AP®︎ Comparative Government: Topic 2.8 Flashcards

The courts and judicial officials that interpret and apply law, resolve disputes, determine legal responsibility, and sometimes review government action

A court’s authority to determine whether laws or government actions conflict with a constitution or other superior law

The principle that officials and ordinary people are equally subject to law and that courts can enforce lawful limits on government

The use of laws and courts by rulers to administer society and control opponents without meaningfully constraining the rulers themselves

A legal tradition in which judicial precedents and earlier court decisions help establish legal rules

Islamic religious law that underlies Iran’s national legal order and is also applied by Sharia courts in northern Nigeria

The principle that the UK Parliament is legally supreme, so courts generally cannot invalidate its primary legislation

De jure power exists by law; de facto power is what courts can and do exercise in practice

A hierarchy headed by the Supreme People’s Court that resolves ordinary cases but remains subordinate to the Chinese Communist Party and cannot independently strike down national laws

The Chinese Communist Party controls most judicial appointments, keeping the courts subordinate to Party leadership

A court system led by a Supreme Leader appointee in which judges trained in Sharia safeguard a legal order based on Islamic law

The Supreme Leader appoints the judiciary’s head, who nominates six legal experts for the Guardian Council from whom the Majles selects six

A twelve-member body that reviews Majles legislation for compatibility with the constitution and Islamic law rather than serving as Iran’s supreme appellate court

Mexico’s highest federal court, with authority to review laws and government actions for consistency with the Constitution

Mexico’s process through which individuals seek judicial protection from government laws or actions alleged to violate constitutional rights

Reforms that reorganized Mexico’s Supreme Court, strengthened constitutional review, and created new arrangements for judicial administration

The president nominates Supreme Court magistrates, the Senate approves them, and they serve fixed 15-year terms

A federal court system headed by the Supreme Court that possesses judicial review but faces continuing corruption, legitimacy, and enforcement challenges

The National Judicial Council recommends candidates, the president appoints them, and the Senate confirms them

State-level courts in northern Nigeria that apply Islamic law as one component of the country’s federal and legally plural system

A court with formal authority to review laws and government actions that has not used that power to meaningfully limit the governing branches

The president nominates high-level judges and the Federation Council approves them, with executive dominance limiting the confirmation process as a check

The final appellate court that protects rights, reviews executive legality, and resolves devolution disputes but generally cannot invalidate acts of Parliament

Senior judges are chosen through professional selection procedures and formally appointed by the monarch on advice

A judiciary reshaped by reforms intended to increase its independence, professionalism, and effectiveness, though corruption and uneven enforcement remain

A politically constrained court system that reinforces governing authorities and is used to target political opposition