JD Juris Doctor Questions and Questions 4 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: Under the Model Penal Code, which defense negates the mental state required for a crime by showing the defendant did not understand the nature of their act?
- Insanity defense – cognitive prong (Correct answer)
- Voluntary intoxication
- Duress
- Entrapment
Correct answer: Insanity defense – cognitive prong
The MPC's insanity defense excuses conduct when, due to mental disease or defect, the defendant lacked substantial capacity to appreciate the criminality of the act.
Question 2: Which property law concept holds that a bona fide purchaser for value without notice takes title free of prior unrecorded interests?
- Adverse possession
- Recording act protection (Correct answer)
- Constructive notice
- Covenant running with the land
Correct answer: Recording act protection
Recording acts (race-notice or notice statutes) protect bona fide purchasers who acquire property without notice of prior unrecorded claims.
Question 3: The 'substantial performance' doctrine in contract law allows a breaching party to recover contract price minus damages when:
- Performance was perfect but late
- The breach was material and willful
- The breach was minor and the essential purpose of the contract was fulfilled (Correct answer)
- The other party waived all conditions
Correct answer: The breach was minor and the essential purpose of the contract was fulfilled
Substantial performance permits recovery when a party has essentially completed performance with only trivial deviations that don't defeat the contract's purpose.
Question 4: In civil procedure, 'supplemental jurisdiction' under 28 U.S.C. § 1367 allows federal courts to hear state law claims that:
- Independently satisfy the amount-in-controversy requirement
- Share a common nucleus of operative fact with a federal claim (Correct answer)
- Arise under a federal statute only
- Are filed by diverse parties in every case
Correct answer: Share a common nucleus of operative fact with a federal claim
Section 1367 codifies supplemental jurisdiction for state claims forming part of the same case or controversy as the federal anchor claim.
Question 5: Which evidentiary rule generally prohibits evidence of subsequent remedial measures to prove negligence but allows it to prove ownership or control?
- FRE 404(b)
- FRE 407 (Correct answer)
- FRE 411
- FRE 801
Correct answer: FRE 407
Federal Rule of Evidence 407 excludes subsequent remedial measures as proof of negligence but permits such evidence for other purposes like ownership or feasibility.
Question 6: The 'public figure' standard in defamation law, established in New York Times v. Sullivan, requires a public official plaintiff to prove the defendant acted with:
- Negligence
- Strict liability
- Actual malice (knowledge of falsity or reckless disregard for truth) (Correct answer)
- Intentional infliction of harm
Correct answer: Actual malice (knowledge of falsity or reckless disregard for truth)
New York Times Co. v. Sullivan (1964) held that the First Amendment requires public officials to prove actual malice — knowledge of falsity or reckless disregard for truth.
Question 7: Under agency law, which type of authority arises when a third party reasonably believes an agent has authority based on the principal's representations?
- Actual express authority
- Actual implied authority
- Apparent authority (Correct answer)
- Inherent authority
Correct answer: Apparent authority
Apparent authority exists when the principal's conduct reasonably leads a third party to believe the agent is authorized to act.
JD Juris Doctor Questions and Questions 4
Under the Model Penal Code, which defense negates the mental state required for a crime by showing the defendant did not understand the nature of their act?