{"data":[{"id":51,"title":"The Legal and Ethical Environment of Business","edition_statement":null,"volume":null,"copyright_year":2011,"isbn10":null,"isbn13":null,"license":"Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike","language":"eng","accessibility_statement":null,"accessibility_features":["unknown"],"description":"Terence Lau \u0026 Lisa Johnson's The Legal and Ethical Environment of Business is a book for today's student, who expects learning to be comprised not only of substance, but also of interactive exercises and multimedia. This book streamlines the presentation of material to ensure that every page is relevant, engaging, and interesting to undergraduate business students, without losing the depth of coverage that they need to be successful in their academic journeys and in their professional careers. This is not Legal Environment of Business (LEB) ”light.“ Rather, this is LEB without risk of students' eyes glazing over in boredom or from lack of comprehension. This is LEB presented in an exciting way, where every page is interesting to students and relevant to real life. The authors recognize that the sheer volume of information to be covered in a LEB course makes it one of the more challenging courses for the business undergraduate. Not only do typical LEB texts read like the first year curriculum at law school, but also the LEB course is grounded in the humanities, which can make the subject even more demanding for students who are also taking statistics, economics, finance, and accounting. Each chapter contains not only substantive law, but also illustrative videos, interactive exercises for hands-on learning, and discussion questions for critical thought. Additionally, each chapter presents ”A Question of Ethics“ section, which contains real world ethical dilemmas relevant to the topic under study. These videos, exercises, discussion questions, and ethics sections all provide opportunities for students to apply concepts that they are learning in the context of relevant LEB topics that shape or restrain actual decision-makers' actions. It's real world practice in the safety of the classroom environment. Lau \u0026 Johnson's The Legal and Ethical Environment of Business is a textbook that students will enjoy reading. This will encourage them to come to class prepared, and free you to teach the kind of course you want to teach. Request a desk copy and see for yourself.","contributors":[{"id":2006,"contribution":"Author","primary":true,"corporate":false,"title":null,"first_name":"Terence","middle_name":null,"last_name":"Lau","location":"University of Dayton","background_text":"Terence Lau is an associate professor of business law in the Management/Marketing Department at the School of Business Administration, University of Dayton (UD). He served as the 2006 Supreme Court Fellow at the Supreme Court of the United States. Prior to joining UD, he was in-house counsel to Ford Motor Company in Detroit and Director for Governmental Affairs for ASEAN to Ford Asia-Pacific in Bangkok. He holds a JD from Syracuse University."},{"id":2007,"contribution":"Author","primary":false,"corporate":false,"title":null,"first_name":"Lisa","middle_name":null,"last_name":"Johnson","location":"University of Puget Sound","background_text":"Lisa Johnson is an Associate Professor at the University of Puget Sound School of Business and Leadership. She holds a J.D. with a certificate in Environmental and Natural Resources Law from the Northwestern School of Law of Lewis and Clark College, a PhD from Portland State University in Public Affairs and Policy, with a dissertation field in political theory, an MPA in international environmental policy from Indiana University, and an MFA from Pacific Lutheran University. She is a Fellow at the Oxford Centre for Animal Ethics."}],"subjects":[{"id":2,"name":"Business","parent_subject_id":null,"call_number":"HF5001","visible_textbooks_count":144,"url":"https://staging.open.umn.edu/opentextbooks/subjects/business"},{"id":62,"name":"Civil Law","parent_subject_id":11,"call_number":"K623","visible_textbooks_count":26,"url":"https://staging.open.umn.edu/opentextbooks/subjects/law-civil-law"},{"id":68,"name":"Constitutional Law","parent_subject_id":11,"call_number":"K3154","visible_textbooks_count":19,"url":"https://staging.open.umn.edu/opentextbooks/subjects/constitutional-law"},{"id":64,"name":"Contract Law","parent_subject_id":11,"call_number":"K7265","visible_textbooks_count":25,"url":"https://staging.open.umn.edu/opentextbooks/subjects/environmental-law"},{"id":63,"name":"Criminal Law","parent_subject_id":11,"call_number":"KB3790","visible_textbooks_count":20,"url":"https://staging.open.umn.edu/opentextbooks/subjects/criminal-law"},{"id":11,"name":"Law","parent_subject_id":null,"call_number":"KF385.A4","visible_textbooks_count":99,"url":"https://staging.open.umn.edu/opentextbooks/subjects/law"},{"id":66,"name":"Property Law","parent_subject_id":11,"call_number":"K7200","visible_textbooks_count":22,"url":"https://staging.open.umn.edu/opentextbooks/subjects/property-law"}],"publishers":[{"id":41,"url":"http://www.saylor.org/site/textbooks/The%20Legal%20and%20Ethical%20Environment%20of%20Business.pdf","year":null,"created_at":"2018-09-07T12:22:36.000-05:00","updated_at":"2018-09-07T12:22:36.000-05:00","name":"Saylor Foundation"}],"formats":[{"id":280,"type":"PDF","url":"http://www.saylor.org/site/textbooks/The%20Legal%20and%20Ethical%20Environment%20of%20Business.pdf","price":{"cents":0,"currency_iso":"USD"},"isbn":null},{"id":281,"type":"Online","url":"https://saylordotorg.github.io/text_the-legal-and-ethical-environment-of-business/","price":{"cents":0,"currency_iso":"USD"},"isbn":null}],"rating":"4","textbook_reviews_count":3,"reviews":[{"id":517,"first_name":"Eric","last_name":"Chaffee","position":"Professor","institution_name":"The University of Toledo College of Law","comprehensiveness_rating":5,"comprehensiveness_review":"The version of this text that I reviewed is a well-structured introduction to the legal issues surrounding modern business.  It is a basic text that is designed for business students, rather than law students.  While it would be impossible to include literally every legal issue that might impact a business, the authors do an excellent job of identifying the major issues and discussing them in a way that is accessible to students.","accuracy_rating":5,"accuracy_review":"The version of this text that I reviewed appears to be accurate and reliable.  While the issues surrounding modern business are often controversial, the authors handled them fairly and accurately.","relevance_rating":4,"relevance_review":"The version of this text that I reviewed appears to be up-to-date and relevant to modern business.  With that said, the text appears to have been written in 2011, which means that the text may begin to become outdated soon unless a new edition is issued.","clarity_rating":5,"clarity_review":"The version of this text that I reviewed is clearly written and very accessible as an introductory text.  It even contains clearly stated learning objectives for each section.","consistency_rating":5,"consistency_review":"The version of this text that I reviewed has a clear structure that is carried throughout the book.  The authors use and employ the relevant business and legal terminology correctly and consistently throughout the book.","modularity_rating":5,"modularity_review":"The text is broken down into chapters.  The chapters work well together.  They also could be easily reordered if a teacher wanted to teach the material in a different sequence.  The chapters also could function well separately, if a teacher wanted to assign limited portions of the text.","organization_rating":5,"organization_review":"The version of this text that I reviewed had a organizational structure that is logical and clear.","interface_rating":5,"interface_review":"The version of this text that I reviewed was in pdf format, and all materials appeared to be presented as the authors intended them to be presented.","grammatical_rating":5,"grammatical_review":"The version of this text that I reviewed was well-edited and contained few, if any, grammatical errors.","cultural_rating":5,"cultural_review":"The version of this text that I reviewed was not culturally insensitive or offensive.","overall_rating":10,"overall_review":null,"created_at":"2016-08-21T19:00:00.000-05:00","updated_at":"2016-08-21T19:00:00.000-05:00"},{"id":542,"first_name":"Brian","last_name":"Russell","position":"Lecturer","institution_name":"University of Kansas School of Business","comprehensiveness_rating":3,"comprehensiveness_review":"In my opinion, the text covers many of the essentials of business law appropriately, however, I would like to see it expanded to include more on agency and more on federal laws applicable to employment other than laws addressing discrimination. With respect to ethics, despite the word \"ethics\" appearing in the title of this text, I did not find enough content about ethics in the text for me to consider it an \"ethics\" text.","accuracy_rating":3,"accuracy_review":"In my opinion, the text is quite accurate with respect to the law itself, however, I found what I perceived to be a twinge of left-leaning bias. For instance, in discussing the housing crisis, the authors appear to focus on the responsibility of lenders without equally acknowledging the personal responsibility of borrowers. For another instance, the authors opine that the appointments of Justices Sotomayor and Kagan to the Supreme Court did not significantly affect the balance of the court in terms of judicial philosophy, which I believe is demonstrably inaccurate as both of those justices are reliably liberal/activist justices.","relevance_rating":4,"relevance_review":"In my opinion, the content is sufficiently up-to-date and much of the material covered is rather \"evergreen\" in the sense that it addresses basic concepts and principles of American business law that are unlikely to change substantially in the foreseeable future.","clarity_rating":4,"clarity_review":"In my opinion, the text is written with straightforward clarity appropriate for undergraduates who presumably are being introduced to the subject matter.","consistency_rating":5,"consistency_review":"In my opinion, the text is highly consistent throughout with respect to, voice, reading level, and format.","modularity_rating":5,"modularity_review":"In my opinion, the modularity of the text readily lends itself to division into easily-definable, digestible reading assignments for undergraduates.","organization_rating":3,"organization_review":"In my opinion, the text is organized reasonably logically, however, I personally would move coverage of the Constitution earlier in the sequence of chapters, such that it immediately follows the introductory material, and I would move coverage of crimes earlier in the sequence of chapters, such that it immediately precedes coverage of torts.","interface_rating":4,"interface_review":"In my opinion, the book's interface is more than adequate.","grammatical_rating":4,"grammatical_review":"In my opinion, the text is substantially free of faults/errors in English grammar/usage, and any \"technical\" faux pas that may exist (e.g. I think I saw just one, ending a sentence with a preposition) are likely considered appropriately \"conversational\" in the context of a modern undergraduate textbook.","cultural_rating":5,"cultural_review":"In my opinion, there's no problem with the text in terms of \"cultural relevance,\" but in the interest of full disclosure, this isn't something to which I pay much attention--I care much more about substance than symbolism.","overall_rating":8,"overall_review":"In my opinion, this is a good basic business law text for undergraduates that could use expansion in the areas of agency and employment law. Also, in my opinion, substantial content addressing ethics (e.g. content further addressing the difference between law and ethics, philosophical perspectives on determining what is \"right,\" the developmental processes through which individuals acquire ethical perspectives, ethical pitfalls and dilemmas in business contexts, strategies for promoting ethical conduct in the workplace, etc.) needs to be added in order for this text to truly deliver on the \"and Ethical\" words of its title.","created_at":"2016-08-21T19:00:00.000-05:00","updated_at":"2016-08-21T19:00:00.000-05:00"},{"id":2061,"first_name":"Mary","last_name":"Fenske","position":"Paralegal \u0026 Business Faculty","institution_name":"North Hennepin Community College","comprehensiveness_rating":3,"comprehensiveness_review":"The text provides a very general overview of the legal environment of business.  I used it for an online course and felt it lacked important areas such as general employment law, including agency, employment relationships (employment at will, wage laws, independent contractors), and labor law.  Employment discrimination was covered, but focused primarily on an overview of existing laws rather than preventative measures businesses can take to avoid discrimination suits (i.e., employee handbooks, training, etc.).  In addition, immigration law, administrative law, internet law (cyber-contracts, -torts, and -crime), consumer protection, corporate governance, and environmental law were either not discussed at all or minimally discussed.   Despite the title of the book, there was very little discussion of ethics or at least not enough for it be included in the title of the textbook.  The Contracts chapter covered basic contract theory and defenses, but failed to discuss much regarding the UCC, remedies and commercial leases.  A chapter on Creditor and Debtor Law, particularly the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, and Bankruptcy was also missing.  In my opinion, this book either needs to be heavily supplemented with additional materials or would be more suitable for a high school business law class.     ","accuracy_rating":4,"accuracy_review":"There were at least two references to the Defense of Marriage Act, which has now been declared unconstitutional by the U.S. Supreme Court.  The text seemed to do a good job of describing strict constructionists and judicial activists in an unbiased way.  ","relevance_rating":4,"relevance_review":"The text was relevant today’s world and used mostly current legal situations to help connect the dots for understanding.  The text held the attention of the reader with real life examples, however, it could become quickly dated.  There were repeated references to President Obama being in office, which is now out-of-date.  There was no discussion of internet law, social media law, and online privacy, which are much more relevant now than when the textbook was published.  This information would have to be supplemented by the instructor.\n\n\n","clarity_rating":4,"clarity_review":"The textbook explained concepts clearly and provided examples of different situations to help the student grasp more complicated topics.  However, some language was vague, which might force a student to look up terminology on the internet for clarification.","consistency_rating":5,"consistency_review":"I found the text consistently written throughout in terms of difficulty and structure with the exception of the Contracts chapter, which was extremely basic for an undergraduate course.  ","modularity_rating":5,"modularity_review":"The text is organized into chapters that are of suitable length for a weekly online or traditional course.   ","organization_rating":5,"organization_review":"The text was organized well.  I moved up the chapter on the Constitution (Chapter 5) in my syllabus to the second week of the course because I believe a review of the Constitution helps students better understand the court system and litigation.  \nI thought the learning objectives and key takeaways were helpful for the students to review to test their understanding of the material.  The text would benefit from a glossary for students to look up terms they may have read, but forgotten.  \n","interface_rating":2,"interface_review":"I found the text difficult to manage in its online .pdf format.  The links to outside video and content were often broken or out of date.  It would be helpful to have a table of contents with bookmarks, so students could jump to the proper chapter rather than scrolling through the text.  The text was difficult to read online and I found myself needing to print the text on paper to ease my frustration with navigation.  It would be helpful if there was a note-taking option for the margins and if key terms were bolded.  ","grammatical_rating":4,"grammatical_review":"There weren’t many grammar errors, however, often times there were missing spaces between words that caused words to run together.","cultural_rating":5,"cultural_review":"I did not find the textbook to be biased or offensive in any way.  ","overall_rating":8,"overall_review":"This online textbook does not come with any instructor resources.  The instructor will have to create their own PowerPoints, exam questions, and answer key for the questions included in the book.  ","created_at":"2018-05-21T19:00:00.000-05:00","updated_at":"2018-05-21T19:00:00.000-05:00"}],"url":"https://staging.open.umn.edu/opentextbooks/textbooks/the-legal-and-ethical-environment-of-business","updated_at":"2025-12-15T02:01:54.000-06:00"},{"id":66,"title":"Introduction to Criminal Law","edition_statement":null,"volume":null,"copyright_year":2015,"isbn10":null,"isbn13":null,"license":"Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike","language":"eng","accessibility_statement":null,"accessibility_features":["unknown"],"description":"Criminal Law uses a two-step process to augment learning, called the applied approach. First, after building a strong foundation from scratch, Criminal Law introduces you to crimes and defenses that have been broken down into separate components. It is so much easier to memorize and comprehend the subject matter when it is simplified this way. However, becoming proficient in the law takes more than just memorization. You must be trained to take the laws you have studied and apply them to various fact patterns. Most students are expected to do this automatically, but application must be seen, experienced, and practiced before it comes naturally. Thus the second step of the applied approach is reviewing examples of the application of law to facts after dissecting and analyzing each legal concept. Some of the examples come from cases, and some are purely fictional. All the examples are memorable, even quirky, so they will stick in your mind and be available when you need them the most (like during an exam). After a few chapters, you will notice that you no longer obsess over an explanation that doesn't completely make sense the first time you read it—you will just skip to the example. The examples clarify the principles for you, lightening the workload significantly.","contributors":[],"subjects":[{"id":11,"name":"Law","parent_subject_id":null,"call_number":"KF385.A4","visible_textbooks_count":99,"url":"https://staging.open.umn.edu/opentextbooks/subjects/law"}],"publishers":[{"id":186,"url":"https://www.lib.umn.edu/publishing","year":null,"created_at":"2018-09-07T12:22:37.000-05:00","updated_at":"2018-09-07T12:22:37.000-05:00","name":"University of Minnesota Libraries Publishing"}],"formats":[{"id":353,"type":"Online","url":"https://biz.libretexts.org/Bookshelves/Criminal_Law/Introduction_to_Criminal_Law","price":{"cents":0,"currency_iso":"USD"},"isbn":null},{"id":1629,"type":"PDF","url":"https://biz.libretexts.org/Bookshelves/Criminal_Law/Introduction_to_Criminal_Law","price":{"cents":0,"currency_iso":"USD"},"isbn":null},{"id":1630,"type":"eBook","url":"https://open.lib.umn.edu/criminallaw/","price":{"cents":0,"currency_iso":"USD"},"isbn":null},{"id":2245,"type":"XML","url":"https://open.lib.umn.edu/criminallaw/","price":{"cents":0,"currency_iso":"USD"},"isbn":null},{"id":2246,"type":"ODF","url":"https://open.lib.umn.edu/criminallaw/","price":{"cents":0,"currency_iso":"USD"},"isbn":null}],"rating":"4.5","textbook_reviews_count":19,"reviews":[{"id":103,"first_name":"Ronald","last_name":"Den Otter","position":"Associate Professor","institution_name":"California Polytechnic State University","comprehensiveness_rating":5,"comprehensiveness_review":"For a text aimed at undergraduates, very comprehensive; it covers all of the topics in criminal law that ought to be covered.","accuracy_rating":4,"accuracy_review":"Here and there, one could quibble with descriptions of the legal rules and concepts or w/ the description of cases but all-in-all, it's accurate.","relevance_rating":5,"relevance_review":"Definitely not out-of-date. The book provides plenty of contemporary examples and refers to new cases. Of course, at some point in the future, a new edition would be appropriate.","clarity_rating":5,"clarity_review":"Probably its best feature. extremely easy to follow. I also liked the flow charts.","consistency_rating":5,"consistency_review":"No problems at all. In fact, good transitions from one topic to the next and the book (and each chapter) were well-organized.","modularity_rating":5,"modularity_review":"Please see comment above. Again, I thought that it was easy to read. There were not large pieces of text that were hard to swallow.","organization_rating":5,"organization_review":"I thought that the orgzanization made sense. Some topics ought to be introduced before others. The introduction did a good job of setting up the rest of the book.","interface_rating":5,"interface_review":"No problems at all.","grammatical_rating":5,"grammatical_review":"Extremely well-written.","cultural_rating":5,"cultural_review":"Again, absolutely no problems here.","overall_rating":10,"overall_review":"It's hard to write a textbook about any legal topic that would be appropriate for undergraduates. from my experience, most existing textbooks are either too detailed (for law students) or too simplistic (almost as if thety're written for high school students). This book strikes the right balance. It's as good as any other text on criminal law that I've encountered so far.","created_at":"2014-07-15T19:00:00.000-05:00","updated_at":"2014-07-15T19:00:00.000-05:00"},{"id":141,"first_name":"Matthew","last_name":"Kane","position":"Adjunct Professor","institution_name":"University of Oklahoma","comprehensiveness_rating":3,"comprehensiveness_review":"The author’s work itself is very strong.  The book is topically sound, covering the appropriate subjects for an introduction to criminal law.  Unfortunately, there is no index or glossary (or table of contents within the text).  This concern, along with other issues I have with the text, are issues that should be resolved through the editing process.   Unfortunately, these two components are covered in the same evaluation - comprehensiveness - resulting in a mediocre rating when the review would be better served to have highest marks for coverage and lowest marks for index/glossary/etc. ","accuracy_rating":5,"accuracy_review":"Legal texts, by nature, are always subject to criticism/dissection of particular case analysis, etc.  However, this book deals with broad concepts appropriately. ","relevance_rating":4,"relevance_review":"Criminal law is always evolving.  However, the core concepts provided in this text have and should continue to stand the test of time.  My only concern would be with the number of hyperlinks utilized throughout the book (which intentionally utilizes links over the inclusion of extensive case excerpts), as even the most “stable” of sites occasionally change resulting in an inability to easily access referenced information.  If adopting the text, I would consider saving all hyperlinked materials to a location over which the professor has control, thereby ensuring students would have access for the duration of the course.","clarity_rating":5,"clarity_review":"The book’s clarity is one of its strongest features.  The author does an excellent job of writing in understandable language with careful discussion and explanation of key technical terms.  ","consistency_rating":5,"consistency_review":"The book is consistent in its approach, terminology and depth of treatment of the covered topics.","modularity_rating":4,"modularity_review":"The book is arranged by chapter and then section – i.e., Chapter 9 is comprised of Sections 9.1 (Homicide), 9.2 (Murder), 9.3 (First-Degree Murder), 9.4 (Felony Murder), 9.5 (Second Degree Murder), 9.6 (Manslaughter), 9.7 (End-of-Chapter Material).  The logical use of such section numbers allows for shorter assignment of readings.  Again, I would note that the book would benefit significantly from the inclusion of a detailed table of contents to allow the professor and/or student to more easily appreciate the organization and potential for reorganization or sub-chapter assignments.","organization_rating":5,"organization_review":"The book provides a basic introduction of criminal law, the US legal system and its constitutional protections before delving into traditional areas of coverage in a criminal law text – general elements of and defenses to a crime and specific offenses.  As discussed in the previous response, the chapters are broken down into logical sections.","interface_rating":2,"interface_review":"The book’s interface is one of its most disappointing features.  Page breaks are often in the wrong place, fonts and spacing are inconsistent and many of the charts and illustrations are fuzzy and difficult to read.  ","grammatical_rating":5,"grammatical_review":"I noticed several very minor grammatical issues but overall it was very well written.","cultural_rating":5,"cultural_review":"The cultural relevance is appropriate for the course.","overall_rating":9,"overall_review":"As a result of the \"star\" ratings system, this review may appear to be very positive.  Indeed, the author should be applauded for creating a very strong manuscript appropriate for undergraduate students (and law students seeking to supplement their understanding of criminal law issues).   Unfortunately, the text, as currently available, is extremely difficult to fully utilize given the lack of table of contents, index and glossary and the obvious need for a final polish to correct page breaks, font inconsistencies, and blurry charts. A professor interested in adopting this book should anticipate devoting significant time to revising and editing for use in his or her course -- work which could ultimately be broadly disseminated pursuant to the creative commons licensing. Absent such efforts, students would immediately appreciate the difference in this open textbook and a traditional one, likely to their detriment.","created_at":"2015-01-12T18:00:00.000-06:00","updated_at":"2015-01-12T18:00:00.000-06:00"},{"id":315,"first_name":"Ann","last_name":"Su","position":"Part-time Instructor","institution_name":"Portland Community College","comprehensiveness_rating":3,"comprehensiveness_review":"This is an excellent introductory text for undergraduates.The textbook does a good job of introducing the basic legal concepts of criminal law, but it would not be appropriate for a law school course as it does not have the depth or technical . However, there is not a table of contents, index or glossary incorporated into the body of the text. This makes it rather difficult to navigate from section to section without having to scroll up and down unnecessarily through text to find things. ","accuracy_rating":5,"accuracy_review":"The book has an accurate presentation of general information given that the book is not meant to be a treatise in law school. ","relevance_rating":4,"relevance_review":"Most of the content is up-to-date and will not be obsolete quickly. However, there are external links that may expire and that may require vigilance by the instructor in ensuring the currency of the link. Updates should be relatively easy as the text is written in a modular way.\n\n","clarity_rating":5,"clarity_review":"The book is written in a concise way that is extremely \"user friendly\" with accessible prose. The jargon/technical terminology is very approachable with good examples that are concrete and relatable to an undergraduate student.  The usage of visual aids and  formatting techniques to emphasize different concepts further aids the reader's understanding.","consistency_rating":5,"consistency_review":"The text is internally consistent in style, terminology, formatting and presentation of information. ","modularity_rating":4,"modularity_review":"The text is written in a modular way that would be easy to reorganize without any disruption to the reader. If left in its current form, the text would benefit from subheadings that are numbered into even more specific subsets with indentations. e.g. 1.1(a)(ii) rather than 1.1. This would aid the reader in tracking concepts/linking of concepts substantively and organizationally.","organization_rating":5,"organization_review":"The organization, structure and flow of the material is one of the greatest strengths of the book. It has a natural sequence that is appealing and logical.","interface_rating":2,"interface_review":"This is the most challenging aspect of the text because of the lack of the table of contexts/index and glossary, navigation is a serious issue if not read sequentially. Images and charts are often distorted and the text is not always formatted in the most readable style--the consistent spacing of text is monotonous to the eye. Varying the paragraph and sentence spacing as well as ensuring page breaks and headings are logically placed is essential and missing in the text.","grammatical_rating":5,"grammatical_review":"The grammar is fine with no noticeable errors. ","cultural_rating":4,"cultural_review":"The text is culturally appropriate.","overall_rating":8,"overall_review":null,"created_at":"2016-01-07T18:00:00.000-06:00","updated_at":"2016-01-07T18:00:00.000-06:00"},{"id":600,"first_name":"Caoimhin","last_name":"OFearghail","position":"Program Coordinator","institution_name":"Lane Community College","comprehensiveness_rating":4,"comprehensiveness_review":"This text covers all of the basic concepts found in other traditional criminal law survey texts with the exception of an instructional overview on reading and interpreting case reports—a significant shortcoming given the author’s heavy use of external links to such reports.  Though the text lacks both an index and a glossary, these are unnecessary in a searchable electronic document.  A table of contents is likewise unnecessary in a PDF in which bookmarks have been added to navigate the contents of the text.  Such is the case here; however the text, by default, should open with the bookmarks displayed.  The lack of these traditional elements would only be inconvenient for the undoubtedly small percentage of students who prefer to print the whole book.","accuracy_rating":5,"accuracy_review":"Bearing in mind that the purpose of the text is to provide a broad overview of the subject for undergraduate students, the key concepts and summaries are accurate.","relevance_rating":4,"relevance_review":"Periodic updates will be necessary due to developments in both statutory and case law.  The extensive use of links to external sites might pose a problem should the site addresses change.","clarity_rating":5,"clarity_review":"The author’s vocabulary is appropriate to an undergraduate audience, and the author’s liberal use of simple sentences results in a very clear and accessible writing style.  New terms are clearly introduced to the reader and subsequently integrated into the text; however, the author identifies these new terms inconsistently (see Consistency below).","consistency_rating":4,"consistency_review":"The text is consistent in terms of both its visual and stylistic presentation, but less so in its introduction of key terms, which the author introduces or uses in italics, bold, and blue with no discernible purpose.  The blue font, though more eye-catching, is confusing at times because it is also used extensively throughout the text for hyperlinks.  To compound the confusion, the author chose not to underline these links.","modularity_rating":5,"modularity_review":"The text is obviously designed as an integrated whole but could, with little effort, be rearranged to suit criminal law surveys of varied lengths or to suit an instructor’s specific approach.  The chapters and sections also lend themselves for use as selected readings.","organization_rating":4,"organization_review":"The author has organized the text in a manner that will be familiar anyone who has every used a survey text in substantive criminal law.  The first half (comprising eight chapters) covers the “general part” of criminal law, providing an overview of the historical, theoretical and functional context of criminal law in the United States; its structure; its constitutional limitations; and its attendant concepts of criminal defenses, liability, complicity, and inchoate crimes.  The second half (comprising the remaining five chapters), covers the “special part” of the criminal law—an overview of the most common criminal offenses arranged by type or family: criminal homicide, sex offenses and crimes involving force or fear, crimes against property, public order crimes, and crimes against the government.  The sequential progression of this content is appropriate and the amount of space given to each topic is balanced for the most part though the author spends more time explaining the legal system than the traditional criminal law survey text.","interface_rating":2,"interface_review":"The author has included a significant number of graphic embellishments (to set off ancillary material from the body of the text) and graphic aids.  Neither add much to the text and both are stylistically problematic—making too much use of unnecessary colors and graphic effects as well as contributing to a number of odd page breaks throughout the text.  Some of the graphic aids are too complicated.  Others employ an inappropriate graphic layout for the information being presented.  For instance, on pages 46-48, the author uses three hierarchical charts to depict the nation’s tripartite system of government.  What each chart actually depicts, however, is the bifurcated nature of the nation’s federal and state governments.  As a result, the chart on page 47 seems to suggest that both the federal and state governments fall under a larger “executive.”  Overall, the text would be better served by a more sparing use of graphic aids and embellishments.  Some of the information might be better presented/summarized in a simple table format.  The remaining charts would be more appealing and easier to comprehend if they were re-done in simple, black and white, line art.  The graphics used to set ancillary materials (such as the “Crack the Code” exercises) should be removed and those materials set off by a pastel background (as the author has done elsewhere) or by a simple line border, and a different font.","grammatical_rating":5,"grammatical_review":"There were a few minor errors in grammar and punctuation—no glaring problems—and overall it was quite grammatically solid.","cultural_rating":5,"cultural_review":"Not applicable.","overall_rating":9,"overall_review":"In its current form, most instructors will find that the text has too many shortcomings to be acceptable as a stand-alone survey text for an undergraduate course in criminal law; however, the text’s strengths—it’s clear, concise prose and topical comprehensiveness—make it an attractive candidate for use as a supplementary reference text.","created_at":"2016-08-21T19:00:00.000-05:00","updated_at":"2016-08-21T19:00:00.000-05:00"},{"id":878,"first_name":"Shana","last_name":"Mell","position":"Criminal Justice Professor","institution_name":"Virginia Commonwealth University","comprehensiveness_rating":5,"comprehensiveness_review":"Criminal law textbooks require a number of specific topics in order to meet the expectations of the course.  This textbook contains those essential elements.  The table of contents very clearly outlines each chapters and subsection so that students/instructors are able to identify each content area.  An appendix contains a listing of relevant cited case citations for further review.  There does not appear to be a glossary or index apart from the appendix but each chapter concludes with an \"End of Chapter\" section that lists answers to exercises, questions, case listings, summaries, and links to applicable cases, articles, and websites.","accuracy_rating":5,"accuracy_review":"I found no evidence of inaccurate information or bias presented within this text. ","relevance_rating":5,"relevance_review":"This text follows the standard format that most criminal law texts adopt.  Each subsection within the 14 chapters can be easily updated with seminal cases that may emerge.  Most of the content within this text will remain intact but the format allows for efficient updates, as necessary.  The author utilizes examples that will be of interest for a number of years.  ","clarity_rating":5,"clarity_review":"This is where a number of criminal law/procedure texts fall short.  This was one of the text's key strengths.  This text was extremely accessible to students of all levels.  It contained excellent examples and explanations that illustrated each of the main concepts.  I especially enjoyed the author's writing style.  I found the prose both well-written and conversational, which contributes to the strength of this text.  The presentation of the material throughout each chapter was complemented by interesting examples and critical thinking exercises that encourage application of the material.   ","consistency_rating":5,"consistency_review":"This text followed a consistent framework throughout.  Each chapter was laid out in the established format containing each of the content areas.  The material was presented with applicable exercises and questions throughout.  Each chapter concludes with an \"End of Chapter\" section that lists answers to exercises, questions, case listings, summaries, and links to applicable cases, articles, and websites.  I found the summaries and exercises especially useful.  Key words are italicized for emphasis and quick reference. The chapters were easy to follow as they contained a number of subheadings to keep the material organized.  Further, each chapter is made up of specific learning objectives that conclude with exercises and reference material.    ","modularity_rating":5,"modularity_review":"Each chapter is made up of specific learning objectives that can be easily assigned based on content areas within the course.  These objectives are fairly brief and contain exercises and reference material at the conclusion.  I found this approach to be a key strength of this text since it offers a framework for assignment creation and discussion of key points within each chapter.  When you look at how many learning objectives are actually contained within the entire text, there are hundreds of links to websites with reference material and exercises that students can complete independently or as part of a classroom discussion.  ","organization_rating":5,"organization_review":"This text followed a consistent framework throughout.  Each chapter was laid out in the established format containing each of the content areas.  The material was presented with applicable exercises and questions throughout.  Each chapter concludes with an \"End of Chapter\" section that lists answers to exercises, questions, case listings, summaries, and links to applicable cases, articles, and websites.  I found the summaries and exercises especially useful.  I also enjoyed the pictures, graphics, and illustrations used to develop the material.  Each objective contains an interesting component entitled \"key takeaways\" that lists a sentence or two describing the main points to recall.  ","interface_rating":5,"interface_review":"I checked a number of the links within the text and they all worked for me.  I also used the table of contents to navigate through the text and was able to get to each section very easily.  The table of contents and home buttons appear on the upper right corner and allow the reader to quickly locate the area that they need.  The table of contents lists each chapter and unit by number and title (topic) for ease of use.","grammatical_rating":5,"grammatical_review":"I do not recall noticing any grammatical errors.  This is exceptionally important since a textbook and author lose credibility when there are a number of grammatical issues.   ","cultural_rating":5,"cultural_review":"I found no culturally insensitive or offensive examples presented within this text. ","overall_rating":10,"overall_review":"I would certainly adopt this text.  I found it as sufficient as any other criminal law text offered for purchase.  In some areas (noted above as key strengths), it is superior to texts that I have read/used. I enjoyed reading through this text and plan to adopt it if/when I teach this course in the future.   ","created_at":"2017-02-08T18:00:00.000-06:00","updated_at":"2017-02-08T18:00:00.000-06:00"},{"id":1086,"first_name":"Christina","last_name":"Mancini","position":"Associate Professor","institution_name":"Virginia Commonwealth University","comprehensiveness_rating":5,"comprehensiveness_review":"The text appears comprehensive but the lack of a Table of Contents page makes it difficult to assess at first glance the scope of the work.","accuracy_rating":5,"accuracy_review":"It appeared very well researched.","relevance_rating":5,"relevance_review":"It is written in a way that it could be easily updated by adding relevant cases (e.g., the text mentions a celebrated case of Casey Anthony to illustrate circumstantial and direct evidence.  I can see such concepts being made relevant by a switch to the case du jour.","clarity_rating":5,"clarity_review":"Great writing.","consistency_rating":3,"consistency_review":"Decent, but again my concern was involving some of the framing and lack of TOC.","modularity_rating":5,"modularity_review":"I think it has modularity.","organization_rating":3,"organization_review":"Good, but a TOC would have helped organize the general framing better.","interface_rating":5,"interface_review":"The interface was well done.","grammatical_rating":5,"grammatical_review":"Excellent.","cultural_rating":5,"cultural_review":"The text was inclusive and relevant for today's criminal justice system debates and controversies.","overall_rating":9,"overall_review":"I would have liked to know the author and the TOC should have been displayed at the front-end.  Other than that, great work!","created_at":"2017-04-11T19:00:00.000-05:00","updated_at":"2017-04-11T19:00:00.000-05:00"},{"id":1287,"first_name":"Stephone","last_name":"Addison","position":"Assistant Professor","institution_name":"Southern University And A \u0026 M College","comprehensiveness_rating":4,"comprehensiveness_review":"The text is comprehensive. I have been teaching Criminal Law for over 20 years and have used several textbooks. This Open Source text covers, for the most part, every major subject in Criminal Law that was covered in prior textbooks that I have used in the past. Although the book appear to lack a traditional index and glossary separate in the book, there are lots of information, links to other websites, etc to provide plenty of information regarding key terms and concepts.","accuracy_rating":4,"accuracy_review":"The content in this textbook appears to be accurate. It provides many references (i.e., Books, Cases, Articles, Websites, etc.) many of which are used in most private industry textbooks of its kind.","relevance_rating":4,"relevance_review":"The Content in this text is taken primarily from 2012. Since it is now 2017, it is probably due for an update. However, it was noted that University of Minnesota Library edited this material in 2015. Notwithstanding, a lot of the material used is still relevant for understanding Criminal Law concepts. The good thing here is that it appears to be a relatively easy process to update information which can make for an easy transition from old to new and thereby strengthening the longevity of the overall text.","clarity_rating":5,"clarity_review":"The book is written in plain language that allows for clarity of information. It is relatively concise, straight forward and appears to be very user friendly for undergraduate students. Also, the book provides many examples and figures (visual aids and illustrations) that further explains many of the terms (technical and otherwise) for better understanding.","consistency_rating":5,"consistency_review":"The text is, for the most part, consistent throughout in terms of the order or layout from chapter to chapter. Each chapter is consistent in its presentation (i.e., key areas of discussion subtitled under each chapter, objectives are provided for each subtitles and key concepts relevant to each subtitle). Also, diagrams, charts \u0026amp; figures are consistent in each chapter as well as scenarios, Key takeaways and exercises are provided at the end of each chapter. One caveat however is that the terms in blue are not always consistent in that some are links to other information and some of the terms are just written in blue.","modularity_rating":5,"modularity_review":"Again, the book is arranged in a modular format via chapter and sections. Each chapter are broken down into sections which include relevant terms and concepts that directs back to the chapter. These sections allow the reader to keep learning and comprehension focused without running the risk of losing the chapter’s objectives. The text places the table of contents in the area prior to downloading the textbook. Probably would have been best at the beginning which would help with even better navigation. Nonetheless, the sections within each chapter still provides enough navigation within the chapters sufficient to maintain a reasonable flow of information.","organization_rating":5,"organization_review":"This book displays good organization, structure and flow. The organization of the chapters pursuant to various criminal law subjects are relatively consistent with other texts that I have used in the past. The table of contents could have been better placed at the top of chapter 1, but not a deal breaker as for as organization is concerned. The structure is good, particularly, the alignment of the chapters with the charts, graphs, illustrations, videos, etc. Finally, the chapters provide a favorable flow from one area of criminal law to the next. Each chapter conclude with an “End-of-Chapter Material.”","interface_rating":4,"interface_review":"I didn’t see any major problems with how the textbook interfaced with the reader. In some spots, I was not able to get back right away to original page after clicking on some of the illustrations. I had to go totally out of the page and back to downloads to get back into the text. Could be an issue with my computer, just not sure.  Also, some links didn’t work and needed to be updated. However, a lot of the links did work.","grammatical_rating":5,"grammatical_review":"I didn’t really encounter any substantial amount of grammatical errors. Again, some of the links perhaps need to be updated and/or refreshed.","cultural_rating":5,"cultural_review":"I didn’t detect any problems here. Appeared to contain common issues relative to Criminal Law and Criminal Justice that may create some controversial discussion, but nothing appearing to be unbiased, culturally or otherwise.","overall_rating":9,"overall_review":"I thought this textbook would be one I could be comfortable with adopting for my class. It contains the major topics, relative to Criminal Law, that are consistent with the topics in many of the leading textbooks for purchase and that I have used before. In conclusion, this book appears to be a good textbook overall based on the above reasons provided in the review above) and one that I may consider recommending to others.","created_at":"2017-06-20T19:00:00.000-05:00","updated_at":"2017-06-20T19:00:00.000-05:00"},{"id":1358,"first_name":"Makeda","last_name":"Carr","position":"Instructor","institution_name":"Virginia State University","comprehensiveness_rating":5,"comprehensiveness_review":"Reviewing the TOC provides a comprehensive overview of the subject matter found in typical Criminal Law textbooks. In comparison to another book, they cover the same material such as sources and limitations of law, jurisdiction and defining elements of a crime.","accuracy_rating":5,"accuracy_review":"This text utilizes reliable sourced information that are accessible in the text to check for accuracy. I believe the book is presented in a neutral manner and is unbiased.","relevance_rating":5,"relevance_review":"The information has a mixed of old and new content indicative of various criminal law books. Different types of dated content are necessary to understand application of law and diverse decisions by judicial bodies.","clarity_rating":5,"clarity_review":"Clarity in this text comes from the chunked structure, followed by practical examples and exercises.","consistency_rating":5,"consistency_review":"Yes. This book is consistent with the learning objectives, content and exercises to match objectives. The consistency should be helpful for those needing to be in compliance with Bloom's Taxonomy.","modularity_rating":5,"modularity_review":"This book is complied nicely. Instead of reading a very long page of information online, the sections were divided by subject matter and thoroughly covered content in a succinctly.","organization_rating":5,"organization_review":"A gradual intensity in content organization flowed well comparable to other texts.","interface_rating":5,"interface_review":"Structurally, the text was easy to navigate and read. The charts and images were not distorted or distracting.","grammatical_rating":5,"grammatical_review":"I did not identify any grammatical errors.","cultural_rating":4,"cultural_review":"I did not get a sense that the book was culturally insensitive. The focus of the text was an introduction to the topic of criminal law and is neutral in its presentation of cases and facts.","overall_rating":10,"overall_review":"I appreciate the unnamed author taking their time to write such a comprehensive text.","created_at":"2017-06-20T19:00:00.000-05:00","updated_at":"2017-06-20T19:00:00.000-05:00"},{"id":1661,"first_name":"Anne","last_name":"Douds","position":"Lecturer","institution_name":"Penn State Harrisburg","comprehensiveness_rating":3,"comprehensiveness_review":"This introductory criminal law text covers almost all major areas of criminal law, but it would be nice if it covered the evolving fields of terrorism and cyber security a bit better. The table of contents is concise and provides useful navigation. The lesson content is a bit brief and simplistic, but it is suitable for an undergraduate introduction to criminal law class. ","accuracy_rating":4,"accuracy_review":"The book uses neutral language, but the undertone of the content leans towards a civil rights/civil libertarian perspective. ","relevance_rating":4,"relevance_review":"Fortunately, criminal law evolves slowly, so this text should have good longevity. It does not cover much criminal procedure, but the portions of it that deal with procedure could become dated in the event of a major, reformative Supreme Court opinion (which is true of all criminal procedure texts). ","clarity_rating":4,"clarity_review":"Clarity is good. The book uses short, concise sentences. The format makes it easy to follow. ","consistency_rating":4,"consistency_review":"The formatting and content are consistent. The degree of difficulty of the content remains at the same level throughout the work. ","modularity_rating":5,"modularity_review":"It is divided into logical, easy-to-follow modules. ","organization_rating":5,"organization_review":"The book has natural flow and is organized in a very appropriate fashion. ","interface_rating":4,"interface_review":"So far as I can tell, the interface is fine. ","grammatical_rating":5,"grammatical_review":"I did not catch any errors.","cultural_rating":4,"cultural_review":"The book stays within the middle of the political spectrum, with a slight tendency towards libertarian views. ","overall_rating":8,"overall_review":null,"created_at":"2018-02-01T18:00:00.000-06:00","updated_at":"2018-02-01T18:00:00.000-06:00"},{"id":1703,"first_name":"Tracy ","last_name":"Barley","position":"Assistant Professor","institution_name":"North Carolina Central University","comprehensiveness_rating":5,"comprehensiveness_review":"This textbook is comprehensive; it is substantially equivalent in content to the published textbook (including its updates) our department has used for the last 10 years. It covers the key concepts that will meet our student learning outcomes. I particularly like the End of Chapter material, the Key Takeaway boxes and the  Exercises and the inclusion, with links, to supplemental material. \n\nI would like to have included a section on White Collar Crimes; we teach this section and incorporate material on bias, implicit bias, sentencing disparities and investigations. \n\nAlso it would be important to include Cyber Crimes; however, this could be added if the book can be remixed. ","accuracy_rating":4,"accuracy_review":"The content is accurate based on a random sampling of the material; the links to supplemental worked and that content was unbiased. I also paid attention to the names used in the examples to be certain they were race neutral to avoid any further stereotyping and implicit bias. ","relevance_rating":4,"relevance_review":"The content is up-to-date and relevant with the exception of the omission of Cyber Crimes and Financial Crimes; these are codified in all states and some of the fastest growing. ","clarity_rating":5,"clarity_review":"Very clear language and appropriate for mid-level undergraduate students. ","consistency_rating":4,"consistency_review":"Framework is good with the exception of the a couple of Key Takeaway boxes were not consistently formatted in color. ","modularity_rating":5,"modularity_review":"This was excellent! Chunking is a best practice teaching strategy and this format is very conducive to this method.  The individual learning objectives at the beginning of each unit and subunit are also helpful for aligning with our course student learning outcomes. ","organization_rating":5,"organization_review":"Nice structure and flow; in a side by side comparison with the text I currently use, it is much more appealing visually and manageable. I especially like that the cases are attached as links to supplemental material rather than embedded in the text.  The heavy text based materials often intimidate lower to mid level undergraduate students and they become discouraged depending on their learning styles. ","interface_rating":5,"interface_review":"The interface is great. I like the differentiation of the colors which signifies a change to students. The colors are also compatible with accessibility and screen reading.","grammatical_rating":5,"grammatical_review":"There were no obvious grammatical errors. ","cultural_rating":5,"cultural_review":"I liked the relevance and updated content and examples.  The Tom DeLay case is one example of a recent event that illustrates crime occurs at all socio economic levels and demographic groups. This is very important for my students as I teach at an HBCU. ","overall_rating":9,"overall_review":"I appreciate the care taken to create an open source book that is comprehensive, easy to navigate and meets accessibility standards.  The color coding makes it easy for undergraduate students to perform a knowledge check after reading the chapter material. Additionally, the multiple formats make it even more accessible for students. ","created_at":"2018-02-01T18:00:00.000-06:00","updated_at":"2018-02-01T18:00:00.000-06:00"},{"id":1881,"first_name":"B.A.B.","last_name":"---","position":"Associate Professor","institution_name":"Virginia Commonwealth University","comprehensiveness_rating":1,"comprehensiveness_review":"I would say that this book attempts to cover a broad spectrum of criminal law topics, so in that sense it’s comprehensive, but in terms of the depth with which each topic is treated, it is far from comprehensive. The entire textbook actually reads more like a study guide or even a professor’s lecture notes or slides. When I adopt a textbook, I want it to be comprehensive enough so that I can base my lectures on the chapter topic highlights; here it seems that the author does the opposite. Were I a student, I would think that reading this book would leave me with many more questions than answers. Maybe it’s a fundamental difference of paedagogy, but I don’t want to spend my classtime filling in all the lacunae left by the students’ textbook; rather, I want to spend that classtime expanding on what was presented in the textbook. To me, those are fundamentally different aims. \n\nA discussion on “justice” (whatever that means!) is conspicuously absent from this book. This is a substantively different discussion than “purposes of punishment.” There is also, as far as I can tell, no discussion of how to read a case citation. That’s so important! Because citations tell you so much important information about a case! I’m surprised, because this is sort of a standard sub-topic in a criminal law class, especially when students are asked to brief cases. \n\nThe “purposes of punishment” section is but one of many sections that has been glossed over. There should probably be a section comparing retributive and utilitarian schools of thought (actually, I see nothing referring to “utilitarianism” now that I think of it) and giving concrete examples of these differing philosophies in action. \nGenerally speaking, I think it would be helpful to have examples from case law throughout the book to illustrate how concepts apply. Case law is rich with great examples, which are conspicuously absent.\n","accuracy_rating":3,"accuracy_review":"Some of the topics warrant more in-depth treatment. The discussion of various punishment justifications is pretty superficial; incapacitation, for example, encompasses a whole lot more than just “prevent[ing] future crime by removing the defendant from society.” It’s also factually incorrect that house arrest—one of the examples given— removes the defendant from society; on the contrary, it’s an alternative community-oriented sanction intended to keep the offender out in the community!?","relevance_rating":4,"relevance_review":"This book sidesteps the longevity issue because it doesn’t make any references to case law, so there’s no way the case law could become outdated if not altogether obsolete. ","clarity_rating":4,"clarity_review":"The book is consistently cursory, does that count? No seriously… I do think it somewhat odd that some topics are treated in more detail than others (e.g., criminal homicide has its own chapter). The organization is confusing because criminal homicide gets its own chapter, but then subsequent chapters are organized like most state criminal codes (e.g. property crimes, crimes against the person, etc). I would have put criminal homicide into a broader “crimes against persons” chapter heading to be consistent with subsequent chapters. The way subject matter is presented is both unclear and inconsistent which makes it confusing. Is that why robbery is classed with property crimes? Because a large number of states actually consider robbery a crime against persons, not property, but there’s no personal crimes chapter, so I guess that’s why robbery was put in with property crimes. ","consistency_rating":2,"consistency_review":"The book is consistently cursory, does that count? No seriously… I do think it somewhat odd that some topics are treated in more detail than others (e.g., criminal homicide has its own chapter). The organization is confusing because criminal homicide gets its own chapter, but then subsequent chapters are organized like most state criminal codes (e.g. property crimes, crimes against the person, etc). I would have put criminal homicide into a broader “crimes against persons” chapter heading to be consistent with subsequent chapters. The way subject matter is presented is both unclear and inconsistent which makes it confusing. Is that why robbery is classed with property crimes? Because a large number of states actually consider robbery a crime against persons, not property, but there’s no personal crimes chapter, so I guess that’s why robbery was put in with property crimes. ","modularity_rating":3,"modularity_review":"there is a general flow from one chapter to the next, and the chapters are so brief that it would be easy to assign small reading sections. as regards \"self-referencing,\" I don't actually see a single source citation anywhere in here so I guess \"self-referencing\" isn't an issue either?","organization_rating":2,"organization_review":"I think some of the topic ordering is a little counterintuitive, at least to me, and so is how some of the topics are grouped. Affirmative defenses of Justification and excuse seem to be conflated here, and there are actually a number of really important substantive differences between the two categories. If you run a textbook search for “affirmative,” interestingly, the term doesn’t even pop up in either chapter on criminal defenses. \n\nI do really like the exercises presented in each chapter, especially the ones in which students have to read a scenario and determine some point of law discussed in the chapter. When I was learning to teach at the undergraduate level, a wise professor once told me that the hardest thing in teaching would be to come up with lots and lots and lots of examples, because those are what help students best identify and begin to apply a concept they’re learning. And he was right! When I teach criminal law, when I’m teaching search and seizure, for example, I have to be armed and ready with dozens of examples. These exercises are really helpful in that regard. ","interface_rating":4,"interface_review":"I didn't experience any navigational difficulties","grammatical_rating":5,"grammatical_review":"I didn't notice any glaring errors. ","cultural_rating":2,"cultural_review":"No examples, so no problems of potential offensiveness! makes little if any effort to connect subject matter within broader cultural context. ","overall_rating":6,"overall_review":"I wouldn't adopt this textbook for a college course. As it reads more like a superficial study guide, it maybe more appropriate for high school readers. My general impression is that it doesn't effectively equip students with the requisite knowledge they should have having taken a criminal law class. Everything in it seems pretty \"dumbed down.\" I hate to say that, but that's really my overall impression. The subject matter is just not done justice (pun intended). \n\nMy first more specific impression opening this e-Book, though, is that the table of contents is not appropriately detailed. Without a detailed TOC as a “road map” through the book, it’s hard for me to assess whether the book actually addresses each criminal law sub-topic in appropriate order and depth… because no information whatsoever is provided that would tell me anything about topic order and depth! It’s also hard for me to see how one concept connects with the preceding and following. I see that a somewhat cursory TOC has been added as a tab on the righthand side of the text, but I have to say, it’s awfully superficial. Section 1.7 is called “End-of-Chapter Material.” What does that refer to? Section 1.6, “Sources of Law,” could mean any number of things (e.g., common law? Case law? Precedent? English legal heritage? Administrative regulations? Constitutions? Stare decisis? Statutory law? Codification? And so forth). If I were a student trying to locate a particular sub-topic in the book, the TOC isn’t much help. We all know that students have limited attention spans these days, so whatever can be done to make the topics more readily accessible and easy to locate would be helpful. The list of key concepts at the start of each section is helpful though.  \n\nMy second impression upon opening this e-book is… bursting out laughing at the contents of the first page page, “Chapter 1: Introduction to Criminal Law.” I find the picture of a “Dodge Charger with a Police Package” to be a really bizarre photo to introduce a criminal law textbook. What is the point of that? Is this an \"intro to policing\" book? The picture isn’t even comprehensively illustrative of a tricked out police Dodge Charger, anyway. I don't get it. \n\nI am also raising my eyebrows at the citation of the case quote on this page (BMW of North America, Inc., v. Gore.” Come on now, this is NOT how we cite to cases by any stretch of the imagination, regardless of whether you're a lawyer, academic, or student at any level. If you’re not going to provide the entire citation—which is really what should have been done here, because it contains a lot of important information—at least do the slightly less lazy party 1 v. party 2 (year). \n\nOverall the first page looks to me like a pretty sophomoric attempt at starting Chapter 1. It doesn’t in any way draw my interest, and the photo and citation chosen to introduce both the chapter and entire textbook are puzzling. I am having a hard time understanding how those are illustrative of what’s to come in the chapter. All I can deduce is that the author has some kind of preoccupation with cars, given the dodge charger and BMW references!?\n\nThe first page of Chapter 1 sets the tone for the rest of the book, and as such, if I were a student I would be reticent to slog through any further. \n","created_at":"2018-02-01T18:00:00.000-06:00","updated_at":"2018-02-01T18:00:00.000-06:00"},{"id":2028,"first_name":"Kelly","last_name":"Ayers","position":"Clinical Instructor","institution_name":"West Virginia University","comprehensiveness_rating":5,"comprehensiveness_review":"The information covered in this text is general in nature, yet thorough enough to understand the foundations of the topic. Given that I would be using this text for undergraduate students, the amount of information and its depth seem to be on point. There are links that provide opportunities to explore the topic further if the student/instructor so desires.","accuracy_rating":5,"accuracy_review":"I am not a legal expert and cannot comment specifically to the accuracy; however, I do appreciate the long list of individuals provided that were identified as having reviewed the material prior to publication specifically for that purpose. ","relevance_rating":5,"relevance_review":"Criminal law itself will be unchanging, but its interpretation will. The author has included contemporary cases and other examples that provide the student with an understanding of the applications. It is made clear that there will be variations in different jurisdictions and that many of the examples are illustrative in nature. ","clarity_rating":5,"clarity_review":"Criminal Law is an easy read and any terms that would be unfamiliar to the undergraduate student is well defined and used in examples. The exercises throughout the text also offer methods of becoming familiar with the language. ","consistency_rating":5,"consistency_review":"Criminal law is written in a way that is easy to follow and each chapter is laid out in the same fashion which makes the material very easy to navigate.","modularity_rating":5,"modularity_review":"The chapters are broken up into easy to read subunits and there are several references to other areas of the book if there is a reference that needs to be made. This format makes it easy for the student and instructor to connect material moving forward allowing this book to be more comprehensive. ","organization_rating":5,"organization_review":"The topics were laid out in a way that was easy to follow and permits the student to build on previous information as they read forward. The beginning lays out general information about criminal law and the legal system and then breaks down into more specific elements related to criminal law. ","interface_rating":5,"interface_review":"All links throughout the book were active and images look clear. The text is laid out in an easy to read format for the computer screen. The text and supplemental materials are extremely user friendly.","grammatical_rating":5,"grammatical_review":"There were no grammatical errors noted throughout the text. The book is easy to follow and well written. ","cultural_rating":5,"cultural_review":"There was nothing that stood out as anything that may be offensive within the material or the examples. If there were references to cultural differences within examples, it is strictly due to relevance to the issue being discussed. ","overall_rating":10,"overall_review":"I am excited that there is a simple, easy to read foundational text in criminal law that can be shared with my forensic students. These students may or may not choose law school, but there should be a holistic understanding of how their work fits into the legal system as they go on to play a critical role in the investigation and prosecution of criminal activity.","created_at":"2018-05-21T19:00:00.000-05:00","updated_at":"2018-05-21T19:00:00.000-05:00"},{"id":2627,"first_name":"Dave","last_name":"Coffey","position":"Prof/Program Head Administration of Justice","institution_name":"Thomas Nelson Community College","comprehensiveness_rating":5,"comprehensiveness_review":"This is a good Criminal Law text for college undergraduates. The text covers most of the major areas of criminal law. The chapter orders are logically sequenced providing a building block approach for students.  Material is presented clearly and concisely making it easy for students to understand. “End of Chapters” includes exercises, questions, case citations and links as well as websites and articles, all very good resources for students.","accuracy_rating":5,"accuracy_review":"The broad concepts covered in this book and the materials used to present them contains no inaccurate information or bias presentation. Bearing in mind that legal texts and materials are always subject to interpretations and criticism. ","relevance_rating":5,"relevance_review":"The core criminal law concepts as covered in this book and its chapters are long standing principles and generally have not dramatically changed over the past years. Criminal law changes slowly and therefore this book should be a good intro book for many years. Additionally the text should be relatively easy to update in the modular format that it is written. There are a number of hyperlinks used throughout the book that need to be checked regularly for accuracy.","clarity_rating":5,"clarity_review":"The book is very easy to follow and written in such a way as students of all levels should be able to read and understand the materials. The substantive materials are reinforced and supported by interesting examples and critical thinking exercises to assist students in their understanding of the subject. The book also provides many examples and visual aids to explain many of the concepts and terms used. I would say this book is very student friendly. ","consistency_rating":5,"consistency_review":"The book generally is consistent throughout as it relates to the layout of chapters, terminology, formatting and presentation of information. Every chapter concludes with an End of Chapter section that has exercises with answers, case listings, summaries and links to websites. I think students will find these materials very useful. Chapters followed a consistent user friendly formatting that further aids student’s understanding.","modularity_rating":5,"modularity_review":"The text is written in a logical, easy to follow, modular format that allows for easy reorganization and assignments for students. Each chapter is focused on specific learning objectives and materials that support the learning objective. Assignments can be tailored around the learning objectives. Each chapter is broken down and numbered into sub-components of the overall chapter subject. ","organization_rating":5,"organization_review":"The structure, organization and flow of the materials contained in the book are logical and follow in a manner that is conducive to learning.  The textbook provides a basic introduction to Criminal Law to include the U.S. legal system; constitutional laws and protections; and traditional general elements of Criminal Law and specific crimes and defenses. This material is broken down into logical presentations and sections.","interface_rating":4,"interface_review":"I did not see any major problems with student textbook interface. However, I did have some problems with returning to the same spot in the textbook after clicking on some links. Most links worked fine but some seemed to be a little problematic and one was expired. It could have been my computer or me.","grammatical_rating":5,"grammatical_review":"I did not notice any glaring grammatical errors.  Overall the textbook appeared to be very well written.\r\n\r\n","cultural_rating":5,"cultural_review":"The book appears to be culturally appropriate for the course and subject matter. I did not find any culturally incentive or offensive material or examples in the book. ","overall_rating":10,"overall_review":"I would certainly consider adopting this textbook for my Criminal Law course. It covers the major topics relative to Criminal Law and it does so in a manner that I think would be beneficial to our students. The textbook is equal to and in many ways, better than many of the leading textbooks for purchase that are on the market and in our bookstores today. ","created_at":"2019-03-06T10:00:43.000-06:00","updated_at":"2019-03-06T10:00:43.000-06:00"},{"id":2825,"first_name":"Jennifer","last_name":"Dannels","position":"Lead Instructor - Criminal Justice","institution_name":"NTCC","comprehensiveness_rating":5,"comprehensiveness_review":"This book is even more comprehensive than previous textbooks (non-OER) I've used in the past.  I especially like how it covers the constitutional issues (freedom of speech, right to \"privacy\" (birth control, abortion, etc.), ex post facto clause, due process challenges, etc.) in Chapter 3.  I don't recall other textbooks giving this much attention to the U.S. Constitution but it is extremely important.  I believe my students are now better able to understand why some statutes are held unconstitutional by the courts.  Too often, students (and the public at large) think that the legislature can just pass laws without ever giving thought to the fact that they may be in opposition to what our constitution allows.  \r\n\r\nAdditionally, I had read previous reviews that mentioned the lack of discussion about terrorism in this book.  But I think it's covered sufficiently.  While terrorism is definitely at the forefront of the news and our minds these days, the truth is that terrorism charges/convictions are still few compared to the other crimes in the U.S.  And I think the textbook at least offers a good starting point for a discussion on terrorism -- the instructor can easily find additional material about current day challenges to the PATRIOT Act and current news stories about recent terrorism acts and charges.  ","accuracy_rating":5,"accuracy_review":"I found very few (if any) errors in this textbook.  I am a licensed attorney and have been so disappointed in the past with other textbooks with inaccurate information and just a plain misunderstanding of how the law works.  It is clear to me that the author of this textbook is an attorney --- which is how it should be.  Too often I find that Criminal Law textbooks are written by non-attorneys which makes little to no sense.  Sure, non-attorneys can write about Criminal Justice in general and certain specific topics, but I think the matter of law (especially constitutional and criminal law) should be left to those actually trained in the interpretation and practice of the law.  ","relevance_rating":5,"relevance_review":"This textbook does a great job of providing relevant and up-to-date court decisions and statutes.  It is impossible to write a law textbook that will not need to be updated at some point because the law does change - it's just the nature of the beast.  However, this text gives a great overview of the overarching Supreme Court decisions and underlying themes/policies that do not change very often.  I also found that it was easy to insert my own state's statutes into my lectures.  As a result, the students learned the general principles and majority views from this textbook -- and then I showed them specifically what Louisiana requires.  So when it comes to updating my course, I really just need to focus on my state's statutory changes.  ","clarity_rating":5,"clarity_review":"My biggest compliment that I have for this textbook is that it is extremely clear and provides excellent real-life examples to demonstrate each concept/element.  I wish this textbook had been around back when I was in law school!!  It would have been much easier to understand.  I love how this textbook breaks every topic into clear and concise sections (with a clear bold heading to boot!) -- and then the author just gets right in, explains the concept, gives an example, and then moves on.  No need to use fancy and excessive language when it is simply not needed.  \r\n\r\nMy only real complaint (if you can even call it that) is that some of the examples were a little far-fetched or maybe didn't illustrate a point perfectly, but it was easy enough to come up with my own examples to illustrate the point.  And there really were only just a handful of examples that I did not like - the overwhelming majority of them were spot-on.  These examples are crucial to put the law into context for students. Without them, it's just a bunch of concepts that the students can't always translate into the real world.  ","consistency_rating":5,"consistency_review":"This book was consistent all the way through.  ","modularity_rating":5,"modularity_review":"I really liked how the chapters are divided up into reasonable chunks with clear and bold headings.  Each section was also relatively small (consisting of usually only a few paragraphs) which made for easy reading and comprehension.  I also appreciated how each section of the chapter ended with a summary, hypothetical scenarios, and real court cases that illustrate the points covered in the text.  The end-of-the-chapter reviews were also great with additional questions/hypothetical scenarios for the students to ponder and to illustrate how the law translates into real-life cases.  ","organization_rating":5,"organization_review":"The topics of this text are organized to perfection.  I really have no complaints in this area.  I followed the textbook in the order as it was written because I saw no reason to change it.  The student really must have a good understanding of possible constitutional challenges and the basic elements of all crimes (criminal act, intent, attendant circumstances, etc) before you can really dive into each category of specific crimes.  ","interface_rating":5,"interface_review":"I did not notice any problems in this area, and heard no complaints from students either.  ","grammatical_rating":5,"grammatical_review":"I did not notice any grammatical errors -- and I greatly appreciated how the case and statutory citations were all correct!!  Too often, I see other textbooks get that part wrong which is frustrating.  Again, probably because someone other than an attorney/paralegal wrote it - and legal citations are a completely separate beast than other forms of citations.   So great job in this area!  ","cultural_rating":5,"cultural_review":"I do not recall reading any portions of the texts (including examples) that were insensitive or offensive.  I think the author did a very nice job of remaining neutral and culturally appropriate.  ","overall_rating":10,"overall_review":"This is an overall excellent textbook!  I teach this course at a community college and I find that students are easily able to follow along and understand the content.  Yet, it is not over-simplistic at all.  It covers a large amount of material in an appropriate amount of time/space and gives real-life examples that help students connect the dots between the criminal statute and policies with actual criminal charges/trials/convictions.  I will be using this textbook for years to come.  A huge shout-out to the author of this fabulous open textbook!  ","created_at":"2019-04-23T13:17:18.000-05:00","updated_at":"2019-04-23T13:17:18.000-05:00"},{"id":3113,"first_name":"Andre","last_name":"Adeli","position":"Lecturer","institution_name":"Metropolitan State University of Denver","comprehensiveness_rating":3,"comprehensiveness_review":"Although it is difficult to be comprehensive in an introductory text, the author's attempts at introducing legal concepts through individual cases in my experience is not a good starting points.","accuracy_rating":2,"accuracy_review":"On one occasion the year cited on an important case from 1970 was cited as a 2010 case. Other references to well known criminal cases contained inaccuracies.","relevance_rating":3,"relevance_review":"Relevance and longevity could be improved by including more recent analysis of contemporary cases. 4th Amendment and 8th Amendment issues are already in need of updates.","clarity_rating":5,"clarity_review":"More than 90% of the content is written in a succinct and clear manner. Moving around within each chapter is somewhat confusing, however.","consistency_rating":4,"consistency_review":"Framework is consistent and terminology is accurate but often includes too many civil law references. For students not familiar with civil or criminal law the civil law references may be confusing.","modularity_rating":4,"modularity_review":"Great modularity, but not clear how material can be integrated with other source material.","organization_rating":4,"organization_review":"The topics were presented in the traditional format for an introductory text.","interface_rating":3,"interface_review":"I encountered a couple of dead links.","grammatical_rating":5,"grammatical_review":" I did not notice any grammatical errors.","cultural_rating":5,"cultural_review":"The textbook raises the complex issues of race and ethnicity in criminal law in a responsible and sensitive manner.","overall_rating":8,"overall_review":"This OER textbook seems to be an excellent start to an interactive textbook on Criminal Law, unfortunately, I am not ready to adopt in its current form. I would need better introductions to the topics, a way to substitute links or insert more recent appellate cases in the discussion or summary sections of the chapters to feel comfortable with this text as a platform for my Criminal Law classes. ","created_at":"2019-07-24T19:47:05.000-05:00","updated_at":"2019-07-24T19:47:05.000-05:00"},{"id":3939,"first_name":"Robert","last_name":"Rocklin","position":"Pro Tem Faculty","institution_name":"University of Oregon","comprehensiveness_rating":5,"comprehensiveness_review":"The text is generally comprehensive.  It covers all the major areas of criminal law, from individual crimes to broader issues such as the role of the United States Constitution in placing limits on criminal punishment.  The text has a fairly detailed table of contents, but no index or glossary.  The latter omission is surprising, because the text includes many terms that are bolded, which in other texts often suggests that they are defined in a glossary.","accuracy_rating":3,"accuracy_review":"The content appears to be unbiased.  There are, however, a number of errors or inaccuracies.  As just one example, the first chapter states that the goal of civil litigation is to “compensate the plaintiff for any injuries and to put the plaintiff back in the position  that the person held before the injury occurred.”  And the discussion and examples that follow all focus on tort litigation and money damages.  But civil litigation is much broader than that, encompassing contract disputes, property issues, injunctive relief, and a host of other issues and remedies.  Similarly, the text states that the goal of criminal prosecution is to “punish the defendant.”  But as the text later explains, there are at least four goals that criminal law seeks to serve.  As another example, the text states that, in Gonzales v. Oregon, 546 U.S. 243 (2006), the Court held that the United States Attorney General “cannot criminalize the use of drugs under Oregon’s Death With Dignity Act.”  But that case dealt with license revocation, not criminal sanctions.  There are many other inaccurate statements throughout the book.","relevance_rating":5,"relevance_review":"The content is up-to-date.  Because criminal law varies from jurisdiction to jurisdiction, it is impossible to be completely up-to-date in the details.  But the general principles addressed in the text are descriptive of contemporary criminal law.","clarity_rating":4,"clarity_review":"The text is written in a way that should be accessible to most undergraduate students.  But there are some exceptions.  For example, the text states, “Lawyers primarily use precedent in their arguments, rather than statutes or the Constitution, because it is so specific.”  That statement is both inaccurate and confusing.  Another example:  The text states that judicial opinions “can also contain more than one case law . . . .”  That sentence is, at the least, confusing.  As for context, although the text generally does a good job of providing relevant context, there are some lapses.  For example, the text mentions “double jeopardy” without explaining what it is.","consistency_rating":5,"consistency_review":"The text is internally consistent in terms of terminology and framework.","modularity_rating":5,"modularity_review":"The text gets high marks on modularity.  The text includes few, if any, long sections; it makes generous use of headings.  Occasionally, it is inappropriately self-referential.  For example, in section 8.1 “Attempt” the text mentions a concept and then says, “as is discussed in Section 8.1 ‘Attempt’.”","organization_rating":5,"organization_review":"The text is well-organized.  Like other criminal law texts, it proceeds from general criminal law principles, to discussion of specific categories of crime, and then to specific crimes.","interface_rating":3,"interface_review":"Generally, the text’s interface works.  But there are some broken links to other parts of the text and some broken links to external resources.  Although the charts and tables are easy to read, they often inaccurately depict the relationships they are intended to clarify.  For example, constitutional provisions are superior to statutory ones, but the figure depicting the relationship shows a circular relationship.  Similarly, when summarizing inchoate crimes, the figures start with defenses to the crimes, rather than the affirmative elements of the crimes.  In general, many or most of the figures are either inaccurate or confusing.","grammatical_rating":5,"grammatical_review":"With a few exceptions, the text is grammatical.","cultural_rating":4,"cultural_review":"The text is not overtly insensitive or offensive.  But many or most of the examples—and there are a lot of examples—tend to use stereotypically Anglo names for the characters.","overall_rating":9,"overall_review":"I’m of two minds about this book.  It is comprehensive and it includes lots of exercises, examples, learning objectives and “key takeaways.”  The discussion of substantive criminal law is mostly accurate and the text is  readable.  But, as noted, the text includes many inaccurate or misleading statements (especially in the more general discussions) and the figures misrepresent important relationships (for example, depicting both state and federal judiciaries as part of a single judicial branch).  Obviously, the price of the book can't be beat.  But if one were to use it, I'd recommend including errata or somehow informing students about the deficiencies related above.","created_at":"2020-06-10T14:51:18.000-05:00","updated_at":"2020-06-10T14:51:18.000-05:00"},{"id":4493,"first_name":"Robert","last_name":"Henderson","position":"Assistant Professor","institution_name":"University of Alaska Anchorage","comprehensiveness_rating":4,"comprehensiveness_review":"I found this textbook to be an excellent resource for an upper-division, undergraduate course in Criminal Law.  Criminal law is a relatively straight-forward topic and this text does a good job of providing a good overview of the topic.  The textbook highlights the majority of the significant aspects of criminal law and is written in an easy to understand format.  To provide complete overview of the topic, I recommend supplementing the textbook with jurisdiction-specific caselaw, allowing the students to experience factual application of the principles discussed in the textbook.  All but one chapter provide the students with an in-depth review of the relevant subtopic.  Chapter 12, Crimes Against the Public, was not as developed as earlier chapters.  I expanded Chapter 12 into two, separate subparts: Public Order Offenses and Social Order Offenses.  I expanded Chapter 12 in an effort to provide a more comprehensive overview of the various crimes included within this range of conduct.","accuracy_rating":5,"accuracy_review":"The textbook is generally accurate and error-free.  Given that criminal law is jurisdiction-specific, the textbook does a good job of providing various examples of the different principles.  This is especially true when augmented with jurisdiction-specific caselaw.","relevance_rating":5,"relevance_review":"The textbook is up-to-date and addresses all major developments within criminal law.","clarity_rating":5,"clarity_review":"The textbook works well as the primary textbook for an upper-division, undergraduate textbook.  The text is easily understood by undergraduate students.","consistency_rating":5,"consistency_review":"I found the textbook to be internally consistent and easily supplemented with outside information.","modularity_rating":5,"modularity_review":"With the exception of the first two chapters, both of which provide general background and fundamental principles surrounding criminal law, the textbook chapters are easily re-arranged to fit different course schedules.","organization_rating":5,"organization_review":"Although I personally re-organized the chapters, it was only due to personal preference.  The textbook's modularity allowed this easily adjustment.","interface_rating":5,"interface_review":"Neither I, nor my students, faced any significant interface issues using this textbook.  It is accessible and available in different media formats.","grammatical_rating":5,"grammatical_review":"I have not identified any grammatical errors.","cultural_rating":5,"cultural_review":"I did not find the textbook to be culturally insensitive or offensive.","overall_rating":10,"overall_review":"Overall, I would recommend this textbook to instructors teaching an upper-division, undergraduate course in criminal law.  Although the textbook does not have all of the \"features\" of a commercial textbook (i.e., study guides, test banks), I found the textbook worked well as supplementary materials.  This is not a criticism -- given that criminal law is a jurisdictional-specific subject matter, the textbook does a good job of providing students with general, foundational concepts and allows the instructor to easily supplement the course with jurisdiction-relevant information.  \r\nAll but one chapter provide the students with an in-depth review of the relevant subtopic.  Chapter 12, Crimes Against the Public, was not as developed as earlier chapters.  I expanded Chapter 12 into two, separate subparts: Public Order Offenses and Social Order Offenses.  I expanded Chapter 12 in an effort to provide a more comprehensive overview of the various crimes included within this range of conduct.","created_at":"2020-12-29T19:17:59.000-06:00","updated_at":"2021-01-10T15:58:38.000-06:00"},{"id":33527,"first_name":"DeAris","last_name":"Hoard","position":"Lecturer of Criminal Justice","institution_name":"Eastern New Mexico University","comprehensiveness_rating":5,"comprehensiveness_review":"The text was quite comprehensive and covered the subject matter in a fashion easily understood by undergraduate students. The text is an excellent resource for undergraduate students in introductory-level courses.","accuracy_rating":5,"accuracy_review":"The text provided an accurate representation of knowledge regarding the subject matter.","relevance_rating":4,"relevance_review":"The information provided in the text is mixed/varied. There are newer sources referenced in the text, along with older, yet valuable, sources.","clarity_rating":5,"clarity_review":"The text is presented clearly and in a manner easily understood by undergraduate students in introductory or cursory courses.","consistency_rating":5,"consistency_review":"The text is consistent with the learning objectives, table of contents, and supplementary definitions presented.","modularity_rating":5,"modularity_review":"The text is nicely broken and organized into smaller reading sections.","organization_rating":5,"organization_review":"The organization and flow of the text were both logical and clear.","interface_rating":5,"interface_review":"The text was easy to navigate, and there were no distracting or confusing images or charts.","grammatical_rating":5,"grammatical_review":"There we no observed grammatical errors/issues.","cultural_rating":5,"cultural_review":"There were no observed issues in the text concerning cultural sensitivity.","overall_rating":10,"overall_review":null,"created_at":"2021-12-12T19:01:08.000-06:00","updated_at":"2021-12-12T19:01:08.000-06:00"},{"id":34828,"first_name":"Kelly","last_name":"Arney","position":"Dean of Behavioral Sciences, Associate Professor","institution_name":"Grace College","comprehensiveness_rating":5,"comprehensiveness_review":"This textbook covers the main subject areas of criminal law. The introduction to criminal law and the legal system are the first two chapters and lead to a nice introduction to the rest of the textbook. The book develops by explaining the constitutional protections and then defenses.  In other books, I have seen defenses after crimes against property, the public, and the government. This criminal law textbook starts with defenses and then moves forward with types of offenses.  The elements of a crime are divided into criminal elements, intent, and harm. This has more coverage in this section than I have seen in other textbooks. This textbook makes it easy for undergraduate students to fully understand this foundational information.  It covers the subject appropriately and effectively in this way.","accuracy_rating":5,"accuracy_review":"No biases or inaccurate information was found. This textbook uses facts and cases that are well documented.","relevance_rating":4,"relevance_review":"This textbook includes the core criminal law concepts as covered by most criminal law textbooks. The chapters flow in logical order and build on their information in a nice methodical way. The contents are up-to-date for the publication date of 2015.  Instructors will need to provide some updated material to supplement this textbook, but the ideas, terms, and chapters are valuable. I am giving this a 4 because it is a 2015 publication and will need updated supplemental materials.","clarity_rating":5,"clarity_review":"The textbook is presented clearly.  This seems as though it would be easily understood by undergraduate students. The terminology is identified in a clear way and the chapters flow into each other in an organized way. No jargon or confusing terminology was found. This uses legal terminology that is accurate.","consistency_rating":5,"consistency_review":"Consistent terminology and framework were used throughout the textbook.  It made the build from chapter to chapter easy to follow.","modularity_rating":5,"modularity_review":"This textbook is nicely broken down and organized into smaller reading sections. It would be simple for an instructor to reference a specific section or assign a specific section in the book.  It is easy to access from different points within the course. It is nicely organized and easy to follow.","organization_rating":5,"organization_review":"The organization of this textbook was logical and clear. The chapters seemed to build on each other. It was organized a little differently from previous textbooks but did so in an effective way.  In other books, I have seen defenses after crimes against property, the public, and the government. This criminal law textbook starts with defenses and then moves forward with types of offenses.  The elements of a crime are divided into criminal elements, intent, and harm. This has more coverage in this section than I have seen in other textbooks. This textbook makes it easy for undergraduate students to fully understand this foundational information.  It covers the subject appropriately and effectively in this way.","interface_rating":5,"interface_review":"This textbook was free of any interface issues or navigational issues.","grammatical_rating":5,"grammatical_review":"I have not identified any grammatical errors.","cultural_rating":5,"cultural_review":"This textbook does effectively raise the complex issues of race and ethnicity in criminal law in a responsible manner. No issues with insensitivity or offensive language that I found.","overall_rating":10,"overall_review":"This was an excellent textbook. It was well-organized and relevant. Keep in mind it is from 2015, so some up-to-date material will be required by the instructor.","created_at":"2023-12-22T12:44:35.000-06:00","updated_at":"2023-12-22T12:44:35.000-06:00"}],"url":"https://staging.open.umn.edu/opentextbooks/textbooks/criminal-law","updated_at":"2025-12-15T02:20:14.000-06:00"},{"id":99,"title":"Introduction to Basic Legal Citation","edition_statement":null,"volume":null,"copyright_year":2013,"isbn10":null,"isbn13":null,"license":"Attribution-ShareAlike","language":"eng","accessibility_statement":null,"accessibility_features":[],"description":"This is not a comprehensive citation reference work. Its limited aim is to serve as a tutorial onhow to cite the most widely referenced types of U.S. legal material, taking account of localnorms and the changes in citation practice forced by the shift from print to electronic sources.It begins with an introductory unit. That is followed immediately by one on \"how to cite\" thecategories of authority that comprise a majority of the citations in briefs and legalmemoranda. Using the full table of contents one can proceed through this material insequence. The third unit, organized around illustrative examples, is intended to be used eitherfor review and reinforcement of the prior \"how to\" sections or as an alternative approach tothem. One can start with it since the illustrative examples for each document type are linkedback to the relevant \"how to\" principles. The sections on abbreviations and omissions, on typeface (italics and underlining), and onhow citations fit into the larger project of legal writing that follow all support the precedingunits. They are accessible independently and also, where appriopriate, via links from theearlier sections. Finally, there are a series of cross reference tables tying this introduction tothe two major legal citation reference works and to state-specific citation rules and practices. The work is also designed to be used by those confronting a specific citation issue. For suchpurposes the table of contents provides one path to the relevant material. Another, to whichthe bar at the top of each major section provides ready access, is a topical index. This index isalphabetically arrayed and more detailed than the table of contents. Finally, the searchfunction in your e-book reader software should allow an even narrower inquiry, such as oneseeking the abbreviation for a specific word (e.g.,institute) or illustrative citations for aparticular state, Ohio, say. If the device on which you are reading this e-book allows it, the pdf format will enable you toprint or to copy and paste portions, large or small, into other documents. However, since thev work is filled with linked cross references and both the table of contents and index rely onthem, most will find a print copy far less useful than the electronic original.","contributors":[{"id":3740,"contribution":"Author","primary":true,"corporate":false,"title":null,"first_name":"Peter","middle_name":"W.","last_name":"Martin","location":"Cornell Law School","background_text":"Peter W. Martin, the Jane M.G. Foster Professor of Law, Emeritus, and former dean of Cornell Law School, writes, speaks, and consults on topics that concern the impact of technology on the functioning of law and legal institutions. After his graduation from Harvard Law School, Professor Martin spent three years in the Air Force General Counsel's Office, and then began his teaching career at the University of Minnesota Law School in 1967. He joined the Cornell Law School Faculty in 1972, and served as Dean from 1980 to 1988. Professor Martin co-founded Cornell's Legal Information Institute (LII) with Thomas R. Bruce in 1992, the first Internet law resource and still the most heavily used non-profit legal Web site. In addition to serving as the LII's co-director for over a decade, Professor Martin has created an electronic treatise and database on Social Security law, a Web reference, ebook, and accompanying online tutorials on legal citation, and written numerous articles on uses of digital technology in law and legal education. Between 1996 and 2007 he offered law courses employing electronic materials prepared by him to students at over a dozen law schools via the internet. His most recent articles are available on SSRN. He blogs at: citeblog.access-to-law.com"}],"subjects":[{"id":11,"name":"Law","parent_subject_id":null,"call_number":"KF385.A4","visible_textbooks_count":99,"url":"https://staging.open.umn.edu/opentextbooks/subjects/law"}],"publishers":[{"id":233,"url":"https://www.cali.org/books/introduction-basic-legal-citation","year":null,"created_at":"2018-09-07T12:22:38.000-05:00","updated_at":"2020-01-02T15:29:26.000-06:00","name":"CALI's eLangdell® Press"}],"formats":[{"id":46,"type":"PDF","url":"https://www.cali.org/sites/default/files/basic_legal_citation_1.pdf","price":{"cents":0,"currency_iso":"USD"},"isbn":null},{"id":47,"type":"eBook","url":"https://www.cali.org/sites/default/files/basic_legal_citation_1.epub","price":{"cents":0,"currency_iso":"USD"},"isbn":null},{"id":1377,"type":"Online","url":"https://www.law.cornell.edu/citation/","price":{"cents":0,"currency_iso":"USD"},"isbn":null},{"id":1870,"type":"MS Word","url":"https://www.cali.org/books/introduction-basic-legal-citation#","price":{"cents":0,"currency_iso":"USD"},"isbn":null}],"rating":"4.5","textbook_reviews_count":1,"reviews":[{"id":153,"first_name":"Robert","last_name":"Kerr","position":"Professor","institution_name":"University of Oklahoma","comprehensiveness_rating":5,"comprehensiveness_review":"This book is comprehensive in relation to its objective, which is not comprehensiveness in terms of a citation reference work but rather in providing a tutorial on citing on the most widely referenced types of U.S. legal material. That objective is fully achieved and the text provides a valuable resource to anyone engaged in legal writing, especially in that it considers both local norms as well as changes in citation practice that have been required with so many legal sources shifting from print to digital. It should be noted that its focus is the forms of citation used in professional practice, rather than in law journals, so it will be more helpful to writers seeking assistance with the former than the latter.\r\n","accuracy_rating":5,"accuracy_review":"No errors of fact or any pattern of bias in presentation were evident to this reviewer. \r\n","relevance_rating":5,"relevance_review":"The content of this book is currently up-to-date, although the subject matter is one that does require frequent updates. However, given that updated editions have been issued frequently, including as recently as 2010, 2011, and 2012, so one can reasonably anticipate that will continue. Additionally, it features a companion “wiki” that allows\r\nusers to ask questions, offer comments and elaboration, etc.\r\n","clarity_rating":5,"clarity_review":"The text is presented in prose that most readers should find lucid and accessible, especially the type of readers who are most likely to use this book -- law students and legal practitioners. However, in this reviewer’s assessment, even lay readers who might be seeking assistance in writing legal petitions, etc. It would be impossible to write a how-to book on legal citation without utilizing a considerable degree of jargon/technical terminology, but this one quite effectively provides sufficient context. That probably derives at least in part from its origins as a response to a group of law students in the early 1990s who were seeking assistance in learning citation. \r\n","consistency_rating":5,"consistency_review":"This book does maintain consistency in terminology and framework, even though it is dealing with a topic in which inconsistency of that sort is a hazard.\r\n","modularity_rating":4,"modularity_review":"This is a text that can without question be divided into smaller reading sections, which could be assigned in any way preferred by an instructor. Enhancing that modularity is the extensive hyperlinking throughout the book, including the table of contents, so that readers can quite easily move back and forth through the book, quickly focusing and refocusing on almost any series of related points that might prove most useful to the individual user.\r\n","organization_rating":5,"organization_review":"This reviewer found the text to be organized in a manner that provided for a quite coherent structure and natural flow. The introductory unit helps the reader understand the basic reasons that such highly specialized forms of citation are utilized, and then moves into one “how to cite” unit that is followed by a related unit that can provide review on the preceding unit or alternative approaches to citation problems as necessary. As noted before, in a book like this, in which readers will more often be seeking specific assistance rather than a narrative reading experience, the hyperlinking throughout also enhances the organizational flow.\r\n","interface_rating":5,"interface_review":"This reviewer encountered no significant or even minor interface issues.  The text does not feature images or charts as they are usually thought of, but it does provide frequent examples offset in boxes that are free of distortion and quite helpful.\r\n","grammatical_rating":5,"grammatical_review":"No grammatical errors were evident to this reviewer. \r\n\r\n","cultural_rating":3,"cultural_review":"This book does not use examples that are either inclusive or exclusive of any races, ethnicities, or backgrounds. But that is because it focuses strictly on providing guidance for making the references necessary in legal writing to statutes, regulations, secondary literature, journal articles, etc. -- the technical language of legal citation. All its examples are examples of how to format such references.\r\n","overall_rating":9,"overall_review":"\tEven though this book is a reference work on a not particularly entertaining topic, this reviewer enjoyed reading it and expects to find occasions to utilize it both for citation assistance and contextual guidance.\r\n","created_at":"2015-01-12T18:00:00.000-06:00","updated_at":"2015-01-12T18:00:00.000-06:00"}],"url":"https://staging.open.umn.edu/opentextbooks/textbooks/introduction-to-basic-legal-citation","updated_at":"2025-12-15T02:17:08.000-06:00"},{"id":100,"title":"Contract Doctrine, Theory \u0026 Practice","edition_statement":null,"volume":"Volume 2","copyright_year":2012,"isbn10":null,"isbn13":null,"license":"Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike","language":"eng","accessibility_statement":null,"accessibility_features":[],"description":"This is Volume 2 in a three volume series written for Contracts Law. Its orginal title was \"Collaborative Teaching Materials for Contracts.\" The first semester of law school is mostly about learning to speak a new legal language (but emphatically not “legalese”), to formulate and evaluate legal arguments, to become comfortable with the distinctive style of legal analysis. We could teach these skills using almost any legal topic. But we begin the first-year curriculum with subjects that pervade the entire field of law. Contract principles have a long history and they form a significant part of the way that lawyers think about many legal problems. As you will discover when you study insurance law, employment law, family law, and dozens of other practice areas, your knowledge of contract doctrine and theory will be invaluable.","contributors":[{"id":3511,"contribution":"Author","primary":true,"corporate":false,"title":null,"first_name":"J.H.","middle_name":null,"last_name":"Verkerke","location":"University of Virginia","background_text":"J.H. (Rip) Verkerke is a professor of law and director of the Program for Employment and Labor Law Studies at the University of Virginia School of Law. He earned an M.Phil. in economics and a J.D. from Yale University. He joined the UVA Law School faculty in 1991 after clerking for Judge Ralph K. Winter, Jr. of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. Verkerke teaches contracts, several employment law courses and a seminar on behavioral economic analysis of law."}],"subjects":[{"id":2,"name":"Business","parent_subject_id":null,"call_number":"HF5001","visible_textbooks_count":144,"url":"https://staging.open.umn.edu/opentextbooks/subjects/business"},{"id":64,"name":"Contract Law","parent_subject_id":11,"call_number":"K7265","visible_textbooks_count":25,"url":"https://staging.open.umn.edu/opentextbooks/subjects/environmental-law"},{"id":11,"name":"Law","parent_subject_id":null,"call_number":"KF385.A4","visible_textbooks_count":99,"url":"https://staging.open.umn.edu/opentextbooks/subjects/law"}],"publishers":[{"id":225,"url":"http://elangdell.cali.org/content/contract-doctrine-theory-practice-volume-2","year":null,"created_at":"2018-09-07T12:22:38.000-05:00","updated_at":"2018-09-07T12:22:38.000-05:00","name":"CALI's eLangdell® Press"}],"formats":[{"id":66,"type":"PDF","url":"https://www.cali.org/sites/default/files/ContractDoctrineTheoryPractice2_Verkerke_Dec2014.pdf","price":{"cents":0,"currency_iso":"USD"},"isbn":null},{"id":67,"type":"Hardcopy","url":"http://www.lulu.com/content/paperback-book/contract-doctrine-theory-practice-volume-two/15951192","price":{"cents":0,"currency_iso":"USD"},"isbn":null},{"id":1862,"type":"MS Word","url":"https://www.cali.org/sites/default/files/ContractDoctrineTheoryPractice2_Verkerke_Dec2014.docx","price":{"cents":0,"currency_iso":"USD"},"isbn":null},{"id":1863,"type":"eBook","url":"https://www.cali.org/sites/default/files/ContractDoctrineTheoryPractice2_Verkerke_Dec2014.epub","price":{"cents":0,"currency_iso":"USD"},"isbn":null}],"rating":null,"textbook_reviews_count":0,"reviews":[],"url":"https://staging.open.umn.edu/opentextbooks/textbooks/contract-doctrine-theory-practice-volume-2","updated_at":"2025-12-15T02:01:25.000-06:00"},{"id":101,"title":"Contract Doctrine, Theory \u0026 Practice","edition_statement":null,"volume":"Volume 1","copyright_year":2014,"isbn10":null,"isbn13":null,"license":"Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike","language":"eng","accessibility_statement":null,"accessibility_features":[],"description":"This is the first in a series of Contracts casebooks. It was originally titled \"Collaborative Teaching Materials for Contracts.\" The first semester of law school is mostly about learning to speak a new legal language (but emphatically not “legalese”), to formulate and evaluate legal arguments, to become comfortable with the distinctive style of legal analysis. We could teach these skills using almost any legal topic. But we begin the first-year curriculum with subjects that pervade the entire field of law. Contract principles have a long history and they form a significant part of the way that lawyers think about many legal problems. As you will discover when you study insurance law, employment law, family law, and dozens of other practice areas, your knowledge of contract doctrine and theory will be invaluable.","contributors":[{"id":3510,"contribution":"Author","primary":true,"corporate":false,"title":null,"first_name":"J.H.","middle_name":null,"last_name":"Verkerke","location":"University of Virginia","background_text":"J.H. (Rip) Verkerke is a professor of law and director of the Program for Employment and Labor Law Studies at the University of Virginia School of Law. He earned an M.Phil. in economics and a J.D. from Yale University. He joined the UVA Law School faculty in 1991 after clerking for Judge Ralph K. Winter, Jr. of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. Verkerke teaches contracts, several employment law courses and a seminar on behavioral economic analysis of law."}],"subjects":[{"id":2,"name":"Business","parent_subject_id":null,"call_number":"HF5001","visible_textbooks_count":144,"url":"https://staging.open.umn.edu/opentextbooks/subjects/business"},{"id":64,"name":"Contract Law","parent_subject_id":11,"call_number":"K7265","visible_textbooks_count":25,"url":"https://staging.open.umn.edu/opentextbooks/subjects/environmental-law"},{"id":11,"name":"Law","parent_subject_id":null,"call_number":"KF385.A4","visible_textbooks_count":99,"url":"https://staging.open.umn.edu/opentextbooks/subjects/law"}],"publishers":[{"id":224,"url":"http://elangdell.cali.org/content/contract-doctrine-theory-practice-volume-1","year":null,"created_at":"2018-09-07T12:22:38.000-05:00","updated_at":"2018-09-07T12:22:38.000-05:00","name":"CALI's eLangdell® Press"}],"formats":[{"id":68,"type":"PDF","url":"https://www.cali.org/sites/default/files/ContractDoctrineTheoryPractice1_Verkerke_Dec2014.pdf","price":{"cents":0,"currency_iso":"USD"},"isbn":null},{"id":69,"type":"Hardcopy","url":"http://www.lulu.com/shop/jh-verkerke/contract-doctrine-theory-practice-volume-one/paperback/product-21947543.html","price":{"cents":818,"currency_iso":"USD"},"isbn":null},{"id":1860,"type":"eBook","url":"https://www.cali.org/sites/default/files/ContractDoctrineTheoryPractice1_Verkerke_Dec2014.epub","price":{"cents":0,"currency_iso":"USD"},"isbn":null},{"id":1861,"type":"MS Word","url":"https://www.cali.org/sites/default/files/ContractDoctrineTheoryPractice1_Verkerke_Dec2014.docx","price":{"cents":0,"currency_iso":"USD"},"isbn":null}],"rating":"4","textbook_reviews_count":2,"reviews":[{"id":799,"first_name":"Eloise ","last_name":"Hassell","position":"Senior Lecturer","institution_name":"UNC-Greensboro Joseph M. Bryan School of Business and Economics","comprehensiveness_rating":5,"comprehensiveness_review":"The book is Volume I of a multi-volume work on contract principles; Vol I contains topics on contract formation (including mutuality of promises, offer and acceptance, consideration, etc) with extensive cases and inclusion of citations and discussions of the Restatements. No index or glossary were provided with the edition submitted.","accuracy_rating":5,"accuracy_review":"Content appears to be accurate and unbiased (although occasional editorial observations are not unwelcome or unhealthy).","relevance_rating":5,"relevance_review":"Relevant and current, adaptable to updates and revisions.","clarity_rating":4,"clarity_review":"The concepts are complex and the cases chosen are, although necessary, by their length are not a model of clarity (Judge Easterbrook's accessible style notwithstanding). It would be helpful with intertwined issues to break them out for independent discourse and with the chosen cases a bit more distilled or edited.","consistency_rating":4,"consistency_review":"The work appears to be internally consistent, although a bit case-heavy in Ch III. Additionally, a note of caution may well be in order in delineating the common law fill-in doctrines of intent and terms as \"default rules;\" while appropriately relatable for the generation reading it, they will presumably at some point also come to know that the word \"default\" is itself a term of art in contract law (not to mention in that other first-year universe of civil procedure) so perhaps an alternative analogous choice would be in order.","modularity_rating":4,"modularity_review":"As referenced above, it is difficult to divide assignments when in one single chapter the reader and educator alike have the challenge of both a 26-page and 21-page case for consideration and study.","organization_rating":4,"organization_review":"Well-organized on the whole.","interface_rating":4,"interface_review":"No images or charts were included in the edition submitted (perhaps would be helpful)","grammatical_rating":5,"grammatical_review":"Grammatically correct","cultural_rating":5,"cultural_review":"Classic \"oldie-but-goodie\" cases juxtapose nicely with contemporary social and legal issues,and modern challenges in technology including shrink wrap and other topics will allow maintenance of cultural relevance.","overall_rating":9,"overall_review":"Thank you for the opportunity to review this work.\nEloise McCain Hassell\nSenior Lecturer \nUNCG Bryan School of Business\nmmhassel@uncg.edu\n(336)-334-5691","created_at":"2016-12-05T18:00:00.000-06:00","updated_at":"2016-12-05T18:00:00.000-06:00"},{"id":34889,"first_name":"Matthew","last_name":"Bruckner","position":"Associate Professor","institution_name":"Howard University","comprehensiveness_rating":3,"comprehensiveness_review":"This text is one of three volumes in this series. This first volume covers 1) promises and when state power should be used to enforce promises, 2) consideration and it’s alternatives (including promissory estoppel and the material benefit rule), and 3) contract formation under the common law and, to some extent, under the UCC as well. The book I currently use (Knapp, Crystal, and Prince (KCP) provides greater depth of coverage for UCC contract formation. KCP also provides far more material for each bit of content. For example, there are only two cases that primarily focus on whether there’s an offer (Dyno Construction Co. v. McWane, Inc. and Lefkowitz v. Great Minneapolis Surplus Store, Inc.) but there are five in KCP.","accuracy_rating":5,"accuracy_review":"Content is accurate, error-free and not overtly biased.","relevance_rating":3,"relevance_review":"The book was published in 2012. This is generally not a problem, as contract doctrine does not evolve quickly. However, there were major changes in 2022. In particular, to the scope of the UCC for hybrid transactions. In addition, there will soon be a new restatement of consumer contracts that might be nice for a book to touch upon. According to the ALI website, “Drafting of this project is completed. The official text is expected to be published in 2024.” Anyone considering a new book adoption should, in my opinion, think about how these changes will affect their course coverage and make plans accordingly.","clarity_rating":4,"clarity_review":"The text is written in lucid prose. Like all law textbooks, there is quite a bit of jargon/technical terminology. It would be nice if that jargon was hyperlinked to provide a definition of terms you might expect students not to understand. But that is not provided.","consistency_rating":5,"consistency_review":"Nothing unusual","modularity_rating":5,"modularity_review":"All of the reading assignments are self-contained. When statutory or restatement sections are assigned, they appear in the text. Helpfully, this avoids the need to buy a statutory supplement. \n\nThe text is easily divisible into smaller blocks. There is ample use of headings and white space. The paragraphs of the cases are helpfully numbered for ease of reference.","organization_rating":5,"organization_review":"There are two primary ways to begin a contracts casebook: with theories of obligation (contract, promissory estoppel, and quasi contract) or with damages. This chooses the more sensible (IMO) approach, which is to start with theories of obligation. In that regard, it parallels one of the most popular contract casebooks (Knapp, Crystal, and Prince). \n\nIn my view, the book may be a challenge for first-year students. For example, brief discussions of agency law and restitution are included in the first 15 pages. While they’re brief and it’s impossible to only assign one thing that a time, it’s not clear to me that they’re helpful to the first year law student. \n\nGenerally, the topics in the text are presented in a logical, clear fashion. There is a short introductory note, a copy of the relevant sections of the restatement or the UCC, a principal case, sometimes a note case, then some discussion questions about the material. Generally, there is less interstitial material than in KCP.","interface_rating":4,"interface_review":"The text is free of significant interface issues, including navigation problems, distortion of images/charts, and any other display features that may distract or confuse the reader. The hyperlinks in the document make it easy to jump to the right place in the text.","grammatical_rating":5,"grammatical_review":"The text contains no apparent grammatical errors.","cultural_rating":2,"cultural_review":"The text is not culturally insensitive or obviously offensive. It does not, though, appear to go to extra effort to ensure that the examples or cases are inclusive of a variety of races, ethnicities, and backgrounds.\n\nThe subject matter of the cases involves, among others: race horses; a farm; a harrier jet; employment contracts; the sale of wheat; a commercial real property lease; promises to abstain from vice; a lottery; promise to provide housing; bankruptcy; and currency exchange. To the extent that I’m aware of the people involved, most tend to be white and male.","overall_rating":8,"overall_review":"Ease of Use\nFor folks who are considering this after using KCP, you may be pleased to see several cases that repeat. Some cases, like Lucy v. Zehmer were merely note cases in KCP but are full cases here. Others, like Leonard v. PepsiCo, are given cursory treatment in both books. Other shared cases include  Hamer v. Sidway, Kirskey v. Kirksey, and Batsakis v. Demotsis. There are also many chestnuts in the book that you may recognize, such as ProCD, Hill v. Gateway, and Lefkowitz. Many other cases were entirely new to me. \n\nPersonally, I won't be adopting this book.","created_at":"2024-02-12T09:57:47.000-06:00","updated_at":"2024-02-12T09:57:47.000-06:00"}],"url":"https://staging.open.umn.edu/opentextbooks/textbooks/contract-doctrine-theory-practice-volume-1","updated_at":"2025-12-15T02:01:25.000-06:00"},{"id":102,"title":"Federal Rules of Appellate Procedure","edition_statement":null,"volume":null,"copyright_year":2014,"isbn10":null,"isbn13":null,"license":"Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike","language":"eng","accessibility_statement":"","accessibility_features":[],"description":"The Federal Rules of Appellate Procedure appear in the Appendix to Title 28 of the United State Code. This publication was made with data provided by the United States government on the Office of Law Revision Counsel Bulk US Code. This title is current through July 31, 2014. All updates to this material will appear at the above URL.","contributors":[{"id":3811,"contribution":"Editor","primary":false,"corporate":true,"title":null,"first_name":"eLangdell Press","middle_name":null,"last_name":"Editorial Staff","location":null,"background_text":"Editorial Staff of eLangdell Press"}],"subjects":[{"id":65,"name":"Procedural Law","parent_subject_id":11,"call_number":"KBP1572","visible_textbooks_count":12,"url":"https://staging.open.umn.edu/opentextbooks/subjects/contract-law"},{"id":11,"name":"Law","parent_subject_id":null,"call_number":"KF385.A4","visible_textbooks_count":99,"url":"https://staging.open.umn.edu/opentextbooks/subjects/law"}],"publishers":[{"id":230,"url":"http://www.cali.org/books/federal-rules-appellate-procedure-2014-2015","year":null,"created_at":"2018-09-07T12:22:38.000-05:00","updated_at":"2018-09-07T12:22:38.000-05:00","name":"CALI's eLangdell® Press"}],"formats":[{"id":592,"type":"eBook","url":"http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11785/169","price":{"cents":0,"currency_iso":"USD"},"isbn":null},{"id":593,"type":"PDF","url":"http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11785/169","price":{"cents":0,"currency_iso":"USD"},"isbn":null},{"id":1867,"type":"MS Word","url":"https://www.cali.org/books/federal-rules-appellate-procedure-2014-2015","price":{"cents":0,"currency_iso":"USD"},"isbn":null}],"rating":null,"textbook_reviews_count":0,"reviews":[],"url":"https://staging.open.umn.edu/opentextbooks/textbooks/federal-rules-of-appellate-procedure","updated_at":"2025-12-15T02:07:32.000-06:00"},{"id":103,"title":"United States Copyright Law","edition_statement":null,"volume":null,"copyright_year":2014,"isbn10":null,"isbn13":null,"license":"Attribution-ShareAlike","language":"eng","accessibility_statement":"","accessibility_features":[],"description":"This Intellectual Property Supplement from eLangdell Press contains the text of federal laws and regulations in the area of copyright, trademarks and patents. The editors have endeavored to gather all relevant laws, rules and regulations. This collection is intended to be used primarily as a statutory supplement for law students and legal scholars in academic settings, although practitioners in this area of law will also find it useful. This volume, Volume 1: Copyright Statutory Law contains the text of Title 17 of the United States Code as it appears on the most current edition available on the U.S. Government website FDSYS. Updates to the U.S. Code not yet found in the FDSYS published editions can be found in the United States House of Representatives Office of Law Revision Counsel's Classification Tables. Some formatting modification has been performed to better accommodate electronic readers.","contributors":[{"id":3807,"contribution":"Editor","primary":false,"corporate":true,"title":null,"first_name":"eLangdell Press","middle_name":null,"last_name":"Editorial Staff","location":null,"background_text":"Editorial Staff of eLangdell Press"}],"subjects":[{"id":11,"name":"Law","parent_subject_id":null,"call_number":"KF385.A4","visible_textbooks_count":99,"url":"https://staging.open.umn.edu/opentextbooks/subjects/law"},{"id":66,"name":"Property Law","parent_subject_id":11,"call_number":"K7200","visible_textbooks_count":22,"url":"https://staging.open.umn.edu/opentextbooks/subjects/property-law"}],"publishers":[{"id":237,"url":"http://www.cali.org/books/united-states-copyright-law","year":null,"created_at":"2018-09-07T12:22:38.000-05:00","updated_at":"2018-09-07T12:22:38.000-05:00","name":"CALI's eLangdell® Press"}],"formats":[{"id":97,"type":"PDF","url":"http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11785/170","price":{"cents":0,"currency_iso":"USD"},"isbn":null},{"id":1752,"type":"eBook","url":"http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11785/170","price":{"cents":0,"currency_iso":"USD"},"isbn":null}],"rating":"4","textbook_reviews_count":2,"reviews":[{"id":216,"first_name":"Gail","last_name":"McMillan","position":"Professor, University Libraries","institution_name":"Virginia Tech","comprehensiveness_rating":5,"comprehensiveness_review":"“This Intellectual Property Supplement from eLangdell Press contains the text of federal laws and regulations in the area of copyright, trademarks and patents.”\r\n\r\nUnited States Copyright Law is comprehensive, reprinting the entire U.S. Code Title 17. The 13 chapters correspond to a section of the law (e.g., Chap. 1 = Sect. 1xx). The text of each section is followed by explanatory text such as the relevant public laws, “Historical and Revision Notes,” references (e.g., House Reports), and amendments, where applicable. If the reader is just looking for the text of the law, the copious notes may get in the way. However, these notes also include very helpful explanatory information. For example, “Fixation in Tangible Form” includes helpful examples such as live broadcasts simultaneously recorded, and “Categories of Copyrightable Works” reminds the reader that the list is representative and not limiting.\r\n\r\nThe U.S. Code Title 17 at http://uscode.house.gov/view.xhtml?path=/prelim@title17\u0026amp;edition=prelim has similar references and notes but it also has links to the published laws. These links are lacking from the PDF and iBook versions of this textbook, which lack any external links.\r\n","accuracy_rating":5,"accuracy_review":"Content is accurate as it is copied directly from the US Code at http://uscode.house.gov/view.xhtml?path=/prelim@title17\u0026amp;edition=prelim","relevance_rating":4,"relevance_review":"There is a caveat that the textbook is current only through July 31, 2014. The link to updates from the Office of Law Revision Counsel Bulk US Code [http://uscodebeta.house.gov/download/download.shtml] was frequently inaccessible during the work day (e.g., on March 27, 2015, 3:45 pm PDT; April 7, 2015, 3:20 pm EDT; April 10, 2015, 11:30 am EDT), but worked fine on a Sunday evening.  ","clarity_rating":5,"clarity_review":"“This collection is intended to be used primarily as a statutory supplement for law students and legal scholars in academic settings, although practitioners in this area of law will also find it useful.“ [from http://open.umn.edu/opentextbooks/BookDetail.aspx?bookId=103]\r\n\r\nThis textbook reproduces the text of the law, which is generally comprehensible. The “Historical and Revision Notes” are written for a broader, educated audience. However, the common mistake of defining terms without explaining them is often present here too, e.g., “Nonprofit Educational Institution. Clause (1) makes clear that it applies only to the teaching activities \"of a nonprofit educational institution.\"”\r\n\r\nFor law students and legal scholars the inclusion of effective dates of amendments, findings related to public law, etc., may be very useful. \r\n","consistency_rating":5,"consistency_review":"The text uses consistent terminology and a uniform framework.","modularity_rating":3,"modularity_review":"This work is logically divided into chapters and sections to mimic the structure of the US Code. But there are no logical page or chapter breaks, which, along with the lack of internal and external links, makes this online textbook more cumbersome than a traditional book and does not take advantage of being in a format digital. ","organization_rating":4,"organization_review":"The topics are arranged as they are in the legal code.","interface_rating":3,"interface_review":"The text does not have a reader-friendly layout. There is the expected dense text of the law, but there are orphaned sentences and no logical page breaks between chapters. \r\n\r\nThe 13 chapters are listed on the first page of the PDF file, which has no cover and the chapters are not linked to their corresponding sections within the book. The iBook version has the typical front matter (e.g., preface, notices), which is lacking in the PDF version. Also lacking from the PDF version is a table of contents. The the iBook version has a table of contents with internal links to all the chapters, sections, and subchapters. Unfortunately, neither version has links within the individual chapters to their subsections.\r\n\r\nThere are very few links within the textbook and some are not clear to this lay reader, e.g., in the PDF version from p. 112: “2 So in original. Probably should be followed by \"Reform.\"” links to superscript on p. 96. \r\n\r\nThere are no lots of links to the numerous federal documents cited. This would be a huge benefit of an online textbook to the intended audience though it may have been excessive for other readers.\r\n","grammatical_rating":5,"grammatical_review":"The text contains no grammatical errors.","cultural_rating":5,"cultural_review":"The text is not culturally insensitive or offensive. ","overall_rating":9,"overall_review":"I’m not sure that there are advantages to this online textbook over the original site: http://uscode.house.gov/view.xhtml?path=/prelim@title17\u0026amp;edition=prelim. ","created_at":"2015-06-10T19:00:00.000-05:00","updated_at":"2015-06-10T19:00:00.000-05:00"},{"id":33847,"first_name":"Mark","last_name":"Swails","position":"Copyright Librarian","institution_name":"Johnson County Community College","comprehensiveness_rating":5,"comprehensiveness_review":"I mean, it's comprehensive. But that's the wrong question: it's a copy/paste of public domain material.","accuracy_rating":5,"accuracy_review":"Again: yeah, accurate.  But there is no reason not to use the original. It's available from the US House of Representatives: : http://uscode.house.gov/view.xhtml?path=/prelim@title17\u0026edition=prelim","relevance_rating":1,"relevance_review":"Yeah: not relevant. It's made obsolete my free, direct access to the original.","clarity_rating":1,"clarity_review":"I mean, it's the US Code.  It's pretty unclear for students. This works for supplemental reading like they recommend, but starting with secondary sources would be better.","consistency_rating":5,"consistency_review":"Very consistent. But again: wrong question. Just go to the original, which is Public Domain.","modularity_rating":5,"modularity_review":"Yes, there are many subsections. All subsections are carefully numbered in the US code -- which this is just a copy/paste of.","organization_rating":5,"organization_review":"It's well organized, yes. Very systematically organized actually. Because it's a copy past of public domain US code.","interface_rating":5,"interface_review":"The layout is fine. Sure.","grammatical_rating":5,"grammatical_review":"It's free of grammatical errors yes.  Fortunately, our laws don't have grammar mistakes.","cultural_rating":5,"cultural_review":"Yes. It's free from bias.","overall_rating":8,"overall_review":"This is filler and, probably, should be considered for removal. It is a direct copy/paste of the public domain US code, which is freely and more widely available on the website of the US House of Representatives: http://uscode.house.gov/view.xhtml?path=/prelim@title17\u0026edition=prelim","created_at":"2022-05-12T17:29:26.000-05:00","updated_at":"2022-05-12T17:29:26.000-05:00"}],"url":"https://staging.open.umn.edu/opentextbooks/textbooks/united-states-copyright-law","updated_at":"2025-12-15T02:27:03.000-06:00"},{"id":104,"title":"United States Patent Law","edition_statement":null,"volume":null,"copyright_year":2014,"isbn10":null,"isbn13":null,"license":"Attribution-ShareAlike","language":"eng","accessibility_statement":"","accessibility_features":[],"description":"This Intellectual Property Supplement from eLangdell Press contains the text of federal laws and regulations in the area of copyright, trademarks and patents. The editors have endeavored to gather all relevant laws, rules and regulations. This collection is intended to be used primarily as a statutory supplement for law students and legal scholars in academic settings, although practitioners in this area of law will also find it useful. This volume, Volume 2: Patent Statutory Law contains the text of Title 35 of the United States Code as it appears on the most current edition available on the U.S. Government website FDSYS. Updates to the U.S. Code not yet found in the FDSYS published editions can be found in the United States House of Representatives Office of Law Revision Counsel's Classification Tables. Some formatting modification has been performed to better accommodate electronic readers.","contributors":[{"id":3808,"contribution":"Editor","primary":false,"corporate":true,"title":null,"first_name":"eLangdell Press","middle_name":null,"last_name":"Editorial Staff","location":null,"background_text":"Editorial Staff of eLangdell Press"}],"subjects":[{"id":11,"name":"Law","parent_subject_id":null,"call_number":"KF385.A4","visible_textbooks_count":99,"url":"https://staging.open.umn.edu/opentextbooks/subjects/law"},{"id":66,"name":"Property Law","parent_subject_id":11,"call_number":"K7200","visible_textbooks_count":22,"url":"https://staging.open.umn.edu/opentextbooks/subjects/property-law"}],"publishers":[{"id":238,"url":"http://www.cali.org/books/united-states-patent-law","year":null,"created_at":"2018-09-07T12:22:38.000-05:00","updated_at":"2018-09-07T12:22:38.000-05:00","name":"CALI's eLangdell® Press"}],"formats":[{"id":98,"type":"PDF","url":"http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11785/171","price":{"cents":0,"currency_iso":"USD"},"isbn":null},{"id":1753,"type":"eBook","url":"http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11785/171","price":{"cents":0,"currency_iso":"USD"},"isbn":null}],"rating":null,"textbook_reviews_count":0,"reviews":[],"url":"https://staging.open.umn.edu/opentextbooks/textbooks/united-states-patent-law","updated_at":"2025-12-15T02:01:31.000-06:00"},{"id":105,"title":"United States Trademark Law","edition_statement":null,"volume":null,"copyright_year":2014,"isbn10":null,"isbn13":null,"license":"Attribution-ShareAlike","language":"eng","accessibility_statement":"","accessibility_features":[],"description":"This Intellectual Property Supplement from eLangdell Press contains the text of federal laws and regulations in the area of copyright, trademarks and patents. The editors have endeavored to gather all relevant laws, rules and regulations. This collection is intended to be used primarily as a statutory supplement for law students and legal scholars in academic settings, although practitioners in this area of law will also find it useful. This volume, Volume III: Trademark Statutory Law contains Chapter 22 of Title 15 of the United States Code as it appears on the most current edition available on the U.S. Government website FDSYS. Updates to the U.S. Code not yet found in the FDSYS published editions can be found in the United States House of Representatives Office of Law Revision Counsel's Classification Tables. Some formatting modification has been performed to better accommodate electronic readers.","contributors":[{"id":3810,"contribution":"Editor","primary":false,"corporate":true,"title":null,"first_name":"eLangdell Press","middle_name":null,"last_name":"Editorial Staff","location":null,"background_text":"Editorial Staff of eLangdell Press"}],"subjects":[{"id":11,"name":"Law","parent_subject_id":null,"call_number":"KF385.A4","visible_textbooks_count":99,"url":"https://staging.open.umn.edu/opentextbooks/subjects/law"},{"id":66,"name":"Property Law","parent_subject_id":11,"call_number":"K7200","visible_textbooks_count":22,"url":"https://staging.open.umn.edu/opentextbooks/subjects/property-law"}],"publishers":[{"id":241,"url":"http://www.cali.org/books/united-states-trademark-law","year":null,"created_at":"2018-09-07T12:22:38.000-05:00","updated_at":"2018-09-07T12:22:38.000-05:00","name":"CALI's eLangdell® Press"}],"formats":[{"id":99,"type":"PDF","url":"http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11785/172","price":{"cents":0,"currency_iso":"USD"},"isbn":null},{"id":1754,"type":"eBook","url":"http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11785/172","price":{"cents":0,"currency_iso":"USD"},"isbn":null}],"rating":null,"textbook_reviews_count":0,"reviews":[],"url":"https://staging.open.umn.edu/opentextbooks/textbooks/united-states-trademark-law","updated_at":"2025-12-15T02:27:04.000-06:00"},{"id":106,"title":"Land Use","edition_statement":null,"volume":null,"copyright_year":2014,"isbn10":null,"isbn13":null,"license":"Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike","language":"eng","accessibility_statement":null,"accessibility_features":[],"description":"This text explores the laws governing the use of land. Sometimes narrowly focused, often intensely local, land use regulation may give the impression of a highly specialized field with small stakes. The text is divided into three parts: First, we will survey the ordinary, local administrative scheme of land use regulation. The cases in this section are intended to establish what that system is and what it's standards are. In the second part of the course, we will turn our attention to cases illustrating litigation attacks on the ordinary administrative scheme. The purpose here is not, as it was in the first part, to understand better the standards the administrators should apply, but to understand the constraints imposed on the contents of local laws, the procedures of enactment and permitting, and the composition of local lawmaking bodies. In the third part, we focus on the distributive concerns raised by land use regulation. The regulatory takings doctrine has gone from, literally, nothing, to wrestling to disentangle distributive concerns from substantive ones, to trying to craft either rules or standards to identify regulations that go “too far” and should be considered “takings” within the meaning of the Fifth Amendment. We will consider what the doctrine's purposes are, how it should be governed, and how it should be invoked as a procedural matter.","contributors":[{"id":1680,"contribution":"Author","primary":true,"corporate":false,"title":null,"first_name":"Christian","middle_name":null,"last_name":"Turner","location":"University of Georgia","background_text":"Christian Turner teaches courses in property, land use, legal theory, and the regulation of information. His research interests are in the public/private distinction and institutional analysis. Drawing from his mathematical training, he is interested in both the logic and illogic of the law— and in understanding seemingly complex and diverse legal principles as consequences of basic, trans-substantive ideas. Prior to joining the faculty at the University of Georgia, Christian was a Visiting Assistant Professor at Fordham Law School, worked at Wiggin and Dana law firm in New Haven, and clerked for Judge Guido Calabresi on the Second Circuit. He is a graduate of Stanford Law School and holds a Ph.D. in mathematics from Texas A\u0026M University."}],"subjects":[{"id":11,"name":"Law","parent_subject_id":null,"call_number":"KF385.A4","visible_textbooks_count":99,"url":"https://staging.open.umn.edu/opentextbooks/subjects/law"},{"id":66,"name":"Property Law","parent_subject_id":11,"call_number":"K7200","visible_textbooks_count":22,"url":"https://staging.open.umn.edu/opentextbooks/subjects/property-law"}],"publishers":[{"id":350,"url":"http://elangdell.cali.org/content/land-use","year":null,"created_at":"2018-09-07T12:22:39.000-05:00","updated_at":"2018-09-07T12:22:39.000-05:00","name":"CALI's eLangdell® Press"}],"formats":[{"id":594,"type":"PDF","url":"https://www.cali.org/sites/default/files/LandUse_Turner_Dec2014.pdf","price":{"cents":0,"currency_iso":"USD"},"isbn":null},{"id":595,"type":"eBook","url":"https://www.cali.org/sites/default/files/LandUse_Turner_Dec2014.epub","price":{"cents":0,"currency_iso":"USD"},"isbn":null},{"id":596,"type":"Hardcopy","url":"http://www.lulu.com/shop/christian-turner/land-use/paperback/product-21947737.html","price":{"cents":2675,"currency_iso":"USD"},"isbn":null},{"id":1873,"type":"Google Doc","url":"https://www.cali.org/books/land-use","price":{"cents":0,"currency_iso":"USD"},"isbn":null},{"id":4702,"type":"MS Word","url":"https://www.cali.org/sites/default/files/LandUse_Turner_Dec2014.docx","price":{"cents":0,"currency_iso":"USD"},"isbn":null}],"rating":"4.5","textbook_reviews_count":1,"reviews":[{"id":2787,"first_name":"Jerry","last_name":"Taylor","position":"Assoc. Professor - retired","institution_name":"East Tennessee State University","comprehensiveness_rating":5,"comprehensiveness_review":"This book consists of a compilation of cases covering all of the areas affecting modern land use law.  It also contains a sample model zoning enabling act and about 11 pages of material dealing with German takings law","accuracy_rating":5,"accuracy_review":"95% or more of the book consists of published court cases.  They seem to be accurately reproduced with footnotes, dissenting opinions and concurring opinions.","relevance_rating":5,"relevance_review":"The cases in the book are relevant to understanding a history of zoning and land use law, and the more current trends in the law are demonstrated with cases that would be current as of the date the book was written.  The cases are arranged by topic and it should be relatively easy to update the book by adding new cases that are pertinent to each topic and removing those that become outdated.","clarity_rating":2,"clarity_review":"95% of this book is a compilation of cases with little additional supplemental material.  There is nothing in the textbook to guide an instructor or student as to how to weave these together and obtain a comprehensive understanding of land use law.  This is a classic case book that is typically used in traditional law classes using a socratic teaching style.  As such its a great resource, but the instructor is on their own as to how to put the book to its best use.  An instructor who knows the topic well and knows how they want to present the topic will be able to pick and choose relevant cases.  But an instructor who doesn't have a good grasp of the topic will need to figure it out without assistance from this text.","consistency_rating":5,"consistency_review":"95% of the book is a compilation of published court cases.  That's about as consistent as it gets.","modularity_rating":5,"modularity_review":"Cases can be selected individually for reading assignments.  However, there is little or no value in assigning only part of a case - the entire case needs to be read as a whole.","organization_rating":5,"organization_review":"The materials is organized by beginning with a broad overview of the legal framework for zoning, followed by judicial review of the zoning system and ends with regulatory takings law, which is an area of current activity.","interface_rating":4,"interface_review":"A case will be reproduced and then a new case will begin on the same page.  It would be helpful if each case started on a new page.","grammatical_rating":4,"grammatical_review":"95% of the book is a compilation of published court cases.  The reader will need to become familiar with legal jargon in order to get the maximum understanding out of these cases.  Grammar issues rest with the judges who authored the opinions.  Those parts of the book that are written by the books author are clear and understandable.","cultural_rating":3,"cultural_review":"Not applicable","overall_rating":9,"overall_review":"This book is a classic law school case book.  It makes a great teaching tool for graduate students and law school students using a Socratic style.  It does not seem suitable for undergraduate college use without a great deal of supplemental instruction by the professor.","created_at":"2019-04-14T15:35:17.000-05:00","updated_at":"2019-04-14T15:35:17.000-05:00"}],"url":"https://staging.open.umn.edu/opentextbooks/textbooks/land-use","updated_at":"2025-12-15T02:07:32.000-06:00"}],"links":{"self":"https://staging.open.umn.edu/opentextbooks/subjects/law.json?page=1","total_pages":12,"total_count":111,"next":"https://staging.open.umn.edu/opentextbooks/subjects/law.json?page=2"}}