Cameron Miranda
A casebook is a type of textbook used by law students, containing excerpts from legal cases in which the law was applied. It is intended to be used as a teaching device, with the casebook method being the most commonly used form of instruction in American law schools. Students are tasked with analysing the language of the case to determine what rule was applied and how. Casebooks are not meant to be used as reference works, instead, they are designed to introduce students to legal doctrines. They are often supplemented with study aids and commercial study guides.
| Characteristics | Values |
|---|---|
| Type of textbook | Used primarily by students in law schools |
| Purpose | Teaching device |
| Content | Excerpts from legal cases, law review articles, legal treatises, historical notes, editorial commentary, and other related materials |
| Teaching Style | Casebook method |
| Publishers | Thomson West, Aspen Publishing, and LexisNexis |
| Cover colours | Red, blue, or brown |
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What You'll Learn
Casebooks are teaching tools
Casebooks are a type of textbook used primarily by students in law schools. They are intended to be used as teaching tools and are not meant to be used as reference works. Casebooks contain excerpts from legal cases in which the law of that area was applied. They may also contain excerpts from law review articles, legal treatises, historical notes, editorial commentary, and other related materials to provide background for the cases. The casebook method of teaching law was pioneered at Harvard Law School by Christopher Columbus Langdell and is based on the principle that rather than studying highly abstract summaries of legal rules, the best way to learn American law is to read the actual judicial opinions that become the law.
The casebook method is typically coupled with the Socratic method in American law schools. For a given class, a professor will assign several cases from the casebook for students to read. In class, the professor will ask students questions about the assigned cases to determine whether they identified and understood the correct rule from the case. By answering the professor's questions, the student learns to think like a lawyer. The case dialogue process helps students develop the psychological toughness required of professional advocates.
To facilitate the casebook method of study, "law school outlines" are used as legal topic study aids. Typically, the outlines are created by law school students, but there are also professional outlines available. An outline provides a concise and direct statement of legal issues in a particular area of law, organized according to the typical law school curriculum. In some cases, outlines are organized according to specific professors or courses.
The prevalence of the casebook method in American law schools has given rise to a market for commercial study aids "keyed" to a particular casebook edition. These study aids are generally summaries of the cases from the casebook, presenting them in the same order. They are useful in distilling cases down to black-letter law.
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Casebooks are not reference works
The teaching style based on casebooks is known as the casebook method. It is the primary method of teaching law in law schools in the United States. It was pioneered at Harvard Law School by Christopher Columbus Langdell. The casebook method is based on the principle that the best way to learn American law is to read the actual judicial opinions that become the law.
The casebook method is often used in conjunction with the Socratic method. For a given class, a professor will assign several cases from the casebook to read. In class, the professor will ask students questions about the assigned cases to determine whether they identified and understood the correct rule. This dialogue process helps students develop the psychological toughness required of professional advocates.
Casebooks are not meant to be used as reference works. They are meant to deliver information in small doses during a law school semester under the supervision of a law professor. They do not always include legal doctrines in their most current form, as the point of a casebook is to introduce students to such doctrines.
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The casebook method
To employ the casebook method, law professors collect illustrative cases concerning a particular area of the law in textbooks called casebooks. Some professors condense cases to their most important paragraphs, removing citations and paraphrasing, while others present full cases. Casebooks also contain excerpts from law review articles, legal treatises, historical notes, editorial commentary, and other related materials to provide background for the cases.
The case dialogue process helps students develop the psychological toughness required of professional advocates. The casebook method is also used in conjunction with lectures or other structured forms of instruction, especially in classes geared toward statutory law, such as tax law and certain areas of commercial law.
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Casebooks are used in other countries
Casebooks are used primarily by students in law schools. They are a type of textbook that contains excerpts from legal cases in which the law of that area was applied. The student must then analyse the language of the case to determine what rule was applied and how the court applied it. Casebooks are intended only as teaching devices and are not meant to be used as reference works. They are used in the US, where the casebook method is the primary method of teaching law, as well as in other common law countries, including Canada, Australia and New Zealand.
The casebook method is based on the principle that, rather than studying highly abstract summaries of legal rules (the technique used in most countries), the best way to learn law is to read the actual judicial opinions which become the law under the rule of stare decisis. To facilitate the casebook method of study, "law school outlines" are used as legal topic study aids. Typically, the outlines are created by law school students, but there are also professional outlines available. An outline provides a concise and direct statement of legal issues in a particular area of law, organised according to the typical law school curriculum.
In some law schools, the casebook method is used in conjunction with lectures or other more structured forms of instruction. This is especially true in classes that are more heavily geared towards statutory law, such as tax law and certain areas of commercial law.
The prevalence of the casebook method in American law schools has given rise to a market for commercial study aids "keyed" to a particular casebook edition. These study aids are generally summaries of the cases from the casebook, presenting them in the same order. They are useful in distilling cases down to black-letter law.
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Commercial study aids
A casebook is a type of textbook used primarily by students in law schools. It contains excerpts from legal cases in which the law of that area was applied, along with excerpts from law review articles, legal treatises, historical notes, and editorial commentary. The casebook method, the primary method of teaching law in the United States, involves students reading and analysing these cases to determine the rule applied and how it was applied. This method is supposed to teach students to think like a lawyer.
The prevalence of the casebook method in American law schools has led to a market for commercial study aids. These study aids are usually in the form of summaries or "briefs" of the cases in a particular casebook, presented in the same order. They are published by the same companies that publish the casebooks and are often written by the same authors. Commercial study aids are meant to assist students in accomplishing specific tasks, such as extracting the rule from a particular case, getting a broad overview of a topic, or practicing exam questions.
- Legalines, High Court Case Summaries, and Gilbert Law Summaries by West Thomson Reuters: These are summaries of cases that follow the structure of a particular casebook.
- Casenotes Legal Briefs by Aspen: These are also case summaries that correspond to specific casebooks.
- Understanding Series and Q&A Series by LexisNexis: These are slightly simplified versions of hornbooks, with footnotes, an index, and a table of cases.
- Concepts and Insights Series: Simplified treatises that complement casebook instruction, offering concise overviews of important areas of law.
- Examples & Explanations Series: Illustrative texts with hypotheticals and questions, including a glossary of technical terms, indexes, and tables.
- Mastering the Law Series: This series contains short sections, each describing a legal concept or key term.
- Nutshell Series: This series outlines the basic concepts in an area of law and provides short descriptions for each principle.
- Commercial Outlines: These focus on black-letter law and legal rules, often including exam tips and sample questions.
- Explanations of the Law: These provide detailed explanations of legal concepts, black-letter law, and useful background information.
- Problem-based Study Aids: These include problems and questions with model answers, as well as essay and multiple-choice questions.
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Frequently asked questions
A casebook is a type of textbook used by students in law schools. It contains excerpts from legal cases where a particular area of the law was applied.
The purpose of a casebook is to teach students general legal principles by studying specific cases. It is not meant to be used as a reference work.
The casebook method is a way of teaching law where students learn general legal principles by studying specific cases. It was introduced by Professor Christopher C. Langdell at Harvard Law School in 1869 and is now the most commonly used form of instruction in American law schools.
Textbooks are used as a convenient reference for research projects, whereas casebooks are used in class. Textbooks summarise legal principles, while casebooks contain excerpts from legal cases for students to analyse and determine what rule was applied and how.
Marbury v. Madison, a foundational Constitutional Law case, is often included at the beginning of casebooks.
