AUTHORIZED CHEAT SHEET

A. Assault and Battery

A. Trespass to land

1. Assault: An intentional act that creates in another person a reasonable apprehension or fear of immediate harmful
or offensive contact.

Trespass to land occurs when a person, without permission, enters onto another's land, or causes anything or
anyone to enter onto the land, or remains on the land, or permits anything to remain on it. Harm to the land is
not required, but if no harm is done, usually only nominal damages are recovered.

2. Battery: An intentional, harmful or offensive physical contact. Physical injury need not occur. The reasonable
person standard determines whether the contact is offensive.

3.

Defenses:

a. Consent:

b.

Self-defense

c. Defense of Others

d.

Defense of Property

B.

False Imprisonment

What false imprisonment is: The intentional confinement or restraint of another person without justification.

C. Intentional infliction of Emotional Distress

Intentional infliction of Emotional Distress: Is an act that amounts to extreme and outrageous conduct resulting in
severe emotional distress to another. Generally, physical symptoms are required.

D.

Defamation

1.

A wrongful hurting of anothers good reputation though false statements.

B. Trespass to personal property

When an individual unlawfully harms another's personal property or otherwise interferes with the owner's
right to exclusive possession and enjoyment, trespass to personal property occurs.
C. Conversion
When the owner or rightful possessor of personal property is deprived of its use, conversion occurs.
Negligence the basis of this tort is conduct without regard to intention that imposed an unreasonable risk
upon others.
The elements are as follows:
1. Duty:
A legal duty, requiring the defendant to conduct herself in accordance to certain standards, so as to avoid
unreasonable risk to others.
2. Breach/Failure to conform:
A failure of the defendant to conform his conduct to this standard. This is the aspect of the cause of action
that can by itself be thought of as "carelessness".
3. Causation:
a. Actual Cause: The Plaintiff must show that there is a sufficiently close causal link between the defendant's
act and the harm suffered by the Plaintiff.
b. Proximate Cause / Legal Cause: The P must also show that the D was under a duty to protect the P.
4. Harm
The P must show that s/he suffered actual damage/harm as a result of the D's breach.
Negligence per se, the plaintiff must prove that:
1.The defendant violated a statute
2.The statute in question is a safety statute
3.The defendants acts caused the type of harm that the statute was intended to prevent
4.The plaintiff was a member of the class that the statute protected

4 Acts qualify as invasion of privacy:

1. Use of a persons name, picture or likeness for

commercial purposes without permission.

3. Publication of information that places a person in a

false light.

2.

4. Public disclosure of private facts about an

individual that an ordinary person would find
objectionable.

Intrusion on an individuals affairs or seclusion.

The Elements of Fraudulent Misrepresentation

a. Misrepresentation: of a material facts or conditions with knowledge that they are false or with reckless disregard for
the truth.

b.

Intent: to induce another to rely on the misrepresentation

c.

Justifiable Reliance: by the deceived party.

d.

Damages: suffered as a result of the reliance

e.

Causal Connection: between the misrepresentation and the injury/harm.

Professor Ronald J. Clare, Jr., ESQ

Spring 2015

AUTHORIZED CHEAT SHEET

Jurisdiction
A. Types Of Jurisdiction
1.
Jurisdiction over a person is called in personam jurisdiction
2.
Jurisdiction over property is called in rem jurisdiction. (jurisdiction over a thing)
3.
Subject Matter Jurisdiction is the limitation on the types of cases a court can hear
A court can exercise in personam jurisdiction over residents of the state in which the court is located and anyone who
can be served a summons.
Concurrent jurisdiction exists where two or more courts from different systems simultaneously have jurisdiction over a
specific case.
Exclusive jurisdiction exists where one court system has the power to adjudicate a case to the exclusion of all other
courts.
The Federal Courts:
1. Federal Question

2. Constitutional Right

Format
Conclusion (what) What happened in the fact pattern?
This is your opening statement. This is where you assign liability or state what rule applies, as per the fact
pattern.
Rule (why) - What is the Law that shows why it happened?
The rule is the law. The rule could be common law that was developed by the courts or a statute law that was
passed by the legislature.
Application (how) What are the facts that show how it happened?
Application is where you apply the facts to the rule(s) to prove your conclusion.
Conclusion 2 (the check) review your initial conclusion
In your application you applied the facts to the rule(s) to prove your conclusion. If your reasoning was sound
this will be a restatement of your original conclusion.

3. Diversity Of Citizenship
Criminal Defenses

Criminal Law

1. Forgery (the fraudulent making or alteration of any writing that changes the legal liability of another);
2. Robbery (the taking of anothers personal property, from his or her person or immediate presence, by force or
intimidation);

3. Burglary (the breaking and entering the dwelling of another at night to commit a felony therein);
4. Larceny (the wrongful or fraudulent taking and carrying away by any person of the personal property of another);
5. Obtaining goods by false pretenses (representing as true some fact or circumstance that is not true, with the intent of
deceiving and with the result of defrauding an individual into relinquishing property without adequate compensation);
6. Receiving stolen goods; and
7. Arson (the willful and malicious burning of a building or some other structure, and in some states personal property.

8. Embezzlement
Embezzlement is the fraudulent conversion of property or money owned by one person but entrusted to another.

9. Fraud

Fraud is an intentional deception made for personal gain or to damage another individual.

Common law fraud has nine elements:[3][4]

1.

a representation of a material fact or condition with knowledge that it is false or reckless disregard for the
truth;

2.

intent to deceive;

3.

justifiable reliance by the plaintiff;

4.

Consequent damages suffered by plaintiff.

a.

Mail And Wire Fraud

Use of the mails to defraud is a federal crime that requires (1) devising a scheme to defraud and (2) using
the mails to carry it out

b.

Forgery (the fraudulent making or alteration of any writing that changes the legal liability of another);

c.

False pretenses (representing as true some fact or circumstance that is not true, with the intent of
deceiving and with the result of defrauding an individual into relinquishing property without adequate
compensation);

d.

Bankruptcy Fraud
To be relieved of oppressive debt under the bankruptcy laws, a debtor must disclose all assets. A debtor
who fraudulently transfers assets to favored parties before or after petitioning for bankruptcy, or who
fraudulently conceals property commits a crime. Creditors may not file false claims against a debtor.

e.

Bank Fraud is the use of potentially illegal means to obtain money, assets, or other property owned or
held by a financial institution, or to obtain money from depositors by fraudulently posing as a bank or
other financial institution.

A. Infancy
Children up to 7 years of age
were considered incapable of
committing a crime.

Children between the ages of 7

and 14 rebuttable were
presumption to be incapable of
committing a crime

Children between the ages of

14and 7 rebuttable were
presumption to be capable of
committing a crime

B. Intoxication
Involuntary intoxication is a defense if its effect was to make a person either incapable of understanding that
the act committed was wrong or incapable of obeying the law. Voluntary intoxication is a defense if it
precludes having the required mental state, but it is not a defense to crimes of recklessness or negligence.
C. Insanity
The Model Penal Code: A person is not responsible for criminal conduct if as a result of mental disease or
defect he lacks substantial capacity either to appreciate the wrongfulness of his conduct or to conform his
conduct to the requirements of the law. Other states use the MNaghten test. Some states have adopted the
irresistible impulse test.
D. Mistake
Mistake of Law: a person who claims that he or she honestly did not know that a law was being broken may
have a valid defense if the law was not published or reasonably made known to the public, or if the person
relied on an official statement of the law that was erroneous. A mistake of fact, as opposed to a mistake of
law, will operate as a defense if it negates the required mental state.
E. Consent
Consent is a defense if it cancels the harm that the law is designed to prevent.
F. Duress
Duress exists when a wrongful threat induces a person to do something that he or she would not otherwise do.
Duress negates the necessary mental state if: the threat is of serious bodily harm or death, the harm that is
threatened is greater than the harm that will be caused by the crime, the threat is immediate and inescapable,
and the situation arose through no fault of the accused.
G. Justifiable Use Of Force
People can use the amount of force that is reasonably necessary to protect themselves, their dwellings or other
property, or to prevent the commission of a crime. Deadly force can be used in self-defense if there is a
reasonable belief that imminent death or great bodily harm will otherwise result, if the attacker is using
unlawful force, and if the person has not initiated or provoked the attack.
H. Entrapment
Entrapment occurs when a government officer suggests that a crime be committed and pressures or induces
an individual to commit it.
I. Statutes Of Limitations
Limits vary from state to state. Felonies usually have longer time limitations than misdemeanors, and there is
no limitation placed on murder. The limit is suspended if the suspect leaves the state or cannot be found.
J. Immunity
To obtain information, the state can grant immunity from prosecution. Once immunity is given, a person may
be compelled to answer questions

3. Computer Crime
Computer crime is any act that is directed against computers and computer parts, that uses computers as instruments of
crime, or that involves computers and constitutes abuse.

Professor Ronald J. Clare, Jr., ESQ

Spring 2015

AUTHORIZED CHEAT SHEET

4. Bribery
Bribery of public officials is a crime. The bribe can be of anything that the official considers valuable. Commission of
the crime occurs when the bribe is tendered the official does not have to agree to do anything nor even accept the bribe.

5. Extortion

Extortion also known as Blackmail the making of threats for the purpose of obtaining money or property.

7. Insider Trading is the trading of a public company's stock or other securities (such as bonds or stock options) by
individuals with access to non-public information about the company..

Professor Ronald J. Clare, Jr., ESQ

Spring 2015