Inexpensive and Open-Access Casebooks
Maintained by James Grimmelmann
Current through August 2023
This is a list of affordable law-school casebooks. I do my best to keep this list up-to-date. Please let me know of any errors or omissions.
Administrative Law
Antitrust
Business Associations
Civil Procedure
- Ray Campbell, US Civil Procedure for International Students (2023) (Creative Commons-licensed H2O playlist)
- I. Glenn Cohen, Civil Procedure (2021) (Creative Commons-licensed H2O playlist)
- Jessica R. Gunder, Civil Procedure: Rules, Statutes, & Materials (2023) ($4.90 paperback)
- Stella Burch Elias et al., Rules and Laws for Civil Actions (2023) (Creative Commons-licensed download, or $10 paperback)
- James C. Park, Computer-Aided Exercises in Civil Procedure, 7th Edition (2012) (Creative Commons-licensed multi-format download, or $12.20 paperback)
Constitutional Law
- Ronald K.L. Collins, Will Creeley, and David L. Hudson, Jr., First Things First: A Modern Coursebook on Free Speech Fundamentals (2019) (free ebook download, or $16.00 paperback)
- Lawrence Lessig, Constitutional Law (2019) (Creative Commons-licensed H2O playlist)
- Jeffrey Litwak, Interstate Compacts: Cases and Materials (2020) ($30-suggested pay-what-you-want PDF download, or $61.00 paperback)
- John T. Parry, Cases and Problems in Civil Rights Litigation (2020) ($30-suggested pay-what-you-want PDF download, or $66.60 paperback)
- Ruthann Robinson, Liberty, Equality, and Due Process: Cases, Controversies, and Contexts in Constitutional Law (2021) (Creative Commons-licensed multi-format download, or $22.82 paperback)
- Ruthann Robinson, First Amendment: Cases, Controversies, and Contexts (2019) (Creative Commons-licensed multi-format download, or two-volume $32.52 + $12.85 paperback)
Commercial Law
Contracts
Criminal Law
Criminal Procedure
Entrepreneurship Law
Samantha Prince, Entrepreneurship Law: Company Creation (2023) (online public-domain)
Samantha Prince, Entrepreneurship Law: Operational Issues (2022) (online public-domain)
Environmental Law
Evidence
Health Law
Immigration Law
Intellectual Property - General
- James Boyle and Jennifer Jenkins, Intellectual Property: Law & the Information Society—Cases and Materials (2018, supplement 2019) (Creative Commons-licensed PDF or .DOC download, $34.99 paperback, or via LawCarta) (also available: Creative Commons-licensed PDF download or $12.50 paperback statutory supplement)
- Thomas G. Field, Jr., Introduction to Administrative Process: Cases and Materials (2010) (free for noncommercial reproduction PDF download)
- Thomas G. Field, Jr., Fundamentals of Intellectual Property: Cases & Materials (2014) (free for noncommercial reproduction PDF download)
- James Grimmelmann, Patterns of Information Law (2017) (Creative Commons-licensed PDF downlaod)
- Herbert Hovenkamp, Innovation and Competition Policy (2013) (free for noncommercial use and modification PDF downloads)
- Eric E. Johnson, IP Surveyor (open-access licensed PDF downloads)
- Lydia Pallas Loren and Joseph Scott Miller, Intellectual Property Law: Cases and Materials (2023) ($30-suggested pay-what-you-want PDF download or $74 paperback)
- Peter S. Menell, Mark A. Lemley, Robert P. Merges, and Shyamkrishna Balganesh, Intellectual Property in the New Technological Age (2023) (two-volume $30 + $37 paperback) (also available: $37 paperback statutory supplement)
- Jason Rantanen, Introduction to Intellectual Property - Cases and Questions (2021) (Creative Commons-licensed PDF download or $13.18 paperback)
Intellectual Property - Copyright
Intellectual Property - Patent
- Sarah Burstein, Sarah R. Wasserman Rajec, and Andres Sawicki Patent Law: An Open-Access Casebook (2021) (Creative Commons-licensed PDF download, or $29.99 paperback)
- Thomas Cotter, Remedies in U.S. Patent Law (2020) (Creative Commons-licensed via LawCarta)
- Mark Janis, Ted Sichelman, and chapter contributors, Patent Law: An Open-Source Casebook (2023) (PDF download licensed for free use and modification with attribution, or via LawCarta)
- Joseph Scott Miller, Patent Law: Cases and Materials (2015) (PDF download)
- Jonathan S. Masur and Lisa Larrimore Ouellette, Patent Law: Cases, Problems, and Materials (2023) (Creative Commons-licensed PDF download, $22.30 color paperback, or $18.19 black-and-white paperback)
Intellectual Property - Trademark and Advertising
Intellectual Property - Licensing
Internet Law
- Chris Bavitz, Regulating Online Conduct: Speech, Privacy, and the Use and Sharing of Content (2018) (Creative Commons-licensed H2O playlist)
- Anupam Chander, Internet Law: Cases and Materials (2021) ($1 Kindle ebook or $20 paperback) (also available: $1 Kindle ebook or $8 paperback statutory supplement )
- Eric Goldman, Internet Law: Cases and Materials (2018) ($10 PDF download, $9.99 Kindle ebook, $22 paperback, or $28 hardcover)
- James Grimmelmann, Internet Law: Cases and Problems (2023) (pay-what-you want PDF download, suggested price $30, also available as $75 paperback)
- Jonathan Zittrain and Joichi Ito, The Ethics and Governance of Artificial Intelligence (2018) (Creative Commons-licensed H2O playlist)
- Jerry Kang and Alan Butler, Communications Law and Policy: Cases and Materials (2020) ($9.99 Kindle ebook or $49.99 paperback)
Law and Economics
- Robert D. Cooter and Michael D. Gilbert, Public Law and Economics (2022) (Creative Commons-licensed PDF download or $49.95 paperback)
Legal Research
National Security Law
Property
- Stephen Clowney, James Grimmelmann, Michael Grynberg, Jeremy Sheff, and Rebecca Tushnet, Open Source Property (2016) (Creative Commons-licensed multi-format download, as chapters or as various casebook “builds”)
- Steven Semeraro, An Introduction to Property Law in the United States (2022) ($30-suggested pay-what-you-want PDF download)
- Christian Turner, Land Use (2012) (Creative Commons-licensed multi-format download, or $22.58 paperback)
- Christian Turner, Property (2012) (Creative Commons-licensed multi-format download, or two-volume $33.15 + $27.24 hardcover)
Professional Responsibility
Tax
Torts
- Eric E. Johnson, Torts: Cases and Contexts (2015) (Creative Commons-licensed multi-format download, or two-volume $8.41 + $11.68 paperback)
- Thomas Kadri, Tort Law: Cases & Critique (2022) (Creative Commons-licensed PDF download, or $29.13 hardback)
- Zahr Said, Tort Law: A 21st-Century Approach (2022) (Creative Commons-licensed multi-format download, or $37.05 paperback)
- John Fabian Witt and Karen M. Tani, Torts: Cases, Principles, and Institutions (2022) (Creative Commons-licensed multi-format download, or $35.83 paperback)
- Jonathan L. Zittrain and Jordi Weinstock, Torts! (2022) (H2O playlist) or $65 paperback)
Trusts and Estates
- Browne C. Lewis, Law of Trusts (2013) (Creative Commons-licensed multi-format download, or $13.25 paperback)
- Browne C. Lewis, Law of Wills (2016) (Creative Commons-licensed multi-format download, or $12.32 paperback)
Video Game Law
- Mark A. Lemley and Sonali Maitra, Video Game Law (2023) (free multi-format download)