Books for LAW2201/2 and LAW3301/2 (Crim and Torts)

[vashappenin]

Hey guys

I'm trying to look for the books I'll need next year on Monash Marketplace, but I'm so confused as to what books I'll be needing for Crim and Torts. Can anyone who did it this year please shed some light? Are the same books to be used next year? Where do I find this information?

Thanks

[ninwa]

Legibook will probably update its booklist for semester 1, 2015 sometime next year. I wouldn't buy anything until then. I'd actually suggest you wait until the first lecture before dropping any cash.

[vashappenin]

Thanks!

[birgitte.nyborg]

This year the Crim Books were:

Criminal Law – Text & Cases [Waller & Williams] 12th Ed. 2013 (Prescribed)
Criminal Law – Tutorial Series [Clough & Mulhern] 2nd Ed. 2004 (Recommended)
Principles of Criminal Law [Bronitt & McSherry] 3rd Ed. 2010 (Recommended)

And the Tort books were:

Torts: Cases & Commentaries [Luntz et al] 7th Ed. 2012
Law of Torts [Balkin & Davis] 5th Ed. 2013

The Law of Torts in Australia [Barker, Cane, Lunney &Trindade] 5th Ed. 2011
                                                               
Focus: Torts [Davies & Malkin] 6th Ed. 2011

Tort Law Principles [Richards de Zwart & Ludlow] 6th Ed. 2012

I've taken out the Crim books from the Library and I can tell you they all have 2015 stickers on them which seems to indicate that the reading list for Crim has not changed. Not sure about Torts. Ninwa is probably right that its probably best to wait for the official reading list to come out.
                                                                               
                                                                                         

[michak]

Yeah the books haven't changed for this year.

Also speaking of these subjects does anyone have last years unit guides? It would help so much.

Thanks (didn't want to start a new thread just for this)

[lynt.br]

In terms of what you actually need:

Criminal Law – Text & Cases [Waller & Williams] 12th Ed. 2013 (Prescribed) - Yes, really useful.
Criminal Law – Tutorial Series [Clough & Mulhern] 2nd Ed. 2004 (Recommended) - Yes, EXTREMELY useful
Principles of Criminal Law [Bronitt & McSherry] 3rd Ed. 2010 (Recommended) - Never used it personally. Some people like it. I'd say borrow from the library and see if you think its worth it.

And the Tort books were:

Torts: Cases & Commentaries [Luntz et al] 7th Ed. 2012  - Never opened it. The Law of Torts in Australia was enough in my opinion. That said it is the main casebook...
Law of Torts [Balkin & Davis] 5th Ed. 2013  - Never used it. Borrow from library to see if it is worthwhile.

The Law of Torts in Australia [Barker, Cane, Lunney &Trindade] 5th Ed. 2011 - Really comprehensive. I really liked this but it's a few years old now.
                                                               
Focus: Torts [Davies & Malkin] 6th Ed. 2011 - surprisingly very useful. I highly recommend at least borrowing this. It is very succinct.

Tort Law Principles [Richards de Zwart & Ludlow] 6th Ed. 2012 - Useful but I found it a bit short on detail.

[vashappenin]

Thanks! Do you think its necessary to buy the prescribed textbooks for law? Some people say you can just get away with borrowing from the library when necessary/etc but wouldn't that make it harder to keep up to date with the principles and cases on the reading lists?

And you said the main torts textbook is useless, so would I be better off not buying it?

Also, thoughts on buying the acts? Worth it or not? People say you can just look them up online/print yourself but won't it be easier to have the acts proper and in front of you come exam time?

And do you think its worth it to purchase a few of the study guide/recommended books?

[lynt.br]

Thanks! Do you think its necessary to buy the prescribed textbooks for law? Some people say you can just get away with borrowing from the library when necessary/etc but wouldn't that make it harder to keep up to date with the principles and cases on the reading lists?

And you said the main torts textbook is useless, so would I be better off not buying it?

Also, thoughts on buying the acts? Worth it or not? People say you can just look them up online/print yourself but won't it be easier to have the acts proper and in front of you come exam time?

And do you think its worth it to purchase a few of the study guide/recommended books?

Personally I don't like buying textbooks that are just case extracts with minimal added commentary as you can access the full case online anyway and ctrl+F to find the relevant parts. I don't mind buying the casebooks if they have a lot of added commentary though.

Some people might have found the Torts prescribed casebook useful but I never read it and did fine. I don't think Torts is a subject that really requires you to get super in-depth with the case law. I found 'The Law of Torts in Australia' to be quite in-depth anyway. Some of the study guides for torts can be quite useful, I remember I really liked the Davies & Malkin book. For those optional books I recommend borrowing them from the library first to check if they are useful, and then deciding whether to purchase them.

I don't recommend buying legislation unless it is one of the 'annotated' versions (which are incredibly useful). You can get the exact same thing online for free, and it will be more up to date. Having the actual legislation isn't helpful in an exam because you would have summarised an extracted the relevant sections into your notes anyway. This also means you can structure the relevant sections according to where they belong in your notes, as the legislation itself might not have a clear structure.

One other point to add is that there are a few books you will come across throughout your degree that I recommend not selling, because they end up being surprisingly useful after your degree. Off the top of my head the three books I highly recommend you keep are:
- The contracts principles textbook
- The annotated Corporations Legislation
- Miller's annotated Competition and Consumer Act