A good starting point for studying Law?

[mountainboo]

I am starting a Law degree next June and was wondering if someone could recommend a good general Law book. I have looked on Amazon and there are many with good reviews, particularly Learning the Law by Prof A.T.H Smith. However, the most recent edition was published in 2004. Would this be out of date by now? TIA

[Buenchico]

Here's the current suggested reading list which the University of Oxford provides for students joining the University's Faculty of Law:
http://www.ox.ac.uk/document.rm?id=1558

Chris

[Eve]

I've never read any of those kind of books although I did my law degree and went on to law school and qualifying.

Thinking back, the simplest introduction books I could think of to the core subjects would probably be the Nutshells & Nutcases range if they still do them. I used to use them for a basic outline and revision aid so you could always try some of them for the core subjects such as Contract and Criminal and for learning the general set up of the legal system (court system etc...).

Nutcases is the caselaw version. Could get you used to some of the legal language and reading about cases and such which you could then layer on.

Getting some experience of reading case reports could also be useful as you will be reading quite a few :)

[Eve]

Ah, they do still do them...

http://www.lawbooks-o...9eTjaUCFQX92AodG0gJOQ

Much cheaper on Amazon though.

Found this too...

http://www.amazon.co....missionDateDescending

Depends on the content as to how out of date. If general principles of studying, they shouldn't change much, only it is involves teaching the law itself would bits of it be at risk of being out of date.

[hc4361]

Nutshells are fantastic for getting a handle on the subject.
A law book is a forbidding tome, with unfamiliar words, lots of pages and small print.
It is an advantage to have an idea of tort before picking up a recommended book, for example.
Do you know which areas of law you will be studying in the first year? This is a good time to go to your public library for background reading

[Eve]

If it's anything like when I did mine, graduated 2001,we did Criminal, Contract, European, Legal Process,Legal System, Administrative, Constitutional in the first year then Land Law, Tort, more European and electives in the second and Equity and Trusts and electives in the third.

An interest in legal goings on is also useful as I find the more context you can put things in, the better the understanding. Read decent newspapers and legal supplements and take an interest in legal happenings and try and understand the concepts behind them with the benefit of a practical example.

[hc4361]

It is also useful to have an understanding of the British constitution, parliament and the law making process - the difference between case law and statute law, and the roles of the different courts in making law.

[fredpuli47]

Glanville Williams 'Learning the Law' was the recommended book when I started my studies (in 1966) and a new edition came out in July this year. Prof Williams himself is long dead but the book has been updated, currently by Prof Smith That's the book you have mentioned. That it's still in print after more than 40 years says a lot about it. The principles of learning law have not changed. That's the book you need.
.
You need a book which helps you to understand how the law works, how to study it and approach legal questions, how to understand cases and all the strange technical stuff e.g. what this means : R v Bloggs [1972] 2 AC 318 HL and the difference between [1972] and (1972) in such a reference and how Rv Bloggs[1972] 2 WLR 189 would be the same case, where in the library you'd find it,,.how to say that reference when speaking about it and so on

What you don't need at first is any textbook or anything about what the law of contract etc is, at this stage. That'll come later.What you need is something to set you off on the right track. That's what that book does.

[mountainboo]

Thank you all for the great advice. Jenna, I will have a look at the links you have provided.

[bushbaby_de]

Nutshells and Nutcases are excellent for during your studies, but I would echo the sentiment that they are not broad enough for the kind of pre-course reading you seem to be suggesting. As already said, you can't really beat the Glanville book for a good overview.