Product Description
This casebook provides detailed information on tort law. The casebook provides the tools for fast, easy, on-point research. Part of the University Casebook Series®, it includes selected cases designed to illustrate the development of a body of law on a particular subject. Text and explanatory materials designed for law study accompany the cases…. More >>
Tags: body of law, casebook, cases and materials on torts, subject text, tort law, university casebook series
OK, it’s a casebook. By definition it is just a bunch of cases thrown together to demonstrate various areas of the law. But lately there has been a new trend in books for 1Ls… analysis. Sure, this book has “Notes” sections between the cases, but they are little more than hypotheticals or one-line versions of even more cases. What about some essays? Talk about the logic behind the cases or maybe mix in some Law and Economics theory. As a generic casebook this is quite good, but adding a little more than just cases would be outstanding.
Rating: 4 / 5
This book is still used a great deal in law schools, but there are better casebooks now with modern, more interesting cases and more thoughtful analysis. Instead, try Goldberg, Sebok and Zipursky, Tort Law: Responsibilities and Redress.
Rating: 2 / 5
Case books have a difficult time getting respect, because they have to include the opinions written by the different judges for the different cases. So, you’re dealing with many, many writers, and unfortunately, judges aren’t known for their entertaining, flowery prose.
So, the “authors” of a casebook really only get to throw in a few tidbits about the relevant law in-between a lot of badly written, lengthy legalese. I’m betting that they’re limited on how much they can write in-between the case opinions by their publishers.
That said, this is a pretty decent casebook. Buy it only if you have to. If you have access to Lexis/Nexis or WestLaw, etc., you can always just look up and read the cases online & save the cost of the textbook.
To really understand Torts, I suggest getting a study aid like Examples & Explanations, which I think is put out by Lexis press or the Professor Series by Gilberts. The Finals series are good, too.
Rating: 3 / 5
No case book is going to clearly explain the law. I can accept that we (law students) are supposed to be extract the law from a series of cases decided ages ago in states in which we will never set foot because, um, well, that’s the way law professors have always taught it. But this text stands apart from other case books I’ve had in that it seems to go out of its way to be as confusing, unhelpful and as much of a time-sink as possible.
Let’s walk through how it does this. Suppose you’re a law student in your first semester. Your torts professor has asked you to throw down $150 for this book and start reading. You start from the first page of a given chapter, reading and diligently briefing each case, which has been edited to better communicate the basic point. You’re confident you’ve picked out the rule, and, having mucked through the court’s analysis, you know how and why that rule exists. You go to the Notes after the case, only to read that the case you’ve just read represents a rule used in only a few jurisdictions — the “minority rule.” You ask, so what’s the MAJORITY rule — the one that will be on the exam? Well, the two sentences comprising Note #13 are asking YOU the same thing, and what’s more they’re instructing you to “See the case of Smith v. Jones,” which as luck would have it, is not in the case book. You have to go to your law library or log into your Westlaw account, search for Smith vs. Jones, read the UNEDITED version of it and figure out the majority rule for yourself. And, as we all know, law students have all the time in the world to wile away the hours chasing down an elusive rule for one very narrow point of law.
Granted, this doesn’t happen with each of the 300-odd cases contained herein. But it happens enough times to generate enough confusion such that you have to ask your professor, who (because he IS a law professor) answers your question with a series of questions.
Rating: 1 / 5
The book came on time, it was in very good condition, and it included an outline that was very useful.
Rating: 5 / 5