1L Doctrine Glossary

Contracts

Offer and Acceptance
Offer and acceptance in contract law: the objective test, what counts as an offer, how counteroffers kill it, and when the mailbox rule applies.
Consideration
Consideration in contract law: the bargained-for exchange, why courts do not weigh adequacy, and the past consideration and pre-existing duty traps.
Promissory Estoppel
Promissory estoppel explained: reasonable reliance on a promise without consideration, the four elements, and why the remedy is often limited to reliance.
Parol Evidence Rule
The parol evidence rule: when a written contract blocks evidence of earlier terms, what integration means, and the exceptions that swallow the rule.
Statute of Frauds
Statute of frauds basics: which contracts need a signed writing, what the writing must contain, and how part performance can take a deal out of it.
Expectation Damages
Expectation damages in contract law: the benefit of the bargain measure, the limits of foreseeability and certainty, and cost of performance disputes.
Mitigation of Damages
Mitigation of damages: why an injured party cannot pile up avoidable losses, what counts as a reasonable substitute, and who bears the burden of proof.

Negligence: The Four Elements
The four elements of negligence explained: duty, breach, causation and damages, with the leading cases and the order to argue them on an exam.
Breach and the Reasonable Person
Breach of duty and the reasonable person standard: the objective test, the Hand formula, the role of custom, and how professionals are judged.
Actual Cause and Proximate Cause
Causation in negligence: the but for test, the substantial factor alternative, and how proximate cause and foreseeability cut off liability.
Res Ipsa Loquitur
Res ipsa loquitur explained: when an accident itself is evidence of negligence, the traditional elements, and what the inference actually does at trial.
Strict Liability
Strict liability in tort: abnormally dangerous activities, animals and defective products, and why fault drops out while causation still matters.
Intentional Torts
Battery, assault and false imprisonment: the elements of each, what intent means in tort law, and the consent and privilege defenses that answer them.
Defamation
Defamation elements and constitutional limits: libel and slander, publication and fault, the actual malice rule, and truth as a complete defense.
Comparative and Contributory Negligence
Comparative and contributory negligence compared: the total bar, pure and modified comparative fault, last clear chance and assumption of risk.

Personal Jurisdiction and Minimum Contacts
Personal jurisdiction explained: minimum contacts, purposeful availment, specific and general jurisdiction, and the two-step long arm analysis.
Subject Matter Jurisdiction
Federal subject matter jurisdiction: diversity and amount in controversy, federal question and the well-pleaded complaint rule, and why it cannot be waived.
The Erie Doctrine
The Erie doctrine explained: when a federal court applies state substantive law, the outcome determinative test, and how a Federal Rule changes the analysis.
The Pleading Standard
The federal pleading standard after Twombly and Iqbal: plausibility, the two-step analysis, and what changed from notice pleading under Conley.
Summary Judgment
Summary judgment under Rule 56: the genuine dispute of material fact standard, who bears the initial burden, and how the evidence must be viewed.
Res Judicata and Collateral Estoppel
Claim preclusion and issue preclusion compared: the elements of each, the mutuality rule and its exceptions, and what counts as the same claim.

Judicial Review
Judicial review explained: where the power to strike down laws comes from, its reach over state courts, and the justiciability limits that contain it.
The Commerce Clause
The Commerce Clause as a source of federal power: the three categories, the aggregation principle, and the limits the Court has drawn since Lopez.
The Dormant Commerce Clause
The dormant Commerce Clause: when a state law discriminates against interstate commerce, the Pike balancing test, and the market participant exception.
Equal Protection: Tiers of Scrutiny
Equal protection tiers of scrutiny: strict, intermediate and rational basis review, which classifications trigger each, and who carries the burden.
Substantive Due Process
Substantive due process explained: fundamental rights, the history and tradition test, and how the doctrine differs from procedural due process.
Procedural Due Process
Procedural due process: identifying a life, liberty or property interest, the Mathews balancing test, and what process is actually due and when.
The State Action Doctrine
The state action doctrine: why constitutional rights bind government and not private parties, plus the public function and entanglement exceptions.

Actus Reus and Mens Rea
Actus reus and mens rea explained: the voluntary act requirement, omissions, and the four Model Penal Code mental states with their default rules.
Felony Murder
The felony murder rule: liability for a death during a felony, the inherently dangerous and merger limits, and the agency and proximate cause theories.
Attempt
Criminal attempt: the specific intent requirement, the tests that separate preparation from attempt, and how impossibility and abandonment work.
Conspiracy
Conspiracy in criminal law: the agreement and overt act requirements, Pinkerton liability for co-conspirators, and single versus multiple conspiracies.
Self-Defense
Self-defense in criminal law: the reasonable belief and imminence requirements, deadly force, the duty to retreat, and the castle doctrine exception.
The Insanity Defense
The insanity defense compared: the M'Naghten rule, irresistible impulse, the Model Penal Code test, and how insanity differs from competency to stand trial.

Adverse Possession
Adverse possession explained: the five elements, what hostile really means, and how tacking and the disability tolling rules affect the clock.
Estates and Future Interests
Estates and future interests basics: fee simple, life estate and defeasible fees, plus remainders, executory interests and the reversion held by the grantor.
The Rule Against Perpetuities
The rule against perpetuities in plain English: which interests it covers, how to find a validating life, and the modern wait and see reforms.
Easements
Easements explained: appurtenant and in gross easements, the several ways one can be created, and how an easement ends or has its scope exceeded.
Recording Acts
Recording acts explained: race, notice and race notice statutes, the three kinds of notice, and how the shelter rule protects a later purchaser.
Landlord and Tenant Covenants
Landlord and tenant covenants: quiet enjoyment, constructive eviction, the implied warranty of habitability, and the duty to mitigate after abandonment.