Exam (elaborations)
MBE Multistate Bar Examination MBE_Sample_Test_Questions_New
- Course
- IOWA Board of Law MBE
- Institution
- Iowa State University
MBE Multistate Bar Examination
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MBE Sample Test QuestionsMBE.
Multistate Bar Examination
The following sample questions are examples of test questions similar to those on the MBE. While
these sample questions illustrate the kinds of questions that will appear on the MBE, they do not
represent all the material covered. Examinees are advised to review the information on MBE content,
including the MBE Subject Matter Outline. To model the pacing required to complete a full MBE,
these questions should be answered in approximately 38 minutes. An answer key follows on page 6.
1. A father lived with his son, who was an alcoholic. When (A) The one-year residence requirement is valid because it
drunk, the son often became violent and physically abused does not affect any fundamental right or suspect class.
his father. As a result, the father always lived in fear. One (B) State durational residence requirements that are estab-
night, the father heard his son on the front stoop making lished for publicly funded services are constitutional
loud obscene remarks. The father was certain that his son because they relate to government operations reserved
was drunk and was terrified that he would be physically exclusively to the states by the Tenth Amendment.
beaten again. In his fear, he bolted the front door and took (C) Because publicly funded education is a fundamental
out a revolver. When the son discovered that the door was constitutional right, a state may not deny it to any class
bolted, he kicked it down. As the son burst through the of persons who reside in that state.
front door, his father shot him four times in the chest, killing (D) State durational residence requirements established
him. In fact, the son was not under the influence of alcohol for this kind of publicly funded service solely for the
or any drug and did not intend to harm his father. purpose of reducing state expenditures violate the
privileges or immunities clause of the Fourteenth
At trial, the father presented the above facts and asked the
Amendment.
judge to instruct the jury on self-defense.
4. A man has four German shepherd dogs that he has trained
How should the judge instruct the jury with respect to for guard duty and that he holds for breeding purposes.
self-defense? The man has “Beware of Dogs” signs clearly posted
around a fenced-in yard where he keeps the dogs. The
(A) Give the self-defense instruction, because it expresses
man’s next-door neighbor frequently walks past the man’s
the defense’s theory of the case.
house and knows about the dogs’ ferocity. One summer
(B) Give the self-defense instruction, because the evi-
day, the neighbor entered the man’s fenced-in yard to
dence is sufficient to raise the defense.
retrieve a snow shovel that the man had borrowed during
(C) Deny the self-defense instruction, because the father
the past winter. The neighbor was attacked by one of the
was not in imminent danger from his son.
dogs and was severely injured.
(D) Deny the self-defense instruction, because the father
used excessive force. In a suit against the man, is the neighbor likely to prevail?
(A) No, because the neighbor knew that the man had dan-
2. A man sued a railroad for personal injuries suffered when his
car was struck by a train at an unguarded crossing. A major gerous dogs in the yard.
issue is whether the train sounded its whistle before arriving (B) No, because the neighbor was trespassing when he
at the crossing. The railroad has offered the testimony of entered the man’s property.
a resident who has lived near the crossing for 15 years. (C) Yes, because the neighbor was an invitee for the pur-
Although she was not present on the occasion in question, pose of retrieving the shovel.
she will testify that, whenever she is home, the train always (D) Yes, because the man was engaged in an abnormally
sounds its whistle before arriving at the crossing. dangerous activity.
5. A woman from State A filed an action against a retailer
Is the resident’s testimony admissible? in a state court in State B. The complaint alleged that the
retailer had not delivered $100,000 worth of goods for
(A) No, due to the resident’s lack of personal knowledge which the woman had paid.
regarding the incident in question.
(B) No, because habit evidence is limited to the conduct of Twenty days after being served, the retailer, which is incor-
persons, not businesses. porated in State C and has its principal place of business in
(C) Yes, as evidence of a routine practice. State B, filed a notice of removal in a federal district court
(D) Yes, as a summary of her present sense impressions. in State B.
Was the action properly removed?
3. To keep its public school expenditures under control in a
time of increasing costs, a state passed a law providing (A) No, because the notice of removal was not timely filed.
that children who have not lived in the state for at least one (B) No, because the retailer is a citizen of State B.
year cannot attend public schools in the state. (C) Yes, because the parties are citizens of different
states and more than $75,000 is in controversy.
Which of the following statements about this law is most (D) Yes, because the retailer is a citizen of both State B
accurate as a matter of constitutional law? and State C.
MBE Sample Test Questions | 1
Copyright © 2016, 2021 by the National Conference of Bar Examiners. All rights reserved.
, 6. A man owned a house where he lived with his family. The Is the sporting goods shop legally entitled to reject the
man was convicted of selling large quantities of an illegal posters?
drug from his house. Acting under a state law authorizing the
(A) No, because the nonconformity does not materially alter
destruction of buildings that are used for illegal activity, the
the value of the posters to the sporting goods shop.
city destroyed the man’s house.
(B) No, because the publisher must be given an opportunity
The man’s family then rented an apartment and demanded to cure the nonconformity before the sporting goods
that the city pay the rent for that temporary residence. The shop can reject the posters.
family relied on a state law providing that any person who (C) Yes, because the posters do not conform to the contract.
(D) Yes, because the publisher has breached an implied
was dispossessed of his or her place of residence because
warranty of fitness for a particular purpose.
of the actions of city officials was entitled to replacement
housing at the city’s expense until permanent substitute 8. A woman borrowed $800,000 from a bank and gave the bank
housing could be found. When the city refused to pay the a note for that amount secured by a mortgage on her farm.
rent for the apartment, the man’s family sued the city in a Several years later, at a time when the woman still owed the
state trial court claiming a right to such payment under both bank $750,000 on the mortgage loan, she sold the farm to
the state law and the due process clause of the Fourteenth a man for $900,000. The man paid the woman $150,000 in
Amendment to the United States Constitution. cash and specifically assumed the mortgage note. The bank
received notice of this transaction and elected not to exer-
The highest state court ruled for the family. Although the cise the optional due-on-sale clause in the mortgage.
court decided that the family had no right to payment under
the state law, it held that the Fourteenth Amendment entitled Without informing the man, the bank later released the
the family to payment of the rent for the temporary apart- woman from any further personal liability on the note.
ment. In its opinion, the highest state court indicated that in After he had owned the farm for a number of years, the man
several of its decisions it had found cities liable for compen- defaulted on the loan. The bank properly accelerated the
sation in similar situations on the basis of the due process loan, and the farm was eventually sold at a foreclosure sale
clause of the state constitution. But the highest state court for $500,000. Because there was still $600,000 owing on the
declined to base its holding on the state constitution because note, the bank sued the man for the $100,000 deficiency.
that issue had not been properly raised in the case.
Is the man liable to the bank for the deficiency?
The city then filed a petition for a writ of certiorari in the
(A) No, because the woman would have still been primarily
United States Supreme Court.
liable for payment, but the bank had released her from
Does the Court have jurisdiction to review the merits of this personal liability.
case? (B) No, because the bank’s release of the woman from per-
sonal liability also released the man.
(A) Yes, because the highest state court based its decision (C) Yes, because the bank’s release of the woman consti-
wholly on federal law grounds. tuted a clogging of the equity of redemption.
(B) Yes, because the federal and state law issues in this (D) Yes, because the man’s personal liability on the note
case are so intertwined that a resolution of the federal was not affected by the bank’s release of the woman.
law issues is necessary to facilitate a proper determina-
9. A young man suggested to his friend that they steal a large-
tion of the state law issues.
screen TV from a neighbor’s house. The friend was angry with
(C) No, because the decision of the highest state court ren-
the young man and decided to use the opportunity to get even
ders the case moot.
with him by having him arrested. The friend said he would
(D) No, because independent state law grounds could have
help, and that night, he drove the young man to the neighbor’s
been used to justify the result in this case. house. The young man broke in while the friend remained out-
side. The friend called the police on his cell phone and then
7. A sporting goods shop contracted with a publisher to buy,
drove away. Police officers arrived at the scene just as the
for sale in its store, 1,200 posters featuring a professional
young man was carrying the TV out the back door.
golfer. During production, the image of the golfer was inad-
vertently reversed and the right-handed golfer appeared to The jurisdiction defines crimes as at common law.
be left-handed. When the posters were delivered on the date
Of what crime, if any, can the friend properly be convicted?
provided in the contract, the sporting goods shop noticed the
discrepancy, which had no provable significant impact on the (A) No crime.
effectiveness of the poster. In the opinion of the shop man- (B) Conspiracy.
agement, however, the posters did not look as good as they (C) Burglary.
had in the catalog from which the shop had ordered them. (D) Conspiracy and larceny.
2 | MBE Sample Test Questions
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