Readings in Legal Information, pt. 7

Some of our colleagues think this is a contrarian pose, but honest: The Reader’s Digest Legal Problem Solver is one of the most intriguing legal-information books you can find. Especially noteworthy is its method of organization, which uses dictionary format to combine definitions of hard law words (“promissory estoppel”) with longer articles keyed on terms a naive user would be likely to use. Thus, the article for “neighbor” might discuss nuisance, boundary disputes, rights of way, and so on. An interesting way of steering the naive user’s preoccupation with fact patterns toward legal concepts and definitions — genuinely novel and useful. Alas, it’s out of print, but you can find lots of used copies.