Customer Reviews

Cases and Materials on Criminal Law and Procedure, Eighth Edition (University Casebook Series)

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This is pretty much the standard case book for first year Criminal Law class.

But - this casebook is miles different from anything else you'll encounter in first year. And if you're lucky enough to use this book, those differences can make your study of Crimes a bit smoother.

What's the difference? The notes.

In my first year, I encountered casebooks with pages and pages of "notes" following the principle cases. Those notes asked questions, proposed hypos, and never gave answers. Sometimes, other cases were mentioned, but you'd have to look up those cases in order to get any answers.

Not so with Boyce's case book. Here, the principle case is not followed by "notes" in the traditional sense. No questions. No hypos. No vague references to other cases.

Instead, ten to fifteen rule-quotations from other cases follow the principle case.

Why does this matter? I'll tell you.

Read the "notes" first, before you read the principle case and definitely before you brief the case. You'll be absolutely stunned at how much easier it is to understand and brief the cases.

Once I caught on to this little trick, I cut my class prep time by about an hour a week. That gave me more time to study and take practice exams.

The result? An "A" on the final and in the course.

This is your typical first year coursebook....mounds of reading. I think the best feature is the "notes" section after the case. This tests your knowledge of the issue and rule better than just reading.