Customer Reviews

Prosser and Keeton on Torts, 5th Edition

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

. . . and one you should probably acquire for your law library at some point; its explanations are clear and lucid, and it's probably the single most-cited work on torts apart from the Restatement (Second). However, if you're a One-L looking for a study aid, there are a couple of things you should be aware of.

First of all, the most recent edition of this text dates from 1984. That means quite a bit of it is at least slightly out of date, and some of it is massively so (particularly in the field of products liability). For a more up-to-date hornbook, consider Dobbs. (I bought and used both.)

Second, when your torts professor talks about "black-letter law," s/he's not talking about this hornbook or any other; s/he's usually talking about the Restatement (Second) of Torts (or, in products liability, the Restatement (Third)). As much as I like hornbooks (and I am emphatically not a fan of the "casebook" approach), I have to say that if you want to get _one_ text to supplement your casebook, you should pick up _A Concise Restatement of Torts_ from the American Law Institute. And, ideally, you should memorize large portions of it.

Of course, you can do what I did: buy all three. It's a great investment, and it will pay off in your studies; Prosser and Keeton provide much helpful discussion of points that Dobbs treats more briefly, and the Concise Restatement is much easier to understand once you've digested the hornbook(s).

At any rate, this _is_ a classic text and you shouldn't go without it for any longer than necessary. Just be aware of what you're buying and set your priorities accordingly.

I used P&K to supplement my casebook and class notes, and it guided me to an A- in torts. It's a great tool and a great read. However, it does have certain limitations: the final edition was published in the late 80s, so it does not provide much guidance on product liability, infliction of emotional distress and other emerging areas of tort law.

P&K gives you something that year 1 of law school sorely lacks: a context for the fragments in your case book. Its treatment of Palsgraf is particularly beautiful.

And since Prosser so strongly influenced tort law, you can be confident that you are getting good information. Some of my classmates used commercial outlines and they often worried about whether they could trust the material. No such problems with P&K; it was on the money all the time. And when there was a contradiction between P&K and my textbook, I was able to go to my professor and ask her about it. Try doing that with a commercial outline.

P&K is not merely fine reference tool; it is a genuine work of literature. I love it, and I highly recommend it.

This is THE classic hornbook for torts, and is an indispensable part of any law student's library. I still find myself referring to this one from time to time. When I was in law school the lucid and clear explanations of law, combined with copious footnoted citations, made this book a joy to own and read.

There are a lot of general torts texts, but after eight years of practice, this one still ranks near the top.

I used this book in law school, and continue to use it 7 years into my practice. However the pocket part is the same one I've always had -- 1988 -- I cannot find an update.

"Hornbooks" are summaries of a body of law used by angst-ridden law students to amplify and clarify the often arcane materials contained in Casebooks. The law of torts is one of the primary building blocks of a first year legal education, along with Property and Contracts. Almost every 1L has a small library of these dark green encyclopedic volumes that weigh in by the kilogram.

PROSSER AND KEETON ON TORTS is one of the few Hornbooks (along with CALAMARI AND PERILLO ON CONTRACTS) that is considered an acceptable, though not authoritative, treatise for purposes of legal citation. Of course, cases themselves trump any other source material.

Having practiced law for fifteen years I was surprised to note that PROSSER AND KEETON ON TORTS is still in its Fifth Edition (updated with Pocket Parts, no doubt) just as it was when I first cracked the spine of my copy.

So many years after the intellectual concentration camp that is First Year Law School, I find that perusing Hornbooks for interesting minutae can be a rather enjoyable way spend a rainy, quiet afternoon. It's too bad that most law schools make reading the "Palsgraf" case feel like root canal without novocaine. Law has a beauty that is often ruined by legal education.

If you plan to carry your Hornbooks around, get yourself a litigation case on wheels; it'll spare you a future of back problems.

The descriptions in the book are lengthy. As you are probably not aware, learning the definitions in law are a huge part of the battle. This book provides pages and pages of additional information, but only a paragraph to define a particular subject matter.

Lucid, well written, this is the book every first year law student must have. No other book sets forth such a complex area of the law with such clarity. Get it and read it before your first torts class.

This is a must have reference book for any law student or lawyer, or anyone who just wants to amass a quality law library.

This book is a classic on torts in USA. The positive side is that the book is complete, with a wide range of themes about torts. The negative side is that its last actualization was on 1984.

Everything you would expect form Prosser on Torts. It's a great supplement to any Torts class.