First Year Law by Gypsy

This 1891 case is used to illustrate the "Eggshell skull" rule. "The intention to do harm is the essence of an assault" and "If the intended act is unlawful, the intention to commit it must necessarily be unlawful." Sure, but it was just a kid who kicked another kid in the leg. He didn't know there was a preexisting injury.

This 1928 case is used to illustrate proximate causation. The facts are strange. A woman was waiting on a train platform an was hit by a scale that fell over when a passenger boarding a train on a different track dropped a package of fireworks that exploded. And this somehow gave her a stammer.

A case against John Ashcroft by a Guantanamo detainee and a an anti-trust case involving Bell Atlantic Corp. are often referred to by what portmanteau "Twiqbal." Name the other party of either case.

This 1845 case from Alabama involved a man who wrote to his his sister-in-law promising to provide a house for her if she would agree to move onto his property. Then he kicked her out two years later. The Court said it was not a valid contract because it lacked consideration.

If I learned anything in law school, it's that it's dangerous to travel by boat. Two cases are "famous" for illustrating private necessity. One was in Minnesota in 1910 (Defendant damaged Plaintiff's dock by fastening his boat to it in a storm) and one was in Vermont in 1908 (Plaintiff moored his boat to Defendant's dock in a storm. Defendant untied it, causing damage). I always got these two confused. Name either one.

A1863 case from England involved a guy getting hit on the head with a flour barrel. Two people saw him get hit, but no one saw what actually caused the barrel to drop. Which case was the first time the Court applied res ipsa loquitur, which means, "the thing speaks for itself?"

This 1958 case dealing with transferred intent showed that you shouldn't throw erasers. You could put an eye out.

The plaintiff in this 1917 New York case was a Titanic survivor who had a fashion business that became the first global couture brand. Judge Benjamin N. Cardozo's opinion let it be known what he thought of her day job.

This opinion in this 1965 D.C. case, written by Judge J. Skelly Wright, is used to describe unconscionability as a defense to enforcement of contracts. It involved a furniture store with harsh repossession rules.

This 1892 English case held an advertisement to be a unilateral contract. Who knows? Maybe phenol really did cure the flu.

This 1945 case defined personal jurisdiction regarding a state court’s ability to haul out-of-state defendants in to face a lawsuit. It established the “minimum contacts” rule, as long as jurisdiction “will not offend traditional notions of fair play and substantial justice.”

This 1988 case established that public figures care pretty much fair game when it comes to parody: "Outrageousness in the area of political and social discourse has an inherent subjectiveness about it which would allow a jury to impose liability on the basis of the jurors' tastes or views."