The interdependence of teaching and research is an article of faith for many university teachers. In practice the conjunction of the two activities can act either as a brake or as a stimulus to the advancement of learning or the interaction can be more complex. Karl Llewellyn was a dedicated teacher, especially during the first part of his career. Apart from his verse, his first three books were all ostensibly addressed to students. In each case, however, this fact had curiously different results. Cases and Materials on the Law of Sales is a remarkable example of an undergraduate course book which is based on learning and insight worthy of a major treatise. In The Bramble Bush Llewellyn threw aside scholarly inhibitions in an attempt to excite the interest of first-year students, only to find that he had thereby attracted an unwelcome amount of so-called ‘scholarly’ attention. His German book on case law in America looks more like a book of materials for a course (and this was in part its origin) than a scholarly monograph, yet it was published for the benefit of, and was probably mainly read by, established German scholars.

Llewellyn's ideas on case law are best considered in connection with The Common Law Tradition. In this chapter Cases and Materials on the Law of Sales and The Bramble Bush will be discussed in turn. Each in its way marks an important stage in the development of his thought, but in both instances the author's educational objectives determined the manner of the presentation of his ideas.