Department
of Economics
University of Maryland
Law
and Economics Professor
Lawrence Ausubel
Texts:
Cooter, Robert and Thomas Ulen, Law and Economics,
third edition, Addison-Wesley, 2000
Course Packet (available from
BSOS Copy Center)
Course Web Page:
http://www.ausubel.com/econ456
Course Topics
(each covers 1 to 4 lectures):
1. Overview of the Legal System
Cooter & Ulen, chapter 3
[Optional]:
Review your standard micro text or Cooter & Ulen, chapter 2
Cases
to be discussed:
Butterfield
v. Forrester (C&U pp. 66–67)
Davies
v. Mann (C&U pp. 68–69)
Marquette
National Bank v. First of Omaha Corp. (Course Packet #1)
Smiley
v. Citibank (South Dakota), N.A. (Course Packet #2)
2. Property
Cooter
& Ulen, chapter 4
3. Cases and Topics in Property
Cooter & Ulen, chapter 5
Cases to be discussed:
Traditional Property:
Boomer v. Atlantic Cement
(C&U pp. 155–157)
Spur Industries
(Course Packet #3)
Poletown
(Course Packet #4)
Pennsylvania Coal
(Course Packet #5)
Penn Central Transportation Co.
(Course Packet #6)
Intellectual Property:
State
Street Bank & Trust Co. v. Signature Financial Group, Inc. (Online)
*
U.S. Court of Appeals Opinion, July 1998
Earlier
U.S. District Court Opinion, March 1996
U.S.
Supreme Court, cert. denied
Signature
Financial Group Patent No. 5,193,056
AT&T
Corp. v. Excel Communications, Inc. (Online)
* U.S. Court
of Appeals Opinion, April 1999
Well-Known
e-Commerce Patents (Online)
* Amazon.com
Patent No. 5,960,411
*
Priceline.com Patent No. 5,794,207
Examination
Guidelines for Computer-Implemented Inventions
(Course Packet #7)
Training
Materials for Examination Guidelines for Computer-Implemented Inventions
Blue
Mountain Arts (Course Packet #8)
&
see the Property Clip File (Course Packet #9)
4. Torts
Cooter
& Ulen, chapter 8
5. Cases and Topics in Torts (Product
Liability and Punitive Damages)
Cooter
& Ulen, chapter 9
Cases
to be discussed:
A.H.
Robins & the Dalkon Shield (Course Packet #10)
The
Ford Pinto Case (Course Packet #11)
The
Tobacco Liability Cases (Course Packet #12)
BMW
of North America, Inc. v. Gore (Course Packet #13)
&
see the Liability Clip File (Course Packet #14)
6. Topics in Legal Procedure and Liability
Reform
Cooter
& Ulen, chapter 10
Cases
to be discussed:
Daubert
v. Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals (Course Packet #15)
General
Electric Co. v. Joiner (Course Packet #16)
Auctioning Class Actions (In re Auction Houses
Antitrust Litigation, 2000)
7. Contracts
Cooter
& Ulen, chapter 6
8. Cases and
Topics in Contracts and Consumer Protection
Cooter & Ulen, chapter 7
Cases
to be discussed:
Alaska
Packers' Assn. v. Domenico (Course Packet #17)
Austin
Instruments v. Loral (Course Packet #18)
Opera
Co. of Boston v. Wolf Trap (Course Packet #19)
Pennzoil
v. Texaco (Course Packet #20)
Walker-Thomas
Furniture (Course Packet #21 and C&U pp. 280–283)
Shearson/American
Express (Course Packet #22)
9. Insider Trading
Notes
on Insider Trading (Course Packet #23)
Posner and Scott, Insider Trading
(to be distributed in class or placed on library reserve)
Ausubel, “Insider Trading in a
Rational Expectations Economy” (Course Packet #24)
Chiarella
and Subsequent Cases (Course Packet #25)
Insider Trading/Financial Fraud
Clip File (Course Packet #26)
10. Bankruptcy
Report of the National Bankruptcy
Review Commission (Course Packet #27)
Ausubel, “Credit Card Defaults,
Credit Card Profits, and Bankruptcy” (Course Packet #28)
Additional Details:
1. Professor Lawrence Ausubel
Office: Room 4128A, Tydings Hall
Office Hours: Wednesdays, 11:00 am –
12:00 noon and 2:00 pm – 3:00 pm (except Feb. 7)
2. Course requirements:
a. Assigned reading (before class).
b. One or two take‑home assignments (30% of written grade). These will be relatively fun assignments which are preferably done as group projects (of up to four people), and which require you to apply economic analysis to a specific area of the law.
c. Midterm examination (30% of written grade).
d. Final Examination (40% of written grade).
e.
Classroom Participation (Superior classroom participation
may bump you up as much as one letter grade).