QUESTIONS PRACTICE MBE — A.M. EXAM Directions: Each of the questions or incomplete statements below is followed by four suggested answers or comple- tions. You are to choose the best of the stated alternatives. Answer all questions according to the generally accepted view, except where otherwise noted. For the purposes of this test, you are to assume that Articles 1 and 2 of the Uniform Commercial Code have been adopted. You are also to assume relevant application of Article 9 of the UCC concerning fixtures. The Federal Rules of Evidence are deemed to control. The terms “Constitution,” “constitutional,” and “unconstitutional” refer to the federal Constitution unless indicated to the contrary. You are to assume that there is no applicable statute unless otherwise specified; however, survival actions and claims for wrongful death should be assumed to be available where applicable. You should assume that joint and several liability, with pure comparative negligence, is the relevant rule unless other- QUESTIONS wise indicated. PRACTICE MBE — A.M. — MBE PRACTICE QUESTIONS PRACTICE MBE — A.M. EXAM Question 1 (B) Only by an offeree’s making the arrest and assisting The owner of a three-acre tract of land with a small resi- in the successful conviction of an arsonist within the scope of the offer. dence rented it to a tenant at a monthly rental of $200. After (C) By an offeree’s supplying information leading to arrest the tenant had been in possession of the tract for several and conviction of an arsonist within the scope of the years, the tenant and the owner orally agreed that the ten- offer. ant would purchase the tract from the owner for the sum of (D) By an offeree’s communication of assent through the $24,000, payable at the rate of $200 a month for ten years same medium (television) used by the city in making and also would pay the real estate taxes and the expenses its offer. of insuring and maintaining the tract. The owner agreed Question 3 to give the tenant a deed to the tract after fi ve years had passed and $12,000 had been paid on account and to A cigarette maker created and published a magazine adver- accept from the tenant a note secured by a mortgage for tisement that featured a model dressed as a race-car driver the balance. The tenant continued in possession of the tract standing in front of a distinctive race car. In fact, the car and performed his obligations as orally agreed. The ten- looked almost exactly like the very unusually marked one ant, without consulting the owner, made improvements for driven by a famous and popular driver. The driver in the ad which he paid $1,000. When the tenant had paid $12,000, was not identifi ed, and his face was not shown in the adver- he tendered a proper note and mortgage to the owner and tisement. The cigarette maker published the advertisement demanded delivery of the deed as agreed. The owner did without obtaining the famous driver’s permission. The race- not deny the oral agreement but told the tenant that she car driver sued the cigarette maker for economic loss only, had changed her mind, and she refused to complete the based on common-law misappropriation of the right of pub- transaction. The tenant then brought an action for specifi c licity. The cigarette maker moved to dismiss the complaint. performance. The owner pleaded the Statute of Frauds as Will the cigarette maker’s motion to dismiss the com- her defense. If the owner wins, it will be because plaint be granted? (A) nothing the tenant could have done would have over- (A) No, because there are sufficient indicia of the driver’s come the original absence of a written agreement identity to support a verdict of liability. (B) the actions and payments of the tenant are as consis- (B) Yes, because the driver is a public fi gure. tent with his being a tenant as with an oral contract (C) Yes, because there was no mention of the driver’s (C) the tenant did not secure the owner’s approval for the name in the ad. improvements that he made (D) Yes, because the driver did not claim any emotional or (D) the owner has not received any unconscionable bene- dignitary loss. fi t, and, therefore, the tenant is not entitled to equitable Question 4 relief A man was the illegitimate, unacknowledged child of his Question 2 father, who died intestate, leaving neither spouse nor any During 2010 a series of arsons occurred in a city. In early children other than the man. The state’s law of intestate suc- 2011 the city council adopted this resolution: cession provides that an unacknowledged illegitimate child The city will pay $10,000 for the arrest and conviction of may not inherit his father’s property. The spouse, all other anyone guilty of any of the 2010 arsons committed here. blood relations, and the state are preferred as heirs over the The foregoing was telecast by the city’s sole television unacknowledged illegitimate child. The man fi led suit in an station once daily for one week. appropriate court alleging that the state statute barring an In which of the following ways could the city’s reward illegitimate child from sharing in a parent’s estate is invalid, offer be effectively accepted? and that he should be declared lawful heir to his father’s (A) Only by an offeree’s return promise to make a reason- estate. able effort to bring about the arrest and conviction of an In challenging the validity of the state statute, the man’s arsonist within the scope of the offer. strongest argument would be that Practice MBE—A.M. Questions 405 (A) there is no rational basis for preferring as heirs collat- (D) not prevail, because the purchaser and the man own eral relatives and even the state over unacknowledged the farm as tenants in common children, and, therefore, the law violates the Equal Protection Clause Question 7 (B) he has been deprived of property without due process A storekeeper of a large hardware store sells power saws because his fundamental right to inherit has been com- for both personal and commercial use. He often takes promised without a compelling state need old power saws as trade-ins on new ones. The old power (C) it violates the Privileges and Immunities Clause of the saws are then completely disassembled and rebuilt with Fourteenth Amendment new bearings by the storekeeper’s employees and sold by (D) it is a denial of procedural due process because it the storekeeper as ‘‘reconditioned saws.’’ A purchaser, the does not give the unacknowledged illegitimate child an owner and operator of a cabinetmaking shop, informed the opportunity to prove paternity storekeeper that he wanted to buy a reconditioned circular Question 5 saw for use in his cabinetmaking business. However, the blade that was on the saw he picked out had very coarse In which of the following situations is the defendant most teeth for cutting rough lumber. The purchaser told the store- likely to be not guilty of the charge made? keeper that he wanted a saw blade that would cut plywood. (A) The police arrested a thief and recovered goods he had The storekeeper exchanged the coarse blade for a new one stolen. At the direction of the police, the thief took the goods to the defendant. The defendant, believing the with fi ner teeth that would cut plywood smoothly. The new goods to be stolen, purchased them. The defendant is blade was manufactured by a saw-blade company and con- charged with attempting to receive stolen property. tained defects. The reconditioned saw had been manufac- (B) The defendant misrepresented his identity to secure a tured by a power-saw company. loan from a bank. The banker was not deceived and The week after the saw was purchased, the employee, refused to grant the loan. The defendant is charged who works for the purchaser in the purchaser’s cabinet- with attempting to obtain property by false pretenses. making shop, was injured while using the saw. The employ- (C) Believing that state law made it a crime to purchase ee’s arm was severely cut. As a result, the cabinetmaking codeine without a prescription, the defendant pur- shop was shut down for a week until a replacement for the chased, without a prescription, cough syrup containing employee could be found. The jurisdiction has adopted a codeine. Unknown to the defendant, the statute had been repealed and codeine could be legally purchased pure comparative fault rule in strict liability cases. without a prescription. The defendant is charged with If the employee was injured while cutting plywood when attempting to purchase codeine without a prescription. the shaft holding the saw blade came loose when a bear- (D) The defendant, intending to kill a woman, shot at the ing gave way and the shaft and blade fl ew off the saw, and woman. Unknown to the defendant, the woman had if the employee asserts a claim based on strict liability in died of a heart attack minutes before the defendant tort against the power saw company, the employee will shot at her. The defendant is charged with attempted probably murder. (A) recover if the shaft that came loose was a part of the Question 6 saw when it was new (B) recover, because the power saw company was in the A farm was conveyed to a man and a woman by a deed business of manufacturing dangerous machines that, in the jurisdiction in which the farm is situated, created (C) not recover, because the employee was not the buyer a cotenancy in equal shares and with the right of survivor- of the power saw ship.