Public Beta • Prototype Reference System

Core legal rules, statutes, and legal doctrines commonly tested on the Multistate Bar Examination and repeatedly encountered in legal practice.

Organized for orientation, review, and doctrinal clarity.

Core Legal Rules organizes foundational legal principles having a national scope in a navigable format designed for orientation, review, and doctrinal clarity. The goal is not merely to list rules, but to build an easily navigable structure of foundational legal doctrine, organized hierarchically and showing relationships among related doctrines so users can orient themselves conceptually within the law.

Public beta The Rules section is now live and database-backed. Rule statements are still under authority review, so verify controlling law before relying on any rule.

Browse the Rules How Rules Are Organized

How Rules Are Structured

Every subject is organized so you can review it the way memory actually works — quick, repeated recognition of the essentials first, with the supporting detail one click away when you want it.

SubjectsThe doctrinal areas of the MBE, used as the first level of navigation.
TopicsRelated rule families within a subject — such as jurisdiction, hearsay, negligence, or contract formation.
Core rulesThe black-letter rule itself, stated concisely — as set out in the controlling federal rule, statute, constitutional provision, or other primary authority, with a link to that source so you can verify it. These are the high-yield essentials you review for a fast pass.
Related rulesEverything that hangs off a core rule: its elements, exceptions, limitations, burdens of proof, common exam traps, key definitions, and clarifications. This is where close questions are won or lost — drill into it when you want depth on a particular rule.

Core rules vs. all rules. From any subject you can choose Core rules only or All rules. Core rules give you a clean, rapid pass over the essentials — ideal for repeated review in the days before the exam. All rules adds the related detail. You can always drill from a core rule into its related rules, so starting with core rules costs you nothing; the pages are built for fast, repeated recognition rather than exhaustive reading.

Seven Subject Areas

The public navigation begins with core doctrinal subjects commonly encountered in law school, bar preparation, and early legal practice.

Civil Procedure Jurisdiction, pleadings, joinder, discovery, judgments, and appeals.
Constitutional Law Structure, powers, individual rights, equal protection, and due process.
Contracts Formation, performance, breach, remedies, and UCC Article 2 concepts.
Criminal Law and Procedure Crimes, defenses, searches, seizures, confessions, and trial rights.
Evidence Relevance, character evidence, impeachment, hearsay, privileges, and experts.
Real Property Estates, future interests, conveyancing, mortgages, and landlord-tenant law.
Torts Intentional torts, negligence, strict liability, products liability, and damages.

Scope

Coverage focuses primarily on federal procedural and evidentiary rules, constitutional doctrine, federal statutes commonly tested on the MBE, and broadly recognized common-law principles of contracts, torts, and real property.

The site is not intended to provide comprehensive jurisdiction-specific state law coverage. Where jurisdiction-specific rules matter, users should consult controlling local authority.

On Authority and Accuracy

Rule statements are organized with authority metadata where available, including federal rules, statutes, constitutional doctrine, common-law principles, and explanatory sources such as Cornell Wex. Coverage focuses primarily on foundational legal doctrine commonly encountered in law school and bar examination subjects. Authority review is ongoing, and users should verify controlling law before relying on any statement.

In Development

The Rules section is now live and database-backed. The features below are still in development.

Visual memory aids
Structured doctrine maps
Authority and source tables
Relationship visualization tools
Guided issue spotting

What This Site Is Not

Not legal advice.
Not a legal encyclopedia.
Not a substitute for primary authority.