Cases and Materials on Torts (Casebook) [Hardcover]

Richard Allen Epstein (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 2000 | ISBN-10: 0735512132 | ISBN-13: 978-0735512139 | Edition: 7th

Well-known Torts expert Richard A. Epstein skillfully and effectively integrates modern scholarship and historical background in this highly successful casebook. Cases and Materials on Torts, now in its Ninth Edition, is an excellent introduction to the first-year Torts course that has been classroom-tested and proven by generations of law students.

Characteristics that have helped to make Cases and Materials on Torts a leader in the field include:

• Outstanding authorship: Richard A. Epstein is a well-known and highly respected expert in the field, and his presentation of the material with a definite economics-based point of view engages students and fuels class discussion
• Traditional approach: Cases are integrated with modern scholarship on moral theory, law and economics, and salient policy questions
• Thoughtful presentation: Professor Epstein examines the processes of legal method, legal reasoning, and the impact of legal rules on social institutions and exposes students to different intellectual approaches that have been employed to interpret tort law over the years
• Historical background: Discussion of the historical backdrop provides students with an accurate sense of Tort Law and its development up to the present

Continuing the past tradition of this widely used casebook, the Ninth Edition has been updated with:

• updated coverage of the growth in the doctrines of federal preemption into Tort Law, including whether compliance with a federal regulation blocks a state tort action
• coverage of the role of cyberspace in tort law, especially on the property torts, such as conversion
• New cases and updated notes throughout

Well written and insightful, this venerable casebook provides a firm introduction to torts for first-year students, giving them a sense of the historical underpinnings of tort law as well as exposure to different intellectual approaches to interpreting it.

LOOKING FOR ADDITIONAL RESOURCES TO HELP YOU IN TORTS? TRY EXAMPLES & EXPLANATIONS: LAW OF TORTS 4E (9780735588745) AND THE WOLTERS KLUWER BOUVIER LAW DICTIONARY: 2011 STUDENT EDITION (9780735568525) --TWO OF MANY GREAT STUDY GUIDES FROM WOLTERS KLUWER LAW & BUSINESS.

--This text refers to an alternate Hardcover edition.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 1430 pages
• Publisher: Aspen Law & Business; 7th edition (March 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0735512132
• ISBN-13: 978-0735512139
• Product Dimensions: 9.6 x 6.4 x 2.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.9 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,413,692 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good Casebook, March 22, 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: Cases and Materials on Torts (Casebook) (Hardcover)

Full Disclosure: I had Epstein as a professor (though not for torts) and like him personally. The critical review below is unfair. Epstein's book is certainly slanted towards a law and economics approach to torts, but it is hardly the ideological screed that the review makes it out to be. Epstein often presents cases taking approaches with which he would probably not agree and acknowledges when his own views differ from the majority opinion (which, as noted below, happens frequently). Especially when presenting arguments in the notes, Epstein almost always cites case law and law review articles contradicting him. It is true that the book probably does not spend enough time addressing reasoning that is not based in law and economics, but all case books have their flaws and this is the only signicant one I can find with this book. On the other side, the editing is very good, the chapters present the concepts in an intuitive order, and the notes to the cases were among the most interesting that I read in law school. Moreover, for students who are struggling to grasp the material, there is the Epstein treatise, which follows the book closely and explains the topics in a more straightforward manner (obviously at the cost of some the inherent complexity of the issues, but it makes a good supplement). Finally, as between a book that emphasizes law and economics in torts and one that emphasizes, say, corrective justice, it seems more valuable to have one that emphasizes law and econ because this is the less intuitive mode of analysis of the subject for most students. In a socratically taught class, it's likely that students will raise corrective justice issues on their own, when these can be compared with the material from the book, but it is less probable that students will fully calculate the economic ramifications of a precedential decision's effect on future actors' incentives unless they are encouraged to think this way when reading the cases. In sum, although the book would probably improve if it were not quite so heavily weighted towards law and economics, it is still a well edited, intuitively structured casebook with note material that should engage and interest students in the subject.

13 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Extraordinary Casebook, September 11, 1997

By A Customer

This review is from: Cases and Materials on Torts (Law school casebook series) (Hardcover)

Richard Epstein's Cases and Materials on Torts is easily the best casebook I used in law school. The cases are well edited, and the prose clear and tight. The notes after and before the cases are clear and thought provoking, but more importantly, let the reader know why the cases have been included in the book. While the book is heavily slanted toward a law and economics approach to tort law, I recommend this book for any professor who wants a systematic and clear approach to tort law that students will appreciate

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars What a great casebook!, October 13, 2006

By 

Jessica Aviles (Pacific Grove, CA USA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Cases and Materials on Torts (Hardcover)

I really enjoyed this casebook. In contrast to other books, this one not only has good main cases, but also smaller cases so you get a fuller picture of the law. After you read a case, there is a "discussion" section where the author discusses other similar cases in that area and the questions that can arise (what if? type of questions), which really get you thinking. Some people have said Epstein presents the law as he would like it to be, or that it's too focused on strict liability, but it's nothing I noticed. For my torts class this book is the only one we have to read, it's like a 2-in-1, instead of having to lug around two books, one for cases and one for law. The material presented in this book is clear and easy to understand and the reading is involving. Maybe I just like torts, I don't know, but I would have to say this is my favorite law book so far.