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Student Services & Policies

Study Aids

The law library maintains a comprehensive collection of treatises, restatements, hornbooks, and West nutshells which supplement law school courses. Note that the library does not have textbooks, course outlines, or compilations of case briefs keyed to casebooks. Current editions of nutshells and hornbooks are kept on reserve. A brief description of each type of study aid is given below.

  1. Treatise: A comprehensive or exhaustive review of a specific area of law. Treatises are often multivolume with heavy footnoting and are usually supplemented to stay current.
  2. Hornbook: A less detailed, one-volume treatment of an area of law in a narrative summary form. A hornbook is thorough but not as comprehensive as a treatise.
  3. Nutshell: West Publishing Company gives this name to its paperback series of brief treatments of legal topics. Nutshells contain fewer footnotes and references than hornbooks.
  4. Restatement of the Law: An arrangement of "restating" of the rules of law, based on a study of certain branches of common law by legal scholars of the American Law Institute. Restatements include law developed solely by judicial decisions and law, which has grown from the application of statutes by the courts.

Please note that many professors have strong preferences for specific treatises, hornbooks, and other study aids. Check with your professor for titles recommended for use in your class.

CALI

CALI (Computer-Assisted Legal Instruction) lessons are interactive tutorials. Lessons are free and are great for mastering material during the semester and/or studying for exams.

The CALI library contains over 1,000 lessons and tutorials in over 45 areas of law including Civil Procedure, Commercial Transactions, Constitutional Law, Contracts, Criminal Law, Evidence, Property, Torts, and Wills and Trusts. These lessons are authored by law professors who are experts in their respective areas of law and are designed to help you understand the basics of the law in those subject areas.

Sign Up Instructions

  1. On the top right of the screen, select the Register button.
  2. Enter the law school's authorization code (available from the library). You only need to use this code one time. 
  3. Be sure to use your Campbell email address.
  4. Accept the Terms of Service.