Understanding Series: Understanding Civil Procedure: The California Edition

The California edition expands the latest edition of the well-established treatise Understanding Civil Procedure to explore California's unique approach. Each chapter begins with the federal doctrine, followed by a section on how California approaches the topic. The book is primarily intended as a reference for law school civil procedure students in California. However, its treatment of recent developments may make it useful to some practitioners as well.

The treatise is premised on the assumption that the key to understanding the principles of civil procedure is to know why: why the principles were created and why they are invoked. The treatise is written to answer these questions as it lays out the basic principles of civil procedure. It also reflects the authors' belief that students of civil procedure can understand and appreciate complex principles when they are clearly presented; teaching civil procedure does not require dumbing it down. Although they discuss important civil procedure cases in the text, thus supporting the most widely used civil procedure casebooks using these same cases, they also provide useful references to secondary sources and illustrative cases for the reader who wants to explore further.

Walter Heiser is Professor of Law Emeritus at the University of San Diego School of Law.

Gene Shreve is an Emeritus Professor of Law at Indiana University at Bloomington School of Law.

Peter Raven-Hansen is the Glen Earl Weston Research Professor of Law Emeritus at George Washington University Law School.

Charles Geyh is the John F. Kimberling Professor of Law at Indiana University at Bloomington School of Law.