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Bibliography of American Law School Casebooks

Bibliography of American Law School Casebooks is the only comprehensive casebook index, featuring nearly 10,000 entries and spanning from 1870 to current within the last year. Enhance your legal studies with the second edition of Lind’s critical work.

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The Use of Casebooks in Legal Education

In 1871, at Harvard Law School, Christopher Columbus Langdell introduced what would come to be known as the “case method” of legal instruction. Langdell wrote what is considered to be the first casebook, A Selection of Cases on the Law of Contracts, that same year, collecting together cases that presented the then-current state of contract law for his students to study. The principle behind the case method is that students read a selection of assigned cases in order to comprehend the guiding legal principles. For nearly 150 years, this method has continued to spread and evolve, and today, some form of it is used in every law school in the United States. As such, casebooks remain the primary vehicle of legal education. 

About Bibliography of American Law School Casebooks

Although much has been written on the analysis of the case method and the evolution of the content of casebooks, no attempt had been made to identify all U.S. law school casebooks until the publication of Douglas W. Lind’s Bibliography of American Law School Casebooks, 1870-2004. This second edition of the work supplements the previous by extending the coverage through 2018 and adding 4,000 new entries. 

In addition to being released in print, the second edition is also now available in database format, providing users with an interactive digital list of all casebooks intended for use in law schools and published in the United States. The database version of the resource offers full search capabilities as well as full-text linking to relevant documents where available. Access online coverage from 1870 to current within the last year (with regular updates), utilizing multiple browse options—including an extensive author index listing more than 4,200 authors. In addition, content within the database has been categorized under 230 subject headings so that users may easily trace the topical development of legal education.

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Database Tools and Features

Topical Arrangement of Casebooks

Browse the nearly 10,000 entries in this work via 230 subject headings, providing a basis for tracing both the topical development of legal education and the case method of instruction.

Bibliography of American Law School Casebooks Browse by Subject Feature
Bibliography of American Law School Casebooks Author Index

Extensive Author Index

Use the built-in author index to easily peruse entries for more than 4,200 authors, maximizing efficiency and ease of research.

Full-Text Linking

Easily identify links that indicate when the full text for an entry is available. Select the link to view HeinOnline's fully searchable image-based PDF of the document.

Bibliography of American Law School Casebooks full-text linking

The Editor of the Casebook Index

Douglas Lind is the Director of the Law Library and Professor of Law at Southern Illinois University School of Law. He received a BA degree from Purdue University, a JD degree from Valparaiso University, and an MILS from the University of Michigan. Prior to his arrival at SIU in 2007, Professor Lind was the Head of Collections at Georgetown University School of Law Library, where he also taught Advanced Legal Research and Seminar Research Methods. His writing and research interests focus on the production and marketing of American printed materials in the mid-19th and early 20th centuries. He is the recipient of the Joseph L. Andrews Bibliographic Award, a national award which recognizes a significant contribution to legal biographical literature, for his two-volume reference work, Lincoln’s Suspension of Habeas Corpus.

Bibliography of American Law School Casebooks Editor Doug Lind

Pricing Information

ONLINE AND PRINT ACCESS

This includes the print edition of the book and access to the online database with regular updates. Access will last until the next edition is published. Note: Shipment of the book can be held until the purchasing organization reopens.

  • 1 Print Copy & Online Access $315.00
  • Additional Print Copies $130.00

Using the Bibliography of American Law School Casebooks Database

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