Private Law Theory

The Psychology Of Tort Law by Jennifer K Robbennolt and Valerie P Hans (New York: New York University Press, 2016, 320 pp, $40.00). The Psychology of Tort Law is the inaugural book in a new Psychology and Law Series by New York University Press. Capturing Robbennolt and Hans to launch the series is a coup – but we are promised in the preface that all volumes will be authored by eminent scholars. The General Editor, Linda Demaine, describes ambitious goals for the series in her preface. Broadly the series seeks to expand the intersection of law and psychology beyond what have become the traditional areas of psychology’s influence in legal discussion and debate (she notes in particular eyewitness testimony, false confessions, and jury decision making) by providing ‘trusted resources’ to translate findings from psychological studies and apply them to legal issues (p ix). More specifically, the primary target is students in United States law schools. The series ‘applies psychology to subjects covered in the core law school curriculum’ (p x). The hope is that the books will be adopted in law classrooms, and they are designed to map onto other law teaching materials. This limits considerably the potential interest of the present book for much of the readership of the Journal of Law and Society but perhaps less than might initially be thought … (more)

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Sally Lloyd-Bostock, ‘Jennifer K Robbennolt and Valerie P Hans, The Psychology of Tort Law’. Journal of Law and Society Volume 43, Issue 3, September 2016, pages 474–478.

First posted 2016-08-13 08:43:19