FL Bar key terms

The federal constitutional requirement that a plaintiff show an injury in fact, fairly traceable to the defendant's conduct, that a favorable court decision would likely redress. It limits federal courts to deciding actual cases and controversies rather than abstract policy disputes.

A justiciability doctrine barring federal courts from hearing disputes before they have developed into a concrete conflict with actual hardship to the parties. It prevents advisory opinions about hypothetical or future events.

The principle that a federal case must be dismissed when the controversy between the parties has ended, leaving nothing for the court to remedy. Exceptions exist for wrongs capable of repetition yet evading review.

A judicial doctrine inferred from the Commerce Clause that bars states from discriminating against or unduly burdening interstate commerce, even where Congress has not legislated. Nondiscriminatory laws survive unless burdens clearly exceed local benefits.

The rule that valid federal law displaces conflicting or contrary state law under the Supremacy Clause. Preemption may be express, implied by field occupation, or implied because compliance with both laws is impossible.

The constitutional provision declaring that federal law and treaties are the supreme law of the land, binding state judges notwithstanding contrary state law. It supplies the textual foundation for preemption and federal judicial review of state enactments.

The rule that constitutional protections generally constrain government conduct, not private conduct, so private discrimination is not directly actionable under the Fourteenth Amendment. Courts find state action where private actors perform public functions or are significantly entangled with the state.

The most demanding equal protection and due process test, requiring a law to serve a compelling government interest and be narrowly tailored by the least restrictive means. It applies to suspect classifications such as race and to fundamental rights.

A mid-level constitutional test requiring a law to serve an important government objective and be substantially related to achieving it. It governs classifications based on sex and legitimacy and content-neutral time, place, and manner regulations.

The deferential constitutional test upholding a law if it is rationally related to a legitimate government purpose. The challenger must negate every conceivable basis, and the government need not have actually relied on that basis.

The pretrial questioning of prospective jurors to uncover bias, hardship, or other grounds for challenge. Parties may challenge jurors for cause or exercise a limited number of peremptory strikes, which cannot be used to exclude jurors by race or sex.

A limited, ordinarily unexplained strike used to remove a prospective juror without stating a reason. It cannot be exercised to exclude jurors based on race, ethnicity, or sex under equal protection principles.

A request to remove a prospective juror for a stated, legally recognized reason such as actual bias, implied bias, or inability to serve. Unlike peremptory strikes, such challenges are unlimited in number but require the judge's approval.

The doctrine barring relitigation of a claim already decided on the merits by a final judgment between the same parties or their privies. It requires identity of parties, identity of the cause of action, and a final decision by a court of competent jurisdiction.

Issue preclusion, which prevents a party from relitigating an issue actually litigated and necessarily decided in a prior action. The party against whom it is asserted must have had a full and fair opportunity to contest the issue.

A pretrial motion granted when the pleadings, discovery, and affidavits show no genuine dispute of material fact and the movant is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. Courts view the evidence in the light most favorable to the nonmoving party.

The obligation of a party to introduce enough evidence for a reasonable factfinder to decide a particular issue in that party's favor. Failing to carry it may result in a directed verdict or judgment as a matter of law.

The duty to convince the factfinder that a claim or defense meets the applicable standard, such as preponderance, clear and convincing evidence, or beyond a reasonable doubt. It generally remains with the party who initially bore it.

A bargained-for exchange in which each party gives something of legal value, such as a promise, act, forbearance, or detriment. It distinguishes enforceable contracts from gratuitous promises and may consist of a return promise or performance.

An equitable doctrine enforcing a promise lacking consideration when the promisor should reasonably expect reliance, the promisee actually relies, and injustice can be avoided only by enforcement. Recovery is typically limited to reliance damages rather than full expectation.

Action or forbearance by a promisee induced by a promise, which may make the promise enforceable or support restitution when the promisee changes position to their detriment. It is the reliance element central to promissory estoppel.

A writing requirement rendering certain agreements unenforceable unless evidenced by a signed writing, including land sales, suretyship promises, and contracts not performable within one year. Writing must state essential terms and be signed by the party to be charged.

The rule that a fully integrated written agreement supersedes prior or contemporaneous oral statements and earlier writings, which cannot vary or contradict its terms. Evidence may still be admitted to explain ambiguity or prove fraud, mistake, or a condition precedent.

The determination whether a written agreement is a final and complete expression of the parties' bargain. A partial integration bars contradictory prior terms; a full integration also bars consistent additional terms.

The sale-of-goods rule allowing a buyer to reject nonconforming goods unless the seller cures the defect within the contract time. The buyer may accept, reject, or revoke acceptance, subject to notice and reasonable care obligations.

A party's clear, unequivocal statement or act indicating it will not perform before the performance is due. The nonbreaching party may treat it as a breach, sue immediately, or await performance, and may demand adequate assurance.

A buyer's good-faith purchase of substitute goods after a seller's breach, permitting recovery of the difference between cover price and contract price plus incidental and consequential damages. Notice to the seller is a prerequisite for such recovery.

A doctrine treating a statutory violation as breach of duty when the statute sets a standard of conduct, the plaintiff is within the class protected, and the harm is the type the statute intended to prevent. Excuse may exist for incapacity or inability to comply.

An inference of negligence permitted when an accident is of a kind that ordinarily does not occur without negligence, was caused by an instrumentality in the defendant's exclusive control, and was not due to the plaintiff's own conduct.

The requirement that a defendant's conduct be a cause in fact of the harm and that the harm be within the scope of foreseeable risk. Unforeseeable intervening causes may supersede the defendant's liability.

An intentional exercise of dominion or control over another's personal property that so seriously interferes with the owner's right of possession that the actor must pay the property's full value. Intent to trespass suffices; knowledge of ownership is unnecessary.

An intentional interference with another's personal property causing actual damage or loss of use, often temporary or minor in degree. Remedies include repair costs or loss-of-use damages rather than the full value recovered for conversion.

A doctrine allowing a person who possesses another's land openly, notoriously, exclusively, continuously, and hostilely for the statutory period to acquire title. Florida's statutory period is seven years, with specific color-of-title and payment-of-taxes requirements in some circumstances.

A Florida constitutional protection shielding a debtor's residence and a limited acreage of surrounding land from forced sale by most creditors. It also restricts devise when a spouse or minor child survives and requires a waiver executed with formalities.

A form of concurrent ownership available to married couples in Florida that gives each spouse an undivided interest with a right of survivorship. Creditors of one spouse generally cannot reach the property unless the debt is owed by both.

An express state constitutional protection against unreasonable governmental intrusion into private life, interpreted more broadly than federal privacy doctrine. It requires a compelling state interest and least intrusive means when government action implicates private matters.

Florida's open-meetings requirement mandating that meetings of boards and commissions be open to the public with reasonable notice and accessible records. It reflects a state policy favoring public access to governmental decision-making.

A Florida statute making records of public agencies presumptively open for inspection and copying unless a specific exemption applies. Exemptions are construed narrowly, and agencies must respond promptly to requests.

An easement acquired through continuous, open, adverse use of another's land for the statutory period, which in Florida is twenty years. The use must be without the owner's permission and consistent with the easement's scope.