MIT and Harvard Partner to Launch Free Textbooks

The MIT Press and Harvard Law School Library are launching a new series of law textbooks in hopes of increasing accessibility to law school texts.

The “Open Casebook” series, announced April 26, leverages free and open texts created and updated by distinguished legal scholars on Harvard’s H2O platform, which specializes in open-access digital textbooks. The new series will include textbooks for all standard first-year law school courses, including upcoming publications on the subjects of contracts and corporations. Digital versions of each casebook are 100% free.

“As the creator of some of the earliest open online books and communities, the MIT Press is committed to increasing the impact and accessibility of scholarship,” Amy Brand, director and publisher at the MIT Press, says. “We are proud to collaborate with Harvard Law School Library on the Open Casebook series and provide high-quality, low-cost books to law students throughout the United States.”

ALL TEXTS ARE FREE & OPEN ACCESS

The first book in the series is “Torts!” by Jonathan Zittrain, the George Bemis Professor of International Law at Harvard Law School and the Harvard Kennedy School of Government, and Jordi Weinstock, lecturer on law at Harvard Law School. The book serves as a primary text for a first-year law school torts course and examines the progression of the law of torts using public judicial decisions in a range of cases.

Similar to classic casebooks, “Torts!” presents cases to students using original judicial opinion. But Zittrain and Weinstocks’ “Torts!” offers substantially more judicial opinions and features helpful reminders, questions, and illustrations to help bring original materials to life.

Sources: MIT, MIT Press