MEE PRIORITY RULE STATEMENTS July 2026 Practice Flashcards

A comprehensive set of vocabulary-style flashcards covering the highest-priority rule statements for the July 2026 MEE, across Agency, Civil Procedure, Partnership, Corporations, Evidence, Torts, Real Property, Constitutional Law, and Criminal Law topics.

Agency Relationship

Arises when a principal manifests assent that an agent act on the principal's behalf and subject to the principal's control, and the agent consents.

Express Actual Authority

Authority created when the principal communicates to the agent, orally or in writing, that the agent may take a particular action.

Apparent Authority

Authority created when the principal's manifestations cause a third party reasonably to believe that the agent is authorized to act for the principal.

Ratification

When a principal affirms an unauthorized act or accepts its benefits with knowledge of the material facts.

Complete Diversity

The requirement that no plaintiff may share state citizenship with any defendant.

Nerve Center

The corporation's principal place of business, ordinarily where senior officers direct, control, and coordinate corporate activities.

Amount in Controversy

Must exceed $75,000$, exclusive of interest and costs, based on the plaintiff's good-faith allegation.

Supplemental Jurisdiction

Authority of a federal court to exercise jurisdiction over a claim lacking an independent jurisdictional basis when it forms part of the same constitutional case or controversy.

Forum-Defendant Rule

An action removable solely on diversity grounds may not be removed if any properly joined and served defendant is a citizen of the state in which the action was filed.

General Partnership

An association of two or more persons carrying on as co-owners of a business for profit.

Profit-Sharing Presumption

Receipt of a share of business profits creates a presumption of partnership unless the payment is for debt, wages, rent, or other specific exceptions.

Statement of Partnership Authority

A filed document that may grant or limit a partner's authority, providing constructive notice for real property transfers when properly recorded.

Duty of Care (Directors)

The obligation for directors and officers to act in good faith, with the care of a person in a like position, and in a manner reasonably believed to be in the corporation's best interests.

Business-Judgment Rule

A presumption that disinterested directors acted on an informed basis, in good faith, and in the corporation's best interests.

Duty of Loyalty

Requirement that a fiduciary place the corporation's interests above personal interests and not use the position for personal benefit at the corporation's expense.

Hearsay

An out-of-court statement offered to prove the truth of the matter asserted.

Opposing-Party Statements

Statements offered against an opposing party made by the party, their agent, or a coconspirator; these are considered nonhearsay.

Present-Sense Impression

A statement describing or explaining an event or condition made while the declarant was perceiving it or immediately afterward.

Excited Utterance

A statement relating to a startling event made while the declarant remained under the stress of excitement caused by the event.

Confrontation Clause

In a criminal case, prevents the admission of testimonial statements by an unavailable declarant against the accused unless the accused had a prior opportunity to cross-examine.

Specific Jurisdiction

Jurisdiction requiring purposeful contacts with the forum created by the defendant where the claim arises out of or relates to those contacts.

Mirror-Image Rule

Common law doctrine requiring acceptance to be an unequivocal match to the offer; any change in terms results in a counteroffer.

Merchant Firm Offer

A merchant's signed written assurance to keep an offer open, irrevocable without consideration for up to $3$ months.

Mailbox Rule

Unless the offer provides otherwise, an acceptance sent by an authorized means is effective upon dispatch.

Promissory Estoppel

The enforcement of a promise without consideration when it induces reasonable and detrimental reliance and enforcement avoids injustice.

Parol Evidence Rule

Prevents evidence of prior or contemporaneous agreements from contradicting the integrated terms of a final written expression.

Statute of Frauds

Requirement that certain contracts (e.g., land, suretyship, goods over a specific threshold) must be in a signed writing to be enforceable.

Logical Relevance

Evidence has a tendency to make a fact of consequence more or less probable than it would be without the evidence.

Rule 403 Balancing

Relevant evidence may be excluded if its probative value is substantially outweighed by a danger of unfair prejudice, confusing issues, or wasting time.

Habit

A regular, specific, semi-automatic response to a repeated situation, admissible to prove conduct in conformity on a particular occasion.

Negligence

Requires a duty owed to the plaintiff, breach of the standard of care, actual and proximate causation, and legally cognizable damages.

Actual Cause (But For)

Conduct is an actual cause when the harm would not have occurred but for the conduct.

Proximate Cause

Limits liability to harms that result from the risks that made the defendant's conduct negligent.

Eggshell Plaintiff

Doctrine where a defendant is liable for the full extent of harm even if the plaintiff's unusual susceptibility makes the injury unexpectedly severe.

Erie Doctrine Rule

A federal court exercising diversity jurisdiction applies federal procedural law and the substantive law of the forum state.

Direct Action

A lawsuit brought by a shareholder to redress an injury suffered personally by the shareholder.

Derivative Action

A lawsuit brought by a shareholder on behalf of the corporation to redress an injury to the corporation.

Piercing the Corporate Veil

Disregarding the corporate form to hold a shareholder personally liable when the shareholder dominated the corporation to the point it lacked separate existence.

Tenancy for Years

A tenancy that lasts for a fixed or computable period and ends automatically without notice.

Constructive Eviction

Occurs when a landlord's wrongful act substantially interferes with a tenant's use and enjoyment, causing the tenant to vacate within a reasonable time.

Implied Warranty of Habitability

A residential landlord's duty to provide premises fit for basic human habitation; generally cannot be waived.

Marketable Title

An implied promise in land-sale contracts to deliver title at closing that is free from unreasonable risk of litigation.

Equitable Conversion

Doctrine where the buyer is treated in equity as the owner of real property once an enforceable land-sale contract is formed.

Bona Fide Purchaser

One who acquires an interest for valuable consideration and without notice of an earlier interest.

Substantial Performance

Recovery of the contract price minus damages for defects, occurring when the essential purpose of a common-law contract is accomplished.

Anticipatory Repudiation

A clear and unequivocal statement or act indicating a party will not perform their contractual duty when due.

Specific Performance

An equitable remedy available when legal damages are inadequate, land is unique, or goods are unique; rarely ordered for personal services.

Constitutional Standing

Requires a concrete and particularized injury that is actual or imminent, fairly traceable to the defendant, and likely to be redressed.

Strict Scrutiny

Review level for suspect classifications (race) or fundamental rights; must be narrowly tailored to achieve a compelling governmental interest.

Content-Based Restriction

A law that applies because of the topic discussed or message expressed; presumptively invalid and subject to strict scrutiny.

Search (Fourth Amendment)

Occurs when the government physically intrudes on a protected area or violates a reasonable expectation of privacy recognized by society.

Probable Cause

Facts and circumstances that would lead a reasonable person to believe evidence or a suspect will be found.

Exclusionary Rule

Evidence obtained in violation of the Fourth Amendment is generally inadmissible in the prosecution's case in chief.

Miranda Warnings

Required before custodial interrogation by a known government agent, informing the suspect of rights to silence and counsel.

Sixth Amendment Attachment

The right to counsel attaches when adversarial judicial proceedings begin, such as by formal charge or indictment.

Summary Judgment Standard

Granted when there is no genuine dispute of material fact and the movant is entitled to judgment as a matter of law.

Judgment as a Matter of Law (JMOL)

Granted during a jury trial when a reasonable jury would lack a legally sufficient evidentiary basis to find for a party.

Claim Preclusion

Bars parties from relitigating claims arising from the same transaction after a valid final judgment on the merits.

Lawful Custodial Arrest Search

Police may search the arrestee's person and the area within their immediate control to protect officers and preserve evidence.

Joint Tenancy

A concurrent interest where owners hold equal undivided interests with a right of survivorship.