West’s Business Law: Text and Cases - Legal, Ethical, International, and E-Commerce Environment, 10th Edition Description:
A market leader used by more colleges and universities than any other business law text, West’s Business Law continues to set the standard for making classic black letter law accessible, interesting, and relevant to business students. This Tenth Edition refines and builds upon traditions established when the book was first introduced: authoritative content blended with cutting-edge coverage of contemporary topics and cases and an unmatched selection of innovative, high-quality support materials.
- Amazon Sales Rank: #50647 in Books
- Published on: 2005-11
- Original language: English
- Number of items: 1
- Binding: Hardcover
- 935 pages
Customer Reviews:
Adequate for the undergraduate college student
After 21 years of teaching, both in private college and law school, and as a 23-year legal practitioner, licensed in Hawaii and New York, I perhaps have too much technical knowledge of the law to pass judgment on a text meant clearly to cover, in an almost glib and obsessively-current fashion, virtually the entire spectrum of the law.
That being said, the text is useful in plowing through the sometimes grandiloquent excesses of law terms and concepts in mostly plain English. Its major flaw is trying to accomplish too much with too little. The multitudinous case decisions are often so short as to reveal little of the policy reasoning behind the law, certainly a key to a would-be manager or businessman. Concepts, when explained, are often truncated, leaving students somewhat bewildered. Coverage of products liability is a case in point — the question constantly arises: why hold a manufacturer liable without fault? There are correct answers given, to be sure, but they are not fully explained and college students often tend to look at fault rather than economic analysis when a product injures a consumer; the economic concept of strict products liability is hardly an intuitive one, but it is crucial to those students who enter into products manufacture and distribution.
One also wonders why the constitution, criminal law, torts, and such are placed in a business law text. They have minimal relation to the real-world of business and there is just too much information already, even for 2 terms, to cover adequately. I would exclude or minimize these kinds of topics.
Properly the authors have cut back on certain areas which in prior editions constititued perhaps 5+ chapters each. But this is the flip side of the coin. The book is at once too much and too little. At least in our college, this text is used for a course in business law for managers. I’m afraid it is not quite that. Managers need to know what to do when a legal problem, from sexual harassment allegations to a regulatory complaint, comes before them. There is precious little “how” to the practical question of “what do I do now?”. In fact, there should be answers to that practical question in every chapter.
There are far too many federal trial court opinions which, frankly, are so new and of so little legal weight (binding only in the particular district), that I wonder why they are included at all in text form, when they can be footnoted, if cited at all. Internet law and “cyberlaw” are cases in point. I realize this is an emerging area in the law, but precisely for that reason, these cases largely have no business being placed in text form until appellate courts have given us broader guidance.
Perhaps I have been too harsh on the text. It is well-written, understandable, generally clear to the college student, and may well be the best general text for undergraduates. But I would like to see much more progress made in the areas I have discussed.
Fine textbook and great home reference
This book is even better than the excellent business law textbook I used (but no longer have) in college in the late 1960’s. It has all the utilitarian features necessary for a textbook but likewise has enough depth and user-friendliness for a home reference tome.
The only significant criticism I can offer is that, for a book in this very high price range, it should have a more durable binding. It does have full cloth-covered hardback covers *but* the page section is only “perfect-bound” (i.e., pages held together merely with glue) rather than having a sewn binding. It seems to me that a … book should have a sewn binding! I’ve noticed how most books classified as “textbooks” have such very high prices yet have rather cheap bindings. It’s no wonder a college education costs a small fortune these days— the textbook price alone is enough to drive one into penury, and even then the book(s) will eventually fall apart under very heavy use.
Anyhow, this book is wonderfully useful in its content and for that reason I recommend it highly.
Awesome Law Textbook - Very Useful Out of School as Well
West’s Business Law is amazing for the student of business law. It presents complicated subject matter in a way that can be understood. After reading it, I felt “everyone should read this book,” because it applies to so many situations we could face in everyday life. It provides a more in-depth and overall law presentation than most college text books. If you hunger for knowledge of the law (whether you want to be a lawyer or not), you will be filled by the material in West’s Business Law. My husband has a business law class right now which uses another textbook and there is no comparison. I only regret that I lost my West’s Business Law when I was moving, because it is one textbook I had wanted to keep forever.
About the Author
Roger LeRoy Miller has served on the staff of the University of Washington, Clemson University, and the University of Miami School of Law, where he taught–among other subjects–intellectual property and entertainment law. A proven author, Miller has published in the INSURANCE COUNSEL JOURNAL, DEFENSE RESEARCH, CALIFORNIA TRIAL LAWYERS JOURNAL, ANTITRUST BULLETIN, WISCONSIN LAW REVIEW, and CONNECTICUT LAW REVIEW. He also has authored or co-authored numerous textbooks, including BUSINESS LAW: TEXT & CASES–LEGAL, ETHICAL, GLOBAL, AND E-COMMERCE ENVIRONMENT; THE LEGAL ENVIRONMENT: TEXT & CASES–ETHICAL, REGULATORY, GLOBAL, AND E-COMMERCE ISSUES; BUSINESS LAW TODAY; and THE LEGAL ENVIRONMENT TODAY. Miller studied at the University of California at Berkeley and the University of Chicago.
Dr. Jentz is the Herbert D. Kelleher Emeritus Centennial Professor in Business Law at the University of Texas at Austin Graduate School of Business. He received his B.A., M.B.A., and J.D. degrees from the University of Wisconsin. Dr. Jentz has been past President of the Academy of Legal Studies in Business, the Southwestern Federation of Administrative Disciplines, the Southern Business Law Association, Phi Kappa Phi (UT Chapter), and the Texas Association of College Teachers. He is the author or co-author of six monographs and fifty-six books and editions, including West’s Business Law: Text & Cases, tenth edition (2006), West’s Business Law Alternate Edition, tenth edition (2007), Fundamentals of Business Law, seventh edition (2007), and two versions of Business Law Today, seventh edition (2008), plus the Comprehensive Edition (2007). He has also published in learned journals and is past editor-in-chief of the American Business Law Journal. Dr. Jentz has given advanced purchasing seminars throughout the United States and previously taught over the years at five regional and graduate banking schools. Dr. Jentz is the recipient of sixteen teaching, academic, and service excellence awards, including the CBA Foundation Award for Excellence in Education, the CBA Foundation Advisory Council Distinguished Scholastic Contributions Award, the Academy of Legal Studies in Business Faculty Excellence Award, the Western States School of Banking Leadership Award, the James C. Scarboro Memorial Award for Outstanding Leadership in Banking Education, The University of Texas “Civitatis” Award, and the induction into the Texas Business School (McCombs School of Business) “CBA Hall of Fame.”
Frank B. Cross is the Herbert D. Kelleher Centennial Professor of Business Law and a professor at The University of Texas at Austin Law School, where his research centers on judicial decision-making, the economics of law and litigation, and traditional policy and doctrinal issues in administrative law. Widely published, his works have appeared in the Yale Law Journal, Columbia Law Review, University of Chicago Law Review, New York University Law Review, Texas Law Review, Virginia Law Review, Cornell Law Review, Georgetown Law Journal, Northwestern Law Review, and UCLA Law Review. He has also published in peer-reviewed journals and written several books. A former president of the Academy of Legal Studies in Business, Professor Cross received his B.A. from the University of Kansas and J.D. from Harvard Law School.
