Inexpensive and Open-Access Casebooks
Maintained by James Grimmelmann
Last updated June 2026
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.
General U.S. Law
Mark Shope, An Introduction to the Law of the United States (2021) (free PDF download)
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, Derek T. Muller, Jason Rantanen, Caroline Sheerin, and Maya Steinitz, Rules and Laws for Civil Actions (2025) (Creative Commons-licensed download, or $13 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
- Jud Campbell, Constitutional Rights (2024), (Creative Commons-licensed multi-format download, or $48.45 paperback)
- 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 (2023) ($30-suggested pay-what-you-want PDF download, or $74 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
- Matthew Bodie, Pamela Bookman, Tal Kastner, Ethan J. Leib, Jake Linford, and Guy Rub, Open Source Contracts (2025) (Creative Commons-licensed multi-format download, as chapters or as various casebook “builds”)
- Charles Fried, Contracts (2017) (H2O playlist)
- Val Ricks, The Story of Contract Law (2021) (Creative Commons-licensed multi-format download, or two-volume $24.10 + $14.48 paperback)
- Franklin G. Snyder and Mark Edwin Burge, American Contract Law for a Global Age (Creative Commons-licensed multi-format download, or $20.11 paperback)
- J.H. Verkerke, Contract Doctrine, Theory & Practice (2012) (Creative Commons-licensed multi-format download, or three-volume $10.22 + $6.38 + $8.60 paperback)
Criminal Law
Criminal Procedure
Employment Law
Entrepreneurship Law
Environmental Law
Evidence
Health Law
Immigration Law
Intellectual Property - General
- James Boyle and Jennifer Jenkins, Intellectual Property: Law & the Information Society—Cases and Materials (2024) (Creative Commons-licensed PDF or .DOC download, $37.35 paperback, or via LiveCarta) (also available: Creative Commons-licensed PDF or $15.99 paperback statutory supplement (2018))
- 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, Information Property (2025) (Creative Commons-licensed PDF download, $25.84 paperback, or $45.13 hardcover)
- James Grimmelmann, Patterns of Information Law (2017) (Creative Commons-licensed PDF download)
- 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 (2025) (two-volume $30 + $37 paperback) (also available: $37 paperback statutory supplement)
- Jason Rantanen, Introduction to Intellectual Property - Cases and Questions (2025) (Creative Commons-licensed PDF download or $17.60 paperback)
Intellectual Property - Copyright
Intellectual Property - Patent
- Sarah Burstein, Sarah R. Wasserman Rajec, and Andres Sawicki Patent Law: An Open-Access Casebook (2025) (Creative Commons-licensed PDF download, or $29.99 paperback)
- Thomas Cotter, Remedies in U.S. Patent Law (2020) (Creative Commons-licensed via LiveCarta)
- 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 LiveCarta)
- Joseph Scott Miller, Patent Law: Cases and Materials (2015) (PDF download)
- Jonathan S. Masur and Lisa Larrimore Ouellette, Patent Law: Cases, Problems, and Materials (2025) (Creative Commons-licensed PDF download, $30.71 color paperback, or $18.13 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 (2025) ($4.99 Kindle ebook or $29 paperback) (also available: $2 Kindle ebook or $10 paperback statutory supplement )
- Eric Goldman, Internet Law: Cases and Materials (2025) ($10 PDF download, $9.99 Kindle ebook, $20 paperback, or $28 hardcover)
- James Grimmelmann, Internet Law: Cases and Problems (2025) (pay-what-you want PDF download, suggested price $30, also available as $75.10 paperback)
- Thomas E. Kadri Dilemmas in Digital Abuse (2024) (Creative-Commons licensed PDF download or $14.74 paperback)
- Thomas E. Kadri and Samuel Won, Cybercrime Scenarios (2024) (Creative-Commons licensed PDF download or $14.35 paperback)
- Jonathan Zittrain and Joichi Ito, The Ethics and Governance of Artificial Intelligence (2018) (Creative Commons-licensed H2O playlist)
- Jerry Kang, Alan Butler, and Blake Reid, Communications Law and Policy: Cases and Materials (2025) (Creative Commons-licensed PDF download)
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
Legislation
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)
Privacy Law
Professional Responsibility
Religion
Tax
Technology Law
- BJ Ard and Rebecca Crootof, Technology Law (2025) (free Google Docs or PDF download)
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)
A few publishers specialize in affordable casebooks:
- CALI eLangdell: free multi-format downloads, some books available in printed versions
- H2O: online “playlists,” with a list of featured casebooks
- Semaphore Press: pay-what-you-want downloads, some books available in printed versions
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