Bar Exam — Contracts & Sales (MBE subject) flashcards
10 of 80 cards free to study here · 6 topics · the whole deck is built into Willys
Black-letter contracts and UCC Article 2 sales: formation, consideration, defenses, parol evidence, conditions, breach, discharge, remedies, third-party rights, title, risk of loss and warranties, with majority-rule notes. Not affiliated with or endorsed by NCBE.
Learn deck · part of Bar exam (MBE subjects) · written against: NCBE MBE subject matter outline, edition dated 11/16/20; Supreme Court decisions through the October 2024 Term. Updated 2026-10-10.
Study the free sample
10 cards from the deck as they are. Flip, rate yourself, filter by topic; your progress stays in this browser.
Tap the card or press Space to flip
The 10 sample cards as a list
-
A, who is not a merchant, offers to sell B his horse for 500 dollars and promises to hold the offer open for a week. B gives nothing for the promise. A revokes on day 3. Is the revocation effective?Yes — a promise to keep an offer open is not binding without consideration, and the UCC firm-offer rule applies only to merchants. A horse is goods, so Article 2 governs, but because A is not a merchant the offer stays freely revocable until accepted.Formation › Offer and Revocation
-
Under UCC 2-205, when is a seller's offer to sell goods irrevocable even though no consideration was given?When a merchant makes a signed written offer that by its terms assures it will be held open. It is irrevocable for the stated time, or a reasonable time if none is stated, but in no event longer than three months.Formation › Offer and Revocation
Watch out: if the assurance appears on a form supplied by the offeree, the merchant must separately sign that term. -
Which categories of contracts fall within the Statute of Frauds?Contracts in consideration of marriage, suretyship promises to answer for another's debt, transfers of an interest in land, executor's promises to pay estate debts personally, sales of goods for 500 dollars or more, and contracts that cannot be performed within one year.Defenses › Statute of Frauds
Mnemonic: MY LEGS — Marriage, Year, Land, Executor, Goods, Suretyship. -
Employer orally hires Employee "for the rest of your life." Must the contract be in writing under the one-year provision?No — under the majority rule, the one-year provision covers only contracts that by their terms cannot possibly be performed within a year of their making. Employee could die within a year, fully performing a lifetime contract, so it is outside the Statute of Frauds.Defenses › Statute of Frauds
Watch out: a fixed 18-month term is within the Statute even though death could end it sooner. A minority of courts (Illinois, for one) treat a lifetime employment contract as within the Statute. -
A signed writing is a complete integration. Can a party introduce evidence of a prior oral agreement that adds a consistent term?No — a completely integrated writing bars evidence of prior or contemporaneous agreements that add to or contradict it. A partially integrated writing bars only contradictory terms and allows consistent additional terms.Contract Terms › Parol Evidence and Interpretation
Watch out: whether a writing is integrated, and how completely, is a question for the judge. -
Despite a merger clause, which kinds of extrinsic evidence are still admissible under the parol evidence rule?Evidence of fraud, duress, mistake or other formation defects; a condition precedent to the contract taking effect; evidence to interpret an ambiguous term; and agreements made after the writing. The rule bars only prior or contemporaneous terms offered to vary an integrated writing.Contract Terms › Parol Evidence and Interpretation
-
An insurance policy requires written notice of a claim within 30 days; the insured gives notice on day 32. Does substantial compliance save the claim?Generally no — an express condition must be strictly satisfied before the other party's duty arises; substantial performance applies only to constructive conditions.Performance › Conditions and Excuse
Watch out: courts may excuse a condition to avoid disproportionate forfeiture, and most states let late insurance notice defeat coverage only if the insurer shows prejudice. -
A contract obligates the buyer to pay only if the seller obtains a zoning permit, and the buyer secretly lobbies the zoning board to deny it. Is the seller's failure to satisfy the condition a defense for the buyer?No — a party who wrongfully prevents or hinders a condition's occurrence cannot rely on its failure; the condition is excused. Every contract carries a duty of good faith and cooperation, which the buyer breached.Performance › Conditions and Excuse
-
What is the general measure of expectation damages for breach of contract?Loss in value of the promised performance, plus incidental and consequential damages, minus any cost or loss the injured party avoided by not having to perform. The aim is to put the injured party where full performance would have put it.Remedies › Damages
-
A contracts with B to pay B's debt to C. A neighbor, D, would profit if B's business thrives. Who may sue A if A fails to pay?A third party may enforce a contract only as an intended beneficiary; an incidental beneficiary may not. C is intended because performance satisfies a debt B owes C; D benefits only incidentally and has no rights. B, as the promisee, may also sue.Third Parties › Beneficiaries
Watch out: being named in the contract or receiving performance directly are strong signs of intended status.
Unlock the whole deck
You are studying a free 10-card sample. All 80 cards of Bar Exam — Contracts & Sales (MBE subject), the other 10 Bar exam (MBE subjects) decks, and spaced-repetition scheduling are built into Willys. 14-day free trial, then $14.99 a year.
In Willys, tap Exam Library at the top of your Decks (or Browse Exam Library… under the + button), find the exam on its shelf or by search, tick it and tap Add.
More Bar exam (MBE subjects) decks
← All Bar exam (MBE subjects) decks, with the study guide and topic outline.
About these cards
Review status: Second-reader reviewed, with corrections applied.
Checked against:
- Checked against the Uniform Commercial Code, Articles 1 and 2 (Official Text, as enacted in state law) and the Restatement (Second) of Contracts (reference only; no wording reproduced).
- Accord and satisfaction by check checked against UCC 3-311 (Official Text, as enacted in state law); reference only.
- Successive-assignment priority checked against In re Rosen, 157 F.2d 997 (3d Cir. 1946) and McKnight v. Rice, Hoppner, Brown & Brunner, 678 P.2d 1330 (Alaska 1984), which quote the Restatement rules (reference only; no text copied).
These are independent study notes written for Willys. They are not official exam material, may contain mistakes, and are no substitute for your course, your teacher or the exam owner's own publications. Found an error? Tell us — corrections ship as a new version of the deck.
Not legal advice. These cards prepare you for the bar exam's multistate subjects; they state general rules tested on the exam, not the law of any particular jurisdiction, and the law changes.
MBE® is a registered trademark of the National Conference of Bar Examiners, which is not affiliated with and does not endorse this product.
Use of these pages is covered by our Terms of Use.