what are hornbooks and which ones to get? Forum

[imisscollege]

so you need your professional outlines, your casebooks, and your E&E's. But what are hornbooks? What info do they include? Is it one hornbook per 1L class like E&E's?

[imchuckbass58]

so you need your professional outlines, your casebooks, and your E&E's. But what are hornbooks? What info do they include? Is it one hornbook per 1L class like E&E's?

1) You don't necessarily need professional outlines. Some find them useful, some actually find them actively unhelpful, either because they diverge from the material your professor covers, or because they are a crutch that prevents you from going through the process of learning and synthesizing the material yourself. They might be helpful, but you should wait to get them until you figure out how your professor conducts class and how you study best.

2) E&Es are, technically, hornbooks. A hornbook is any treatise written on an area law that explains the material, whether it's in E&E form, or more "traditional" hornbook format (Prosser on Torts, Corbin on Contracts, etc).

3) You do not necessarily need to buy E&Es for every class. Some E&Es are vital and universally like (Glannon's CivPro). Others are pretty unhelpful (the Crim E&E, for example). Some are good for some classes, but not others (i.e., the contracts E&E is good, but diverges from many contracts classes). Again, you should not buy these (perhaps with the exception of Glannon) until you get to school and figure out what your professor's teaching style is and what his class emphasizes.

4) Other people may disagree, but you really do not need more than one hornbook/E&E. If you have a good hornbook, adding a second one really will not help. It just says the same stuff in a different way. Your time is probably much better spent at that point taking practice tests or working through hypos than reading another hornbook.

TLDR version: Chill out, you are a 0L, stop worrying about this stuff. You will figure it out when you get on campus.

[Paichka]

Hornbooks are (usually) one volume treatises on a single subject of the law -- like Prosser & Keaton on Torts, or Friedenthal on Civil Procedure, or Farnsworth on Contracts. I'd lump the "Understanding" series into this category as well.

You don't NEED them. I found them useful, but they'll probably be on reserve at your library, so you can check them out before buying. The most commonly recommended tend to be:

1. Prosser & Keaton on Torts (I think the last edition was from 1984 or something -- I preferred Understanding Torts)

2. Calamari & Perillo on Contracts (or Farnsworth on Contracts, which I liked better)

3. Friedenthal on Civil Procedure (I preferred Understanding Civil Procedure, or Moore's Federal Practice available for free on Lexis)

4. Understanding Criminal Law by Joshua Dressler

5. Understanding Property by Sprankling (I think?)

6. Constitutional Law by Chemirensky

Chuck beat me to it. But yeah, I'd take a good look at the supplements before buying -- figure out which one is going to work best FOR YOU, and then buy that one. It's heresy on here to say so, but I never found the E&Es to be that helpful. So YMMV.

[imchuckbass58]

Oh yeah, but to answer your original question, here is what I found helpful:

Chirelstein on Contracts (mostly because Chirelstein was my professor)

Torts E&E by Glannon supplemented by Prosser on Torts

Civpro E&E by Glannon

Understanding Property by Sprankling

Understanding Criminal Law by Dressler

Constitutional Law: Principles and Policies by Chemerinsky

[Catch22]

Let me put it this way - I bought all of the E&Es and a few hornbooks, opened my Contracts one ONCE, and then sold them all back for 1/5th of their value at the end of 1L. Some did find them helpful, but you'd be surprised how many people don't even touch them.

[Flanker1067]

While we are on this, is reading an E&E a way to get a sense of what law school is all about and whether we will enjoy what we learn?

[Thirteen]

Thanks for the recommendations.

[imchuckbass58]

While we are on this, is reading an E&E a way to get a sense of what law school is all about and whether we will enjoy what we learn?

No. Not at all.

[Paichka]

While we are on this, is reading an E&E a way to get a sense of what law school is all about and whether we will enjoy what we learn?

Not really, no. It'd be better to go visit a school and sit in on a class, if you want to get a sense of what law school is all about.

As far as whether you'll enjoy what you learn? A good chunk of that is the subject, yeah, but a LOT of it is the professor. I mean, in the abstract civil procedure probably looks like a total snooze...but I adored my first semester professor, so it was my favorite subject.

[Bosque]

This is THE answer. As far as Contracts is concerned anyway. I love the boat book so much.

[appstoapps]

Wanted to bump this, just to recommend what has become known school-wide as the "Boat Book."

[Thirteen]

Wanted to bump this, just to recommend what has become known school-wide as the "Boat Book."

I always read it when I'm doing cardio. GREAT book.

[beach_terror]

If the dude who writes your book also wrote a hornbook, then I'd recommend getting it over the more commonly used hornbook by another author. Freer wrote my CivPro text, and his hornbook is awesome in conjunction with it.

[kalvano]

Don't waste your money on the Civ Pro textbook. Just use the E&E.

[Borhas]

www.top-law-schools.com.org