Law Commons^™

When a former student offered to let me see his grandfather's Torts notebook, I was intrigued. The 70-year-old black notebook has developed a patina, but is in remarkably good condition. The sides have a lightly textured surface. The spine, not damaged by cracks, has several small gold stripes running across it. The notebook belonged to a first-year law student named Leroy S. Merrifield during the 1938-39 academic year at the University of Minnesota Law School. Merrifield used it to record notes during his Torts class. His professor was William Prosser.

Because Prosser's papers likely have been destroyed, Merrifield's notebook offers …

This succinct paperback on tort reform lays bare one of the most important recent movements in the civil justice field. It begins with a brief overview of central themes and issues and then presents a series of original essays and comments by preeminent scholars, lawyers, and leaders in Tort Reform. The essays are followed by fictional narratives written from the standpoint of plaintiffs, defendants, and policymakers; a simulation; and a selection of carefully edited articles, government documents, interest group position papers, and cases. Comments, notes, and questions are interspersed throughout the text.