Bar Exam Mnemonics Flashcards (46 Cards)

Contracts within the Statute of Frauds (must be in writing): Marriage (in consideration of), Year (cannot be performed within one year), Land (interests in real property), Executor/administrator promises to pay estate debts personally, Goods of $500 or more (UCC), Suretyship (promise to answer for another’s debt).

UCC exceptions that take a goods contract out of the Statute of Frauds: Specially manufactured goods, Written merchant confirmation (unobjected to within 10 days), Admission in pleadings or court, and Performance (payment made or goods accepted).

A valid contract requires mutual assent (an offer and an acceptance) plus consideration (bargained-for exchange). Some add capacity and legality as threshold validity defenses. Shorthand: agreement plus consideration equals contract.

Permissible non-character purposes for other-acts evidence under Rule 404(b): Motive, Intent, Mistake (absence of), Identity, and Common plan or scheme. Other crimes are admissible for these purposes but not to show propensity.

The four invasion-of-privacy torts: Appropriation of name or likeness, Intrusion upon seclusion, False light, and Public disclosure of private facts. Remember as A FIP — appropriation, false light, intrusion, private facts.

Inherently dangerous felonies supporting felony murder: Burglary, Arson, Rape, Robbery, and Kidnapping. A death caused during one of these felonies is murder. The variant BARK drops one of the R’s; both list the same core felonies.

The four mental states satisfying malice for common-law murder: (1) intent to kill, (2) intent to inflict grievous bodily harm, (3) depraved heart (reckless indifference to human life), and (4) felony murder (intent to commit a dangerous felony).

Exceptions to the warrant requirement: Search incident to lawful arrest, Plain view, Automobile, Consent, Exigent circumstances (hot pursuit / evanescent evidence), and Stop and frisk (Terry). A search fitting one of these may proceed without a warrant.

The Multistate Bar Exam tests: Civil Procedure, Constitutional Law, Contracts, Criminal Law & Procedure, Evidence, Real Property, and Torts. (Civil Procedure was added in 2015, expanding the historic six to seven.)

The classic legal-analysis structure: Issue, Rule, Application (analysis), and Conclusion. State the issue, give the governing rule, apply the rule to the facts, then conclude.

An expanded analysis structure: Conclusion, Rule, Explanation of the rule, Application to the facts, and Conclusion. Leading with the conclusion makes the answer easier for a grader to follow.

The Full Faith and Credit Clause requires each state to honor the judgments of sister states where (1) the rendering court had jurisdiction, (2) the judgment was on the merits, and (3) it is final. A valid judgment is then enforceable elsewhere.

Under the Pinkerton doctrine, a conspirator is liable for the foreseeable crimes of co-conspirators committed in furtherance of the conspiracy. Liability attaches even to crimes the defendant did not personally commit.

Strict scrutiny — narrowly tailored to a compelling interest (suspect classes, fundamental rights). Intermediate scrutiny — substantially related to an important interest (gender, legitimacy). Rational basis — rationally related to a legitimate interest (the default).

Elements of adverse possession: Open and notorious, Continuous, Exclusive, Actual, and Notorious/hostile. Possession must be hostile and last the statutory period. A common variant is ENCHO (Exclusive, Notorious, Continuous, Hostile, Open).

The four unities required for a joint tenancy: Time, Title, Interest, and Possession. Joint tenants must take their interests at the same time, by the same instrument, in equal shares, with equal rights to possess the whole. Severing a unity destroys the joint tenancy.

Under Erie Railroad v. Tompkins, a federal court sitting in diversity applies federal procedural rules but state substantive law. The goal is to discourage forum shopping and avoid inequitable administration of the laws.

The four elements of negligence: Duty, Breach, Causation (actual and proximate), and Damages. Some phrase causation as two elements, yielding a five-part formulation.

Under the attractive nuisance doctrine, a landowner may be liable to a trespassing child harmed by an artificial condition where: the owner knows children are likely to trespass, the condition poses an unreasonable risk, the child cannot appreciate the danger, and the burden of remedying it is slight relative to the risk.

Exceptions requiring the declarant be unavailable: Former testimony, Dying declaration, statement against Interest, statement of Personal/family history, and statement offered against a party who forfeited by wrongdoing. Memory aid: FDIP plus forfeiture.

Key exceptions admissible regardless of availability: present sense impression, excited utterance, then-existing mental/physical/emotional state, statements for medical diagnosis or treatment, recorded recollection, and business and public records.

Defenses to contract formation: Misrepresentation/fraud, Duress, Undue influence, Mistake, Incapacity, Illegality, and Unconscionability. These render an apparent agreement void or voidable.

Larceny is the (1) trespassory (2) taking and (3) carrying away (asportation) of (4) the personal property of another (5) with intent to permanently deprive. The intent must exist at the time of the taking.

Burglary at common law is the (1) breaking and (2) entering of (3) the dwelling (4) of another (5) at night (6) with intent to commit a felony therein. Modern statutes relax the dwelling and nighttime requirements.

The Mathews v. Eldridge balancing test weighs three factors to decide what process is due: (1) the private interest affected, (2) the risk of erroneous deprivation and value of added safeguards, and (3) the government’s interest, including administrative burden.

Defamation: (1) a defamatory statement, (2) of or concerning the plaintiff, (3) publication to a third party, and (4) damages. Public matters add falsity and a constitutional fault element (malice for public figures, negligence for private ones).

The intentional torts against the person: Battery, Assault, False imprisonment, and Intentional infliction of emotional distress. Memory aid: BAFI. Each requires intent plus the tort-specific elements.

Miranda warnings are required before custodial interrogation by law enforcement. Both prongs must be present: custody (restraint akin to arrest) and interrogation (questioning or its functional equivalent likely to elicit an incriminating response).

Statements defined as not hearsay: prior inconsistent statements under oath, prior consistent statements rebutting fabrication, prior identifications, and opposing-party statements (admissions, including adoptive, authorized, agent, and co-conspirator statements).

For a covenant’s burden to run at law, courts require: Privity (horizontal and vertical), Intent to bind successors, Touch and concern the land, and Notice. For equitable servitudes, notice replaces strict privity. Memory aid emphasizes intent, touch-and-concern, privity, and notice.

The business judgment rule shields directors who act (1) in good faith, (2) on an informed basis, and (3) in the honest belief the action is in the corporation’s best interest. Courts defer absent fraud, illegality, conflict, or waste.

A valid attested will generally requires: testamentary capacity, testamentary intent, a writing, the testator’s signature, and attestation by witnesses. Capacity means understanding the nature of the act, the property, and the natural objects of one’s bounty.

An express trust needs: a settlor with intent, a trustee, identifiable trust property (res), ascertainable beneficiaries, and a lawful purpose. Mnemonic: every Intent, Res, Beneficiary, and Purpose must be present.

Respondeat superior imposes vicarious liability on an employer for an employee’s torts committed within the scope of employment. Frolics (major personal deviations) fall outside scope; minor detours remain within it.

Standing requires: Injury in fact (concrete and particularized), Causation (traceable to defendant), and Redressability (a favorable ruling will remedy it). Mnemonic: ICR.

Strict scrutiny applies to laws burdening a suspect classification (race, national origin, alienage) or a fundamental right (voting, travel, privacy). The government must show the law is narrowly tailored to a compelling interest.

Common specific-intent crimes: First-degree murder, Inchoate offenses (attempt, solicitation, conspiracy), Assault (attempted battery), and Theft crimes (larceny, embezzlement, false pretenses, robbery, burglary, forgery). Mnemonic: FIAT.

When goods are damaged with no breach: in a shipment contract risk passes to the buyer on delivery to the carrier; in a destination contract on tender at the destination. For merchant sellers absent shipment terms, risk passes on the buyer’s receipt of the goods.

Commonly tested privileges: attorney-client, spousal (testimonial and confidential-communications), physician/psychotherapist-patient, clergy-penitent, and the privilege against self-incrimination. Each protects confidential communications within a recognized relationship.

Three types of recording acts: Race (first to record wins), Notice (last bona fide purchaser without notice wins), and Race-notice (a BFP without notice who records first wins). Identify the statute type, then apply it to the competing claimants.

Under Terry v. Ohio, an officer may briefly stop a person on reasonable suspicion of criminal activity and conduct a limited protective frisk for weapons on reasonable suspicion the person is armed and dangerous. The standard is below probable cause.

A strict products liability claim requires: a commercial seller, a defective product (manufacturing, design, or warning), the defect existing when it left the defendant, actual and proximate cause, and damages, with the product used in a foreseeable way.

Historically, under the Lemon test, a law survives an Establishment Clause challenge if it has a secular purpose, a primary effect that neither advances nor inhibits religion, and avoids excessive entanglement. Modern doctrine increasingly looks to historical practice and coercion.

Supplemental jurisdiction lets a federal court hear additional claims that share a common nucleus of operative fact with an anchor claim (forming the same case or controversy). In diversity cases, limits bar using it to defeat the complete-diversity requirement.

Actual authority arises from the principal’s manifestations to the agent (express or implied). Apparent authority arises from the principal’s manifestations to a third party reasonably leading them to believe the agent is authorized. Either can bind the principal.

Robbery is larceny (1) from the person or presence of the victim (2) by force or intimidation. It combines the elements of larceny with a taking accomplished through violence or threat.