# Law textbooks and books for students: editions and citing

**Which law textbooks do students need, and which edition should they use?** Law students read five kinds of book: a textbook per subject, a cases and materials book, a statute book, Q&A revision guides and practitioner works. Buy the law textbook edition your list names, check for a newer one, since the law changes, and in a law module cite in OSCOLA or the Bluebook. EdCitation's Library holds these books in one catalogue.

Published 2026-09-23 by EdCitation. https://edcitation.com/newsletter/law-books-and-textbooks-for-students

Law textbooks are set module by module, and the law moves underneath them. Warwick's 2026/27 tort reading list sets the ninth edition of Horsey and Rackley's *Tort Law*, published on 28 August 2025 with the Supreme Court's 2024 ruling on psychiatric harm in it. Kent's module page for 2024 to 2025 lists the fifth edition, from 2017, which predates that ruling.

This guide, published by EdCitation, takes the books a law degree reads from Warwick's and Kent's published reading lists, the University of London's contract law module guide and the publishers' pages, all read on 23 September 2026, then gathers them in EdCitation's [Library](https://edcitation.com/tools/library).

First, citing. A law module usually sets OSCOLA in the UK or the Bluebook in the US, and EdCitation produces neither. Its [Cite a source](https://edcitation.com/cite/apa) builds APA 7, MLA 9, Chicago 18 (author-date), Harvard, IEEE and Vancouver, for a business, criminology or social policy module that cites a law book, never in place of OSCOLA.

## What books does a law student need?

A law student needs five kinds of book: a textbook for each subject, a cases and materials book, a statute book, revision guides such as the Q&A series, and practitioner works for reference. Warwick's and Kent's lists name all but the statute book and the Q&A guides, which come from the University of London's advice and from their publisher.

| Kind of book | What it is for | Named on a list, or by its publisher |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Textbook | The rules of one subject, explained and argued | *Tort Law*, 9th ed. (Warwick); *O'Sullivan & Hilliard's The Law of Contract*, 2024 (Kent's core text); *Public Law*, 5th ed. (Warwick) |
| Cases and materials | Extracts from judgments, statutes and commentary | *Poole's Casebook on Contract Law*, 16th ed. (Kent); Lunney and Oliphant's *Tort Law: Text and Materials* (Warwick) |
| Statute book | The legislation itself, without notes | *Blackstone's Statutes on Contract, Tort & Restitution*, 36th ed. (OUP); "an up-to-date statute book" (London) |
| Revision and Q&A | Worked answers, answer plans and exam technique | *Concentrate Questions and Answers Contract Law*, 3rd ed. (OUP) |
| Practitioner work | The law in full, as lawyers and judges use it | *Chitty on Contracts*, 35th ed. (Kent); *Blackstone's Criminal Practice 2026* (Kent) |
| Legal skills | Reading cases and statutes, legal method | *Legal Skills*, 10th ed. (Warwick); *Learning Legal Rules*, 11th ed. (Kent) |
| All of them together | One search by title, author or ISBN | EdCitation's [Library](https://edcitation.com/tools/library) |

### Warwick: an adopted textbook, then page ranges

Warwick's first-year Criminal Law for 2026/27 adopts a single book, *Smith, Hogan, and Ormerod's Essentials of Criminal Law*, sixth edition, 2025, and says students may use another but "readings will be assigned according to this textbook" (University of Warwick, 2026a).

Tort Law requires Horsey and Rackley alongside McBride and Bagshaw's seventh edition of 2024, with Finch and Fafinski's *Legal Skills* as further reading (University of Warwick, 2026b). The public law module, Law, State and the Individual, set exact page ranges of Elliott and Thomas's *Public Law* for its seminars in 2025/26 (University of Warwick, 2025).

### Kent: a core text, alternatives and a practitioner work

Kent's Contract Law, a first-stage module, names one core text for 2025-26, *O'Sullivan & Hilliard's The Law of Contract*, then other textbooks and further reading: Koffman, Macdonald and Atkins, Poole's textbook and casebook, and the 35th edition of *Chitty on Contracts* (University of Kent, 2026a). Its Criminal Law list has no single core textbook. It sets chapters of *Blackstone's Criminal Practice 2026*, read through Westlaw, explaining that practitioners use it "when prosecuting and defending" (University of Kent, 2026b), and asks for at least one case and one legal article read in full every week.

### What the University of London told its students to buy

The University of London's contract law module guide, written around the 2017 editions, gives the same advice: one core textbook, one casebook, longer works such as *Treitel* and *Anson's Law of Contract* consulted in a library rather than bought, and an up-to-date statute book, since one authorised statute book could then go into the exam (University of London, 2017). No book, it warns, supplies model answers to learn by heart.

## Why does the edition of a law textbook matter so much?

A law textbook's edition matters because the book states the law as it stood when it went to press, and courts and Parliament keep changing it. The 36th edition of *Chitty on Contracts*, for example, takes in case law and legislation available up to 31 July 2025 (Sweet & Maxwell, n.d.).

### What changed between editions, by the publishers' account

| Book | Edition on a list | Newest edition | What the publisher says is new |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Horsey and Rackley, *Tort Law* | 5th, 2017 (Kent, 2024 to 2025); 9th (Warwick, 2026/27) | 9th, 28 August 2025 | *Paul v Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust* [2024] UKSC 1 on psychiatric harm; *BXB* [2023] UKSC 15 on vicarious liability |
| *Poole's Textbook on Contract Law* | 15th, 2021 (Kent, 2024 to 2025); the 2023 edition (Kent, 2025-26) | 17th, 2 June 2025 | *Kajima* [2023] on when a contract is enforceable; *SFL Ace 2* [2024] on debt and damages |
| *O'Sullivan & Hilliard's The Law of Contract* | 2024 (Kent's core text) | 11th, 13 May 2024 | Supreme Court cases including *Law Debenture Corp v Ukraine* on duress and *Barton v Morris* on implied terms |
| Elliott and Thomas, *Public Law* | 5th, 2024 (Warwick) | 5th, 23 April 2024; 6th due 15 April 2027 | The sixth is to cover the House of Lords (Hereditary Peers) Act 2026 and the English Devolution and Community Empowerment Act 2026 |
| *Chitty on Contracts* | 35th (Kent) | 36th | Case law and legislation to 31 July 2025, including the Electronic Trade Documents Act 2023 |

Sources: Kent's module pages (University of Kent, n.d.-a, n.d.-b), the lists above, Horsey and Rackley (2025), Merkin and Saintier (2025), O'Sullivan (2024), Elliott and Thomas (2024), Oxford University Press (n.d.) and Sweet & Maxwell (n.d.).

### Statute books and practitioner works date fastest

OUP's Blackstone's volume for contract and tort reached its 36th edition on 1 August 2025; the publisher calls it "updated legislation needed for exam/course use" and sells it without annotations, which OUP says suits exams (Rose, 2025). Whether your exams allow one is your university's rule. Practitioner works move the same way: *Blackstone's Criminal Practice* carries its year in the title, and Kent sets the 2026 volume.

### Reading from a different edition than the list

Libraries hold older copies, and lists say so: Kent keeps paper copies of older editions of its contract core text (University of Kent, 2026a), and Warwick holds Atiyah's *Accidents, Compensation and the Law* as the eighth edition in print and the ninth as an ebook (University of Warwick, 2026b). With a different edition, find each reading by its heading, not its chapter number, as the University of London guide advises.

## How do I find the edition a reading list names by ISBN?

Copy the ISBN from the reading list, look it up on the publisher's page, then search the title for anything newer. The print book and the e-book of one edition carry different ISBNs: OUP gives 9780192862631 for *Public Law* in print and 9780192677044 for its e-book (Elliott & Thomas, 2024).

1. Copy the list entry exactly, with its ISBN. Kent's contract list gives 9780198897019 for its core text.
2. Look the ISBN up on the publisher's site. OUP's page for 9780198897019 is the eleventh edition of *O'Sullivan & Hilliard's The Law of Contract*, published on 13 May 2024 (O'Sullivan, 2024).
3. Search the title in EdCitation's [Library](https://edcitation.com/tools/library), sorted newest first, to see the editions it holds side by side.
4. Search the publisher's catalogue for an announced edition: OUP lists *Public Law 6e* for 15 April 2027 (Oxford University Press, n.d.).
5. If a newer edition exists, ask the module lead which one to use.
6. Note the edition you actually read, from its title page, and cite that one.

## Do law students cite in OSCOLA, the Bluebook or APA?

Law students cite in the style their law school sets: usually OSCOLA in the UK and the Bluebook in the US. EdCitation produces neither, so a law module follows the style's own guide.

### OSCOLA and the Bluebook, for a law module

OSCOLA is edited by Oxford's Law Faculty, whose page calls it "widely used in law schools" and among publishers (University of Oxford Faculty of Law, n.d.-c). Warwick's library says the Warwick Law School uses it and requires it for essays and dissertations but not exams (University of Warwick Library, n.d.). Kent Law School uses it as well, moving from the fourth edition to the fifth for 2026/27 (University of Kent Library, n.d.). Among the fifth edition's changes is dropping "ibid" for a later citation of the same source (University of Oxford Faculty of Law, n.d.-a).

OSCOLA cites in footnotes. Its quick reference guide gives a book as the author's name, the title in italics, then the edition, publisher and year in brackets (University of Oxford Faculty of Law, n.d.-b). In that pattern:

Mark Elliott and Robert Thomas, *Public Law* (5th edn, OUP 2024).

For pinpoints, later citations and the bibliography, work from the [OSCOLA page at Oxford](https://www.law.ox.ac.uk/oscola). In the United States the equivalent is the Bluebook, now in its 22nd edition, whose content is by the editors of four law reviews (The Bluebook, n.d.).

### APA 7 or Harvard, for a module outside law

A business, criminology, politics or social policy module that sets APA 7 or Harvard cites a law textbook like any other book, and EdCitation's [Cite a source](https://edcitation.com/cite/apa) builds that reference from the ISBN, free and with no account. APA wants the year from the copyright page, the title in italics with the edition in brackets after it, the publisher, and no place of publication (American Psychological Association, 2020a).

APA's own legal references are founded on the Bluebook, with some changes (American Psychological Association, 2020b), so write a case or a statute by hand from your style's rules for legal material.

### A law textbook, built from its ISBN

For this guide the print ISBN of Elliott and Thomas's *Public Law*, 9780192862631, went into Cite a source. In APA 7 it returned:

Elliott, M., & Thomas, R. (2024). *Public Law*. Oxford University Press.

and in Harvard:

Elliott, M. and Thomas, R. (2024) *Public Law*. Oxford University Press.

Authors, year and publisher are right; both need the edition added and the title in sentence case:

Elliott, M., & Thomas, R. (2024). *Public law* (5th ed.). Oxford University Press.

Elliott, M. and Thomas, R. (2024) *Public law*. 5th edn. Oxford University Press.

In the text: (Elliott & Thomas, 2024) in APA, (Elliott and Thomas, 2024) in Harvard. Check the names against the title page as well, since a catalogue record can carry fewer or more names than the book. Neither entry above is an OSCOLA footnote, and neither belongs in a law module's work. More in [how to cite a book or ebook](https://edcitation.com/newsletter/how-to-cite-a-book-or-ebook) and the [Harvard referencing guide](https://edcitation.com/newsletter/harvard-referencing-guide). Then run the finished list through [Verify references](https://edcitation.com/verify-references), which checks each entry against the publishers' records and flags retracted papers.

## Where can I find law books in one place?

In EdCitation's [Library](https://edcitation.com/tools/library), the best place to gather a law reading list, because the list itself is scattered: this guide's books came from two universities' reading list systems, a module guide and eight publisher pages, and one practitioner work is read through a legal database. The Library answers with one catalogue of textbooks and scholarly books, searched by title, author, subject or ISBN and narrowed by discipline, kind, language and year.

### What the searches turned up

Law is one of the Library's 31 disciplines. On 23 September 2026, Law with the kind set to Textbook returned 8,516 books, and with Dictionary or encyclopedia 6,721, headed by *Black's Law Dictionary*. Elliott and Thomas's *Public Law*, sorted newest first, put the 2024 edition at the top, with 2013 and 2011 records beneath it. *Chitty on Contracts* returned 60 records, from Sweet & Maxwell's editions of 2012 to 2020 back to reprints of Joseph Chitty's older treatises.

Each result shows the cover, the authors, the publisher and the year, and whether the book opens in the Library or is one to buy. From the same card you can buy it, see which libraries near you hold it, keep it in My Books, or cite it in one click. With Max you can read or borrow from more than 5 million books, a collection EdCitation compiled for students and readers, all in one place.

### What an account brings, and what needs Max

An EdCitation account costs nothing and brings the catalogue, My Books, links to buy a book and the search for a library copy. Reading and borrowing books in the Library are part of Max, at $24 a month or $216 for a year, which also brings Theoretics QA. [Cite a source](https://edcitation.com/cite/harvard), [Find sources](https://edcitation.com/) and [Verify references](https://edcitation.com/verify-references) need no account; the plans are compared on [Pricing](https://edcitation.com/pricing).

### What the Library leaves to you

For a statute book, take the current edition from the publisher: a Library search for Blackstone's contract and tort volume returned 29 records, the most recent labelled 34e and dated 2023, while OUP's current edition is the 36th, of August 2025. And the articles a list asks for come from a search: EdCitation's [Find sources](https://edcitation.com/) covers about 300 million published works, and "vicarious liability tort", sorted by most cited, returned 7,893 works, headed by Paula Giliker's *Vicarious Liability in Tort* from Cambridge University Press. The same guide exists for [psychology](https://edcitation.com/newsletter/psychology-books-and-textbooks-in-one-place), [nursing](https://edcitation.com/newsletter/nursing-textbooks-and-books-in-one-place) and [medicine](https://edcitation.com/newsletter/medicine-books-and-textbooks-for-students).

## Quick questions

### What textbooks do first-year law students need?

The ones their module list sets. Warwick's 2026/27 lists set Horsey and Rackley's *Tort Law* and *Smith, Hogan, and Ormerod's Essentials of Criminal Law*; Kent's contract list sets *O'Sullivan & Hilliard's The Law of Contract*.

### Can I use an older edition of a law textbook?

Ask your module lead first, because the law changes between editions. Horsey and Rackley's 2017 fifth edition predates the Supreme Court's 2023 and 2024 judgments on vicarious liability and psychiatric harm that the 2025 ninth edition covers.

### Does EdCitation do OSCOLA or the Bluebook?

No. EdCitation's Cite a source builds APA 7, MLA 9, Chicago 18 author-date, Harvard, IEEE and Vancouver. For a law module, follow the OSCOLA guide from Oxford's Law Faculty, or the Bluebook in the US.

### What is a practitioner work in law?

A detailed work written for lawyers and judges, such as *Chitty on Contracts*. Student lists set chapters from them, often read through a legal database.

### Where can I find law books in one place?

In EdCitation's [Library](https://edcitation.com/tools/library): one catalogue searched by discipline, kind, language and year, with My Books, and with Max more than 5 million books to read or borrow.

## References

- American Psychological Association. (2020a). *Book/ebook references*. APA Style. [https://apastyle.apa.org/style-grammar-guidelines/references/examples/book-references](https://apastyle.apa.org/style-grammar-guidelines/references/examples/book-references)
- American Psychological Association. (2020b). *Guide to what's new in the Publication manual of the American Psychological Association, seventh edition* [PDF]. APA Style. [https://apastyle.apa.org/instructional-aids/whats-new-7e-guide.pdf](https://apastyle.apa.org/instructional-aids/whats-new-7e-guide.pdf)
- The Bluebook. (n.d.). *The Bluebook: A uniform system of citation* (22nd ed.) [Online edition]. Retrieved September 23, 2026, from [https://www.legalbluebook.com/](https://www.legalbluebook.com/)
- Elliott, M., & Thomas, R. (2024). *Public law* (5th ed.). Oxford University Press. [https://global.oup.com/ukhe/product/public-law-9780192862631](https://global.oup.com/ukhe/product/public-law-9780192862631)
- Horsey, K., & Rackley, E. (2025). *Tort law* (9th ed.). Oxford University Press. [https://global.oup.com/ukhe/product/tort-law-9780198925231](https://global.oup.com/ukhe/product/tort-law-9780198925231)
- Merkin, R., & Saintier, S. (2025). *Poole's textbook on contract law* (17th ed.). Oxford University Press. [https://global.oup.com/ukhe/product/pooles-textbook-on-contract-law-9780198954866](https://global.oup.com/ukhe/product/pooles-textbook-on-contract-law-9780198954866)
- O'Sullivan, J. (2024). *O'Sullivan & Hilliard's the law of contract* (11th ed.). Oxford University Press. [https://global.oup.com/ukhe/product/osullivan-and-hilliards-the-law-of-contract-9780198897019](https://global.oup.com/ukhe/product/osullivan-and-hilliards-the-law-of-contract-9780198897019)
- Oxford University Press. (n.d.). *Public law 6e*. Retrieved September 23, 2026, from [https://global.oup.com/ukhe/product/public-law-6e-9780197903704](https://global.oup.com/ukhe/product/public-law-6e-9780197903704)
- Rose, F. (Ed.). (2025). *Blackstone's statutes on contract, tort & restitution* (36th ed.). Oxford University Press. [https://global.oup.com/ukhe/product/blackstone-s-statutes-on-contract-tort-restitution-9780198971238](https://global.oup.com/ukhe/product/blackstone-s-statutes-on-contract-tort-restitution-9780198971238)
- Sweet & Maxwell. (n.d.). *Chitty on contracts, 36th edition, volumes 1 and 2*. Thomson Reuters. Retrieved September 23, 2026, from [https://www.sweetandmaxwell.co.uk/en-gb/products/chitty-on-contracts-36th-edition-volumes-1-and-2-common-law-library-print-bundle-30790881](https://www.sweetandmaxwell.co.uk/en-gb/products/chitty-on-contracts-36th-edition-volumes-1-and-2-common-law-library-print-bundle-30790881)
- University of Kent. (n.d.-a). *Introduction to contract and tort (LAWS3150)* [Module page, 2024 to 2025]. Retrieved September 23, 2026, from [https://www.kent.ac.uk/courses/modules/module/LAWS3150](https://www.kent.ac.uk/courses/modules/module/LAWS3150)
- University of Kent. (n.d.-b). *The law of contract (LAWS6500)* [Module page, 2024 to 2025]. Retrieved September 23, 2026, from [https://www.kent.ac.uk/courses/modules/module/LW650](https://www.kent.ac.uk/courses/modules/module/LW650)
- University of Kent. (2026a). *LAWS4001 contract law* [Reading list, 2025-2026]. [https://kent.rl.talis.com/lists/D43E5786-45C3-C714-2611-9E9D9692CE47.html](https://kent.rl.talis.com/lists/D43E5786-45C3-C714-2611-9E9D9692CE47.html)
- University of Kent. (2026b). *LAWS4002 criminal law* [Reading list, 2025-2026]. [https://kent.rl.talis.com/lists/CA8F5290-C159-B1BD-28F0-F9F13E9C9CEF.html](https://kent.rl.talis.com/lists/CA8F5290-C159-B1BD-28F0-F9F13E9C9CEF.html)
- University of Kent Library. (n.d.). *Referencing the law*. Lawlinks: Legal resources guide. Retrieved September 23, 2026, from [https://blogs.kent.ac.uk/lawlinks/referencing/](https://blogs.kent.ac.uk/lawlinks/referencing/)
- University of London. (2017). *Contract law* [Module guide]. University of London International Programmes. [https://www.london.ac.uk/sites/default/files/study-guides/contract-law-study-guide.pdf](https://www.london.ac.uk/sites/default/files/study-guides/contract-law-study-guide.pdf)
- University of Oxford Faculty of Law. (n.d.-a). *Key changes made in the fifth edition of OSCOLA* [PDF]. Retrieved September 23, 2026, from [https://www.law.ox.ac.uk/sites/default/files/2026-04/OSCOLA%20key%20changes.pdf](https://www.law.ox.ac.uk/sites/default/files/2026-04/OSCOLA%20key%20changes.pdf)
- University of Oxford Faculty of Law. (n.d.-b). *OSCOLA 5th edition: Quick reference guide* [PDF]. Retrieved September 23, 2026, from [https://www.law.ox.ac.uk/sites/default/files/2026-03/OSCOLA%205th%20Edition%20-%20Quick%20Reference%20Guide.pdf](https://www.law.ox.ac.uk/sites/default/files/2026-03/OSCOLA%205th%20Edition%20-%20Quick%20Reference%20Guide.pdf)
- University of Oxford Faculty of Law. (n.d.-c). *The Oxford University Standard for Citation of Legal Authorities (OSCOLA)*. Retrieved September 23, 2026, from [https://www.law.ox.ac.uk/oscola](https://www.law.ox.ac.uk/oscola)
- University of Warwick. (2025). *LA129: Law, state and the individual (terms 1 & 2)* [Reading list, 2025/26]. [https://warwick.rl.talis.com/lists/633BBD25-100E-F62E-5CE1-F02C9C3AD44C.html](https://warwick.rl.talis.com/lists/633BBD25-100E-F62E-5CE1-F02C9C3AD44C.html)
- University of Warwick. (2026a). *LA104: Criminal law (terms 1 & 2)* [Reading list, 2026/27]. [https://warwick.rl.talis.com/lists/866b6c9e-6f43-45f3-a6a8-77e59984c32e.html](https://warwick.rl.talis.com/lists/866b6c9e-6f43-45f3-a6a8-77e59984c32e.html)
- University of Warwick. (2026b). *LA124: Tort law (terms 1 & 2)* [Reading list, 2026/27]. [https://warwick.rl.talis.com/lists/f4655751-e664-4d4f-ac4c-e75a6ad88e22.html](https://warwick.rl.talis.com/lists/f4655751-e664-4d4f-ac4c-e75a6ad88e22.html)
- University of Warwick Library. (n.d.). *Referencing*. Law subject guide. Retrieved September 23, 2026, from [https://warwick.libguides.com/law/referencing](https://warwick.libguides.com/law/referencing)