This summer I am planning to put together a casebook that is for leisurely reading, rather than a law-school course. My tentative title is “The Canon of American Common Law.” It is an idea of mine that started with the thought that it would be exciting to give a special award to the first-year law student with the highest combined grade-point average in the three common law courses: Contracts, Property, and Torts. A good name would be the Holmes Award. But what would be a suitable prize? A perfect token, I thought, would be a book of the classic common-law cases. I think such a book would also be nice to have available for casual students of the law – people who would like to do some exploring in the law – but who are not looking for three years of law school. Below is my very-rough draft table of contents, along with a list of “on the bubble” cases that are deserving, but that I might leave out to keep the size of the book manageable. I would be very grateful for your comments. Do any of the cases fail to qualify as classics? Am I grievously leaving something out? Am I close to closing in on a canonical list? Or am I way off? Contracts:Wood v. BoyntonWebb v. McGowinRaffles v. Wichelhaus (The Peerless Case)Hamer v. SidwayLucy v. ZehmerWood v. Lucy, Lady Duff-GordonHawkins v. McGeePeevyhouse v. Garland Coal & Mining Co.Hadley v. Baxendale Property:Ghen v. RichPierson v. Post Brown v. VossHannah v. PeelMoore v. Regents of the University of CaliforniaVanna White v. Samsung Electronics America, Inc.State v. ShackBoomer v. Atlantic Cement Co. Torts:Vosburg v. PutneyGarratt v. DaileyFisher v. Carrousel Motor Hotel, Inc.Ploof v. PutnamKatko v. BrineyVincent v. Lake Erie Transportation Co. Byrne v. BoadlePalsgraf v. Long Island R.R. Co.Summers v. TiceTarasoff v. Regents of University of CaliforniaU.S. v. Carroll Towing Co.Vaughan v. MenloveRylands v. FletcherEscola v. Coca-Cola Bottling Co. of Fresno On the bubble:Dougherty v. SaltTaylor v. CaldwellBrown v. KendallI de S et ux. v. W de SIndiana Harbor Belt. R. Co. v. American Cyanamid Co.Lumley v. GyeMacPherson v. Buick Motor Co.Stone v. Bolton You’ll notice there are a few English cases in the mix, but they are ones that, I think, are nonetheless, classics of American common law, generally because of their entrenchment in the American 1L curriculum. Also, you’ll notice I have not included any U.S. Supreme Court cases. That’s another casual-casebook project – but a worthy one. I plan to take that up separately.
Posted by Eric E. Johnson on April 23, 2009 at 04:50 PM
Comments
I agree with Matt Bodie on Frigaliment Importing! The issue is, what is a chicken?
Posted by: NYU 2L | Apr 25, 2009 2:01:02 AM
I know you want to leave out Supreme Court cases, but I just don’t see how a canon of the American common law can be complete without Swift, Erie, and, from admiralty, at least Jensen (particularly Holmes’ dissent: “The common law is not a brooding omnipresence in the sky, . . . .” etc.).
Posted by: anon | Apr 24, 2009 11:40:46 AM
For torts, how about Wagner v. Int’l Railway (Cardozo, J.) (“Danger invites rescue. The cry of distress is the summons to relief . . . The emergency begets the man. The wrongdoer may not have foreseen the coming of a deliverer. He is accountable as if he had.”).
Posted by: Aaron | Apr 24, 2009 9:37:00 AM
Objectively speaking, he was just joking about Zehmer!
Posted by: Lou Mulligan | Apr 24, 2009 9:07:33 AM
Take out Lucy v. Zehmer?!? You’re as high as a Georgia pine!
Posted by: Jay | Apr 23, 2009 11:07:26 PM
Count me as another vote for Williams v. Walker-Thomas… its articulation of unconscionability is resurgent in many recent mortgage cases.
Posted by: Hauk | Apr 23, 2009 8:01:06 PM
I think I’d have to agree with the poster above me, having no real justification for doing so. I’m a current 1L who completed contracts last semester, and the cases he mentioned just seem much more memorable/important in my mind.
Posted by: Robert | Apr 23, 2009 7:22:50 PM
Here are additional Contracts cases I would consider adding or swapping in:
Carlill v. Carbolic Smoke Ball
Hoffman v. Red Owl Stores
Jacob & Youngs v. Kent
Frigaliment Importing Co. v. B.N.S. International Sales Corp.
Williams v. Walker-Thomas Furniture Co.
Sherwood v. Walker
If I had to swap some out, I’d probably take out Lucy v. Zehmer, Wood v. Boynton, and Webb v. McGowin.
Posted by: Matt Bodie | Apr 23, 2009 5:49:02 PM