Lighter Side: Moral quandary in Chinese bar exam

Question: Would you save your girlfriend or your mother from a burning building?

Lighter Side: Moral quandary in Chinese bar exam
Choosing between saving your girlfriend or mother from a burning building is a moral quandary most would not expect to encounter in their day-to-day lives.

But, if you’re a Chinese judge, you’re expected to know the correct answer.

According to Above the Law, that questions was on this year’s National Judicial Examination - essentially the bar exam for Chinese judges. 

So what is the correct answer? The Chinese Ministry of Justice posted it recently. From BBC: 

“[E]xam writers are duty-bound to save their mothers. It would be a “crime of non-action” to choose romantic love over filial duty.”

That is in contrast to our common law system, where we generally don’t criminally punish people for a failure to act or omission.

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