<p> Well-known Torts expert Richard A. Epstein skillfully and effectively integrates modern scholarship and historical background in this highly successful casebook. <b>Cases and Materials on Torts</b>, 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. </p> <p> <b>Characteristics that have helped to make Cases and Materials on Torts a leader in the field include:</b> </p> <ul> <li> <b>Outstanding authorship</b>: 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 </li> <li> <b>Traditional approach</b>: Cases are integrated with modern scholarship on moral theory, law and economics, and salient policy questions </li> <li> <b>Thoughtful presentation</b>: 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 </li> <li> <b>Historical background</b>: Discussion of the historical backdrop provides students with an accurate sense of Tort Law and its development up to the present </li> <li> <b>comprehensive Teacher’s Manual</b>: Professor Epstein shares proven teaching tips </li> </ul> <b>Continuing the past tradition of this widely used casebook, the Ninth Edition has been updated with: </b> <ul> <li> updated coverage of the <b>growth in the doctrines of federal preemption into Tort Law</b>, including whether compliance with a federal regulation blocks a state tort action </li> <li> coverage of the role of <b>cyberspace in tort law</b>, especially on the property torts, such as conversion </li> <li> <b>New cases and updated notes throughout</b> </li> </ul> 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. <p> An author website to support classroom instruction using this title is available at <a target="_blank" href="http://www.aspenlawschool.com/epstein9"> http://www.aspenlawschool.com/epstein9</a> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p>

typical 1L book. If your not getting it get your self a torts horn book.

the book was in great condition and the seller was very nice it just took 21 days to get it and im not sure was it the sellers fault or the ups? amazon helped me find the book i was looking for fast and made the purchase of it simple thanks amazon

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.

I definitely agree with the reviewer that Epstein too often presents the law as he wishes it were (and that the mainstream does not wish for), rather than the way it is. This man is such a strong believer in strict liability that he argues for this view over and over and over ... to the point at which I want to sue him for IIMD!

Other problems I have with the book:

1. Many of the squibs should be included as whole cases (to make room for them, cut out some of the commentary and a lot of the other squibs -- squibs are hard to understand, as they lack context).
2. Include further reading suggestions in footnotes. 1L's just don't have time to follow up on all the treatises and law review articles mentioned, and rather than remove such valuable information, move it to a footnote (or better yet an endnote) so that assignments are more easily read. I genuinely want to understand this material, and really care about it, but the assignments in this book are incredibly tedious because of all the extra material that I have had to train myself to skip just to get through it.
3. Cite yourself just a little less often. Reading this book you just know Epstein was the worst kind of gunner. Don't get me wrong -- I am a bit of a gunner myself. And I appreciate that the book is written by an authority in the field. But it's over the top and it disrupts the flow.
4. Finally, ease up on the quotes of old English cases to make fairly simple points. It slows down the reading and doesn't add to comprehension, so why bother? Here's an example:

The point being made: Courts are hostile to any requirement of mitigation by plaintiffs in nuisance suits.

The quote used to make this point: (Wood, 1893)
A person injured by a nuisance, is not precluded from a recovery by the fact that he might, by small exertion and a small expenditure, have prevented the injury, the rule being, that as it was the defendant's duty to abstain from the creation of the nuisance, and having created it adjoining owners are not bound to guard against the consequences ensuing therefrom, when in order to do so they are required to expend time or money .... A party is not bound to expend a dollar, or to do any act to secure for himself the exercise or enjoyment of a legal right of which he is deprived by reason of the wrongful acts of another.

(And a question to legal writers: Why do you feel compelled to say the same thing three slightly different ways? Are you paid by the word? But I digress.)

Anyway, I guess I can see why Epstein made some of the choices he made, but he seems to have forgotten his audience (1Ls) who are working with heavy reading loads learning a new language and new way of thinking -- and rather than shining light on this magical and amazing field of law, he darkens it with poorly written explanations, tedious recitals of related material, and entirely too much pontificating about the state of the law. I am not asking him to dumb down the book, but rather to brighten it.

Back to studying ...

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.