MS Bar Essay 2 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: Under Mississippi contract law, when a party breaches a construction contract, the non-breaching owner's primary measure of damages is:
- The contract price minus the cost to complete
- The difference between the contract price and the reasonable cost to repair or complete the work (Correct answer)
- Lost profits the owner expected to earn from the completed structure
- Consequential damages only if specifically foreseeable at contract formation
Correct answer: The difference between the contract price and the reasonable cost to repair or complete the work
The standard measure for owner damages in a construction breach is the cost to repair or complete the work, not simply the contract price minus completion cost.
Question 2: In a Mississippi negligence essay, a defendant argues the plaintiff assumed the risk. Which element is MOST critical to establish assumption of the risk as a complete defense?
- Plaintiff had actual knowledge of the specific risk and voluntarily encountered it (Correct answer)
- Plaintiff signed a general waiver of liability before the activity
- Defendant posted visible warning signs near the hazard
- Plaintiff was contributorily negligent in failing to observe the danger
Correct answer: Plaintiff had actual knowledge of the specific risk and voluntarily encountered it
Assumption of risk requires that the plaintiff actually knew of the specific risk involved and voluntarily chose to encounter it.
Question 3: A Mississippi testator executes a will that contains a specific bequest of 'my 2020 Ford truck.' The testator later sells the truck before death. Under Mississippi law, the specific legatee receives:
- The proceeds from the sale of the truck
- A general legacy equal to the truck's fair market value at death
- Nothing, because the bequest adeems by extinction (Correct answer)
- The nearest equivalent vehicle from the estate
Correct answer: Nothing, because the bequest adeems by extinction
Under the identity theory of ademption followed in Mississippi, if a specifically bequeathed item no longer exists in the estate, the bequest adeems and the legatee takes nothing.
Question 4: On a Mississippi bar essay covering constitutional law, police stop a vehicle for a minor traffic infraction and smell marijuana. They search the car without a warrant. The best argument that the search is constitutional is:
- The automobile exception allows warrantless searches when officers have probable cause to believe contraband is present (Correct answer)
- Any lawful traffic stop automatically permits a full vehicle search
- The plain smell doctrine is equivalent to plain view and requires no additional probable cause
- Exigent circumstances always apply to moving vehicles
Correct answer: The automobile exception allows warrantless searches when officers have probable cause to believe contraband is present
Under the automobile exception established in Carroll v. United States, officers may search a vehicle without a warrant if they have probable cause to believe it contains contraband.
Question 5: In a Mississippi real property essay, a grantor conveys land 'to A for life, then to B and her heirs.' B dies before A. At A's death, the land passes to:
- The grantor by reversion because B's remainder failed
- B's heirs or devisees, because a vested remainder survives the remainderman's death (Correct answer)
- A's estate, because A held a fee simple determinable
- The state by escheat
Correct answer: B's heirs or devisees, because a vested remainder survives the remainderman's death
B held a vested remainder in fee simple; because it was already vested, it passes through B's estate to her heirs or devisees upon her death.
Question 6: A Mississippi partnership essay involves a partner who enters a contract on behalf of the partnership that exceeds her actual authority. The third party did not know of the limitation. The partnership is bound because:
- Partners always have unlimited authority to bind the partnership in any transaction
- The partner had apparent authority as each partner is an agent of the partnership for carrying on usual business (Correct answer)
- Ratification by the other partners retroactively created authority
- The third party's good faith alone creates partnership liability
Correct answer: The partner had apparent authority as each partner is an agent of the partnership for carrying on usual business
Under partnership law, each partner has apparent authority to bind the partnership in transactions for carrying on usual partnership business, regardless of internal restrictions unknown to third parties.
Question 7: In a Mississippi criminal law essay, defendant is charged with common law burglary. Which element distinguishes burglary from trespass most precisely?
- The breaking and entering must occur at nighttime with intent to commit a felony therein (Correct answer)
- Any unlawful entry into any structure with intent to steal
- Daytime breaking and entering with intent to commit any crime
- The use of force to enter any enclosed property
Correct answer: The breaking and entering must occur at nighttime with intent to commit a felony therein
Common law burglary requires breaking and entering the dwelling house of another at nighttime with the specific intent to commit a felony inside.
MS Bar Essay 2
Under Mississippi contract law, when a party breaches a construction contract, the non-breaching owner's primary measure of damages is: