The Law To Know

← Legal Guide Books

Legal Guide Book

Tort Law

The Pocket Guide

Every black-letter rule a first-year torts exam actually tests - intentional torts and defenses, negligence's duty and breach, damages and strict liability, products and vicarious liability, and defamation, privacy & economic torts - reduced to its essential elements, one real example each, and the single thing worth remembering under time pressure. No padding, no filler cases, nothing outside the standard curriculum.

5 chapters · ~61 pages · delivered as a PDF, read on any device · $12 one-time

Contents

Chapter 1: Intentional Torts & Defenses

Intentional torts share one real requirement across all of them - the actor must have intended the resulting contact or apprehension, not necessarily the harm itself. "Intent" here is a term of art, and exams test exactly how far it stretches.

  • Battery & the Substantial Certainty Test
  • Assault & False Imprisonment
  • Intentional Infliction of Emotional Distress (IIED)
  • Trespass to Land
  • Consent as a Defense
  • Necessity

Chapter 2: Negligence: Duty & Breach

Negligence has four elements every exam answer must walk through in order - duty, breach, causation, damages. This chapter covers the first two, where most of the real doctrinal fights actually happen.

  • The Four Elements
  • The Reasonable Person Standard
  • Foreseeability & Duty to Unforeseeable Plaintiffs
  • The Learned Hand Formula
  • Custom & Statutory Standards
  • Res Ipsa Loquitur
  • Multiple Defendants & Alternate Liability

Chapter 3: Negligence Damages, Defenses & Strict Liability

Even a fully proven negligence claim can be reduced or barred by the plaintiff's own conduct, capped by policy limits on damages, or entirely replaced by strict liability, which asks nothing about anyone's care at all.

  • Compensatory & Punitive Damages
  • Contributory vs. Comparative Negligence
  • Assumption of Risk
  • Joint & Several Liability
  • Strict Liability for Abnormally Dangerous Activities
  • Strict Liability for Animals

Chapter 4: Products & Vicarious Liability

Two doctrines that both impose liability on someone other than the person who directly caused the harm - a product's maker for a defect in what it sold, and an employer for what its own employee did.

  • Strict Products Liability - The Foundational Case
  • Escola's Concurrence - The Real Blueprint
  • Three Types of Product Defects
  • The Learned Intermediary Doctrine
  • Respondeat Superior
  • Scope of Employment & the Frolic Doctrine
  • Non-Delegable Duties

Chapter 5: Defamation, Privacy & Economic Torts

Reputational, privacy, and economic-relationship torts sit at the real collision point between tort law and the First Amendment - several of the doctrines here exist specifically because of that constitutional overlay.

  • Libel vs. Slander
  • Opinion vs. Fact
  • New York Times Co. v. Sullivan - Actual Malice
  • Privacy Torts
  • Negligent Misrepresentation
  • Tortious Interference with Contract

Individually Priced

Sold SeparatelyIntroductory Price

Tort Law: The Pocket Guide is sold separately

Tort Law: The Pocket Guide has its own price and is not included in an All-Access Membership. Unlock it on its own:

This is an early, introductory price for a brand-new product — it’s expected to rise as we add more content. Buy now and it’s yours at today’s rate, forever.

Sign up or log in first, then purchase to unlock this.

This book teaches general doctrine using original hypothetical examples. It does not provide legal advice about any specific situation and does not create an attorney-client relationship. For advice about your own circumstances, consult a licensed attorney.