NC Bar key terms

A court's power over a party, requiring minimum contacts with the forum state plus fair play and substantial justice, or consent, waiver, or domicile.

A state law authorizing courts to reach nonresident defendants who have specified ties to the state, such as transacting business or committing a tort there.

The purposeful availment of a forum's benefits by a defendant such that suit there is foreseeable and does not offend traditional notions of fair play.

The proper geographic location for suit within a court system, generally where any defendant resides or where a substantial part of the events occurred.

A discretionary dismissal allowing suit in a far more convenient alternate forum, typically used only where the chosen forum is seriously inconvenient or oppressive.

In diversity cases federal courts apply state substantive law but federal procedural rules, balancing federal interests against forum shopping and inequitable administration.

Federal subject-matter jurisdiction over suits between citizens of different states or with foreign parties where the amount in controversy exceeds $75,000.

Federal power over claims so related to a claim with original jurisdiction that they form part of the same case or controversy, subject to limits on plaintiff-side joinder.

The bar on relitigating a claim already decided on the merits by a final judgment between the same parties or their privies, including claims that could have been raised.

The bar on relitigating an issue actually litigated and necessarily decided in a prior case, asserted against a party who had a full and fair opportunity to contest it.

A defendant's transfer of a case from state to federal court within thirty days of service, available only when the federal court has original jurisdiction over the action.

A judgment entered for the plaintiff when the defendant fails to plead or otherwise defend, after notice and a hearing on unliquidated damages.

The requirement that constitutional rights be vindicated only against government conduct, not private conduct, unless significant state involvement or a public function is present.

The most demanding standard of review, requiring a law to serve a compelling interest by the least restrictive means, applied to suspect classifications and fundamental rights.

Review requiring a law to serve an important interest by means substantially related to that interest, applied to sex-based and illegitimacy classifications.

The deferential standard upholding a law if it is rationally related to any legitimate government purpose, applied to economic and social welfare legislation.

The principle that certain liberty interests, such as privacy and family autonomy, cannot be infringed without adequate justification regardless of the fairness of procedures used.

A liberty or interest so essential that laws burdening it draw strict scrutiny, including voting, travel, marriage, and procreation.

The implied limit barring states from discriminating against or unduly burdening interstate commerce, subject to exceptions such as market participant activity and important local interests.

The displacement of state law by federal law where Congress expresses intent to occupy a field, conflict makes compliance impossible, or state law obstructs federal purpose.

A manifestation of present intent to be bound on definite terms, creating in the offeree a power of acceptance.

A manifestation of assent to an offer's terms in the manner invited, effective on dispatch under the mailbox rule unless the offer states otherwise.

A bargained-for exchange of legal detriment, meaning a promise or performance given in return for another, distinguishing enforceable promises from gifts.

Enforcement of a promise lacking consideration where the promisor reasonably expected reliance, reliance occurred, and injustice can be avoided only by enforcement.

The rule that a definite expression of acceptance or written confirmation operates as acceptance even with additional or different terms, which are handled by specific gap-filling rules.

The UCC rule permitting a buyer to reject goods that fail in any respect to conform to the contract, subject to cure, installment, and good-faith limits.

A clear and unequivocal refusal to perform before the time due, allowing the nonbreaching party to treat the contract as breached and sue immediately.

The voluntary physical act or omission that constitutes the external element of a crime, which must coincide with the required mental state.

The mental state required for a crime, commonly purpose, knowledge, recklessness, or negligence, and applied to each material element of the offense.

A mental state requiring a subjective desire to achieve a particular result beyond the act itself, as with burglary or larceny.

An inchoate offense requiring specific intent to commit a crime plus a substantial step beyond mere preparation that strongly corroborates the criminal purpose.

The doctrine barring use of evidence obtained in violation of the Fourth Amendment, subject to exceptions such as good faith, attenuation, and inevitable discovery.

A particularized and objective basis for suspecting wrongdoing, permitting a brief investigative stop and frisk short of probable cause.

An out-of-court statement offered to prove the truth of the matter asserted, generally inadmissible unless an exception or exclusion applies.

A hearsay exception for a statement describing or explaining an event made while or immediately after the declarant perceived it.

The Sixth Amendment right to confront adverse witnesses, barring testimonial hearsay from an unavailable declarant absent a prior opportunity for cross-examination.

Evidence of a person's general disposition, generally inadmissible to prove conduct, with exceptions for certain defenses and for impeachment by reputation or opinion.

Attacking a witness's credibility through prior inconsistent statements, bias, conviction, contradiction, or character for truthfulness, subject to foundation and fairness limits.

Acquiring title by actual, open, notorious, exclusive, continuous possession that is hostile to the owner for the statutory period.

An easement acquired through use that is open, continuous, actual, and adverse for the statutory period, without the owner's permission.

An easement benefiting a particular parcel of land and burdening another, which passes automatically with transfer of the benefited parcel.

A state law determining priority among competing interests in land based on recording, in race, notice, or race-notice form.

A rule treating violation of a safety statute as conclusive proof of breach where the plaintiff is within the class protected and the harm is the type the statute aimed to prevent.

An inference of negligence where the injury is of a kind that ordinarily does not occur without negligence, caused by an instrumentality in the defendant's exclusive control.

The limitation on liability to harms within the scope of foreseeable risk created by the breach, excluding remote or extraordinary intervening causes.

Liability without proof of fault for abnormally dangerous activities and for defective products, limited to harms flowing from the risk that justified imposing it.

The Multistate Performance Test instruction directing the candidate to produce a specific document, such as a memo or brief, using the provided file and library.

The MPT convention that the answer must rely only on the provided library and file, not on outside statutes, cases, or personal knowledge.

A predictive legal writing format that analyzes both sides of an issue and concludes how a court likely would rule, organized by issue with rules, application, and conclusion.

A legal analysis structure stating the issue, the governing rule, the application of rule to facts, and a conclusion, adaptable to exam and MPT formats.

A plausible but incorrect answer choice testing a common error, such as a true rule applied to the wrong party or a correct outcome resting on faulty reasoning.

The minimum elements a party must prove to prevail absent rebuttal, which the MBE tests by asking which element a given fact pattern fails to establish.