How is a 'question of law' defined?

• A. A question about courtroom procedure.
• B. A question about the judge's personal conduct.
• C. An issue involving application or interpretation of law.
• D. An issue involving resolution of a factual dispute.

Answer: (C)

A question of law is about how a legal rule should be interpreted or applied to the facts of the case. It focuses on the meaning of statutes, ordinances, constitutional provisions, or procedural rules, and how they govern the outcome. The judge decides these questions because they require applying legal standards rather than determining what actually happened. For example, whether a statute authorizes a certain penalty, whether a piece of evidence is admissible under the rules of evidence, or how a term in an ordinance should be interpreted are all questions of law. By contrast, questions of fact concern what actually occurred and are typically decided by the finder of fact, such as a judge acting as fact-finder or a jury.