someone breaches a contract?

Show the answer
Corrective justice seeks to restore balance by requiring the wrongdoer to compensate the victim, rectifying the wrong caused by the breach.
What Law Does in Society

What framework does law provide for dealing with disputes?

Show the answer
Law provides a framework for resolving conflicts between individuals, organisations, and the state.
Moral Diversity in a Pluralist Society

What central challenge does law face in a pluralist society regarding morality?

Show the answer
Determining which moral values, if any, should be legally enforced when there is no moral consensus among citizens.
Procedural Justice and Utilitarianism

According to utilitarianism, when is justice achieved?

Show the answer
Justice is achieved when laws maximise overall happiness or welfare for the greatest number.
Law, Rights and the Resolution of Disputes

What distinguishes legal rights from moral or social expectations?

Show the answer
Legal rights are enforceable through the legal system with available remedies, whereas moral or social expectations lack legal enforcement mechanisms.
Where Law and Morality Overlap

Why does moral diversity in a pluralist society create difficulties for legislators?

Show the answer
Because the law cannot reflect all moral positions simultaneously, so lawmakers must choose between competing moral views when creating legal rules.
Aristotle on Justice

What is the aim of corrective justice, and how is it achieved in civil and criminal law?

Show the answer
Corrective justice aims to restore the position of a victim who has suffered a wrong, either through compensation in civil law or punishment in criminal law.
Criminal and civil law compared

On whom does the burden of proof lie in a criminal trial, and to what standard?

Show the answer
The prosecution must prove guilt beyond reasonable doubt, so that the jury or magistrates are sure; Woolmington v DPP (1935) called the prosecution's duty to prove guilt the 'golden thread' of criminal law.

The 17 subtopics

One subtopic is one session. Work down the list.

Subtopic	What it covers	Questions
Distributive and Corrective Justice	Recall questions on what justice means in law and on the distinction between distributive and corrective justice.	12
Theories of Justice: Rawls, Nozick and Marx	Recall questions on Rawls's difference principle, Nozick's entitlement theory and the Marxist critique of justice.	14
What Law Does in Society	Recall questions on law as a means of keeping order, protecting people, enabling change and settling disputes.	10
How Law and Morality Are Enforced	Recall questions on who makes law and how it is enforced, what morality consists of, and how the two differ in their sanctions.	10
Moral Diversity in a Pluralist Society	Recall questions on issues where citizens disagree fundamentally and on the difficulty that creates for law-making.	11
The Hart-Devlin Debate	Recall questions on what prompted the debate, Devlin's argument for shared moral bonds and the conclusions each side drew.	22
Procedural Justice and Utilitarianism	Recall questions on what justice means in law, procedural and corrective justice, the utilitarian test, restorative justice, judicial discretion, the origins of equity and how the adversarial system aims at a fair process.	10
The Rule of Law: Core Requirements	Recall questions on Dicey's three elements, the ban on retrospective law and arbitrary punishment, equality before the law, clarity and accessibility, independent courts and the difference between the rule of law and rule by law.	21
Law, Rights and the Resolution of Disputes	Recall questions on law as a control on conduct, a means of settling disputes and a protector of person and property.	9
Fault and Strict Liability	Recall questions on why fault matters in criminal and civil law and on what justifies strict liability offences.	22
Where Law and Morality Overlap	Recall questions on how law and morality differ in creation and enforcement and on the areas in which they coincide.	8
Wolfenden and R v Brown	Recall questions on what the Wolfenden Report recommended and the view it reflected, and on the decision in R v Brown.	9
Aristotle on Justice	Recall questions on the Aristotelian account of distributive and corrective justice and what each is concerned with.	12
Justice through Civil and Criminal Law	Recall questions on how civil law delivers corrective justice and where it falls short, and on the aims of criminal punishment.	26
Criminal and civil law compared	How criminal and civil law differ in purpose, parties, case names, the burden and standard of proof, courts and outcomes, including private prosecutions and conduct that leads to both kinds of proceedings, as in Ashley v Chief Constable of Sussex Police.	15
Custom, statute and common law as sources	The three traditional sources of English law: custom and the tests a valid custom must meet, statute law and the Parliament Acts, and common law made through precedent, and how the sources relate when they conflict.	15
Equality, Fairness and Clarity before the Law	Recall questions on when a person may be punished and on equality before the law, fairness and the demand that law be clear.	17

The Nature of Law is 243 of the 2,352 questions in the guide.Get the guide, £7

How the guide is worked

Answering a question from memory stores it far better than reading the answer again. The guide runs that as a fixed procedure on one subtopic at a time, about twenty minutes a session.

Step 1 · Closed book
Cover the answers. Work through one subtopic and write down what you can. Leave blanks where you have nothing.
Step 2 · Open book
Go back to the top. Read each printed answer and write it out in full, including the ones you had right.
Step 3 · Closed book again
Same questions, same order, from memory. The gap between pass one and pass three is the session result.

Read the full method, the return schedule and the research behind it.