Quiz: Are these law exam questions real or fake?

Whoever said law is a boring subject clearly hasn’t seen some of the questions set for exams!

Some law professors have been known to embrace their creative sides during exam season, using references from current affairs and popular culture to spice up their assessments. It’s harmless fun during a very stressful time, but some have been accused of taking it too far, even inciting disciplinary action from their university.

Can you tell which questions are real and which were too wacky to be published?

An exam question regarding a company offering bikini wax. The scenario detailed the differences between a modified and full Brazilian, using words such as “genitals,” “buttocks” and “pubic hair”.

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It's real. Set by Howard University's law professor Reginald Robinson, the question then proceeded to detail a client receiving a Brazilian wax, falling asleep during the waxing session and later suing the company's worker for improper touching. This was a question used during a teaching session on agency law.

‘We will pursue a bold and ambitious Free Trade Agreement with the European Union. This agreement should allow for the freest possible trade in goods and services between Britain and the EU’s member states. It should give British companies the maximum freedom to trade with and operate within European markets — and let European businesses do the same in Britain. But I want to be clear. What I am proposing cannot mean membership of the Single Market.’ (Theresa May, 2017). Consider what form this new relationship between the UK and the EU might take.

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It's REAL. This is a question set by the University of Cambridge to assess "the single market and problems of free trade", as well as the European Free Trade Association and the European Economic Area, which had been covered as a sample question and reading topic for its European Union Law course.

A question involving characters named ‘Nigel’ and ‘Donald’ drinking beer and crashing a plane into the River Thames. Someone called 'Boris' also gets knocked off his bike.

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It's REAL. Set by the London School of Economics, this politically-charged question was part of its 2017 tort exam.

A question featuring the fictional family in the famous sitcom 'Modern Family'. Students were asked to advise Mitchell as Claire had agreed to buy Mitchell's car for US$50,000 but later said she only agreed to US$30,000.

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It's FAKE. While it's been reported that it's common for law exam questions to use characters from television shows, this one wasn't taken from any real exam, but just the quiz creator's imagination.

Students were examined on whether it's a crime for a man to choose to save his girlfriend over his mother in the event of a deadly fire.

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It's REAL. This is a Question 52 from China's 2015 National Judicial Exam, which anyone hoping to become a lawyer or judge must pass. The answer, as confirmed by China’s Ministry of Justice, is that a son is legally obligated to save his parents over his relatives or loved ones.

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