The Gazette 1971

in the first part in previous editions has been dropped for the reason, as given in the preface, that the amount of modern research on the topic is so great that it could not be treated with a completeness and authority con- sistent with the aim of the remainder of the work. One can only note regretfully the omission of an authori- tative and extremely useful condensation which saved the type of research which the editors now no doubt glady transfer to the reader. The second part reveals that there have been consid- erable changes in procedure in the seven years since the seventeenth edition was published in 1964. Parliamen- tary reform has been in the air, not stimulated this time by the desire to curtailt he rights of non co-operative members e.g. the tactics of the members of the Irish Party in the last century were responsible for the intro- duction of many restrictive rules at that time, but rather by problems created by increasing congestion of business and a realisation that control of the executive by Parliament was becoming more difficult if not more unreal. Hence the slow but steady increase in the num- ber of Select Committees e.g. on Nationalised Industries, Science and Technology, etc. The House of Commons has always resisted a Committee system similar to that of the United States as it considers it fundamental that rights to question and debate with Ministers should be reserved to the House and not transferred to specialist Committees, as inevitably happens in the United States where Ministers may not be members of the Houses and are not subject to the type of direct control by the Houses which is exercised in Westminster and in Dub- lin at Question Time, on debates on legislation, supply, motions, etc. As recently as 12th November 1970 Mr. Whitelaw, the Leader of the House, reaffirmed the principle that Committees play an important but a subsidiary role. He stated that while he was absolutely certain that the House of Commons must remain the centre of Parliament and the main battleground of political controversy, nevertheless he was equally cer- tain that a sound select committee system was vital to the detailed probing and criticism of the executive upon which both successful parliamentary democracy and good government depend. Another interesting development has been the scrap- ping of the old Standing Order 9 which dealt with the adjournment debates on matters of urgent public impor- tance which because of increasingly restrictive interpre- tations had become virtually unworkable and its substi- tution by a more flexible formula which gives a member an opportunity to move the adjournment for discussing a specific and important matter which should have urgent consideration if the Speaker agrees that the matter in question warrants this. Thai this more liberal provision has been more successfully invoked than its predecessor is reflected in the fact that about four debates of the kind envisaged by the Standing Order have taken place in each session. Another important innovation dating from 1967 is the reference of Public Bills to a Second Reading Com- mittee instead of being debated on second reading in the House of Commons. However, if twenty members object to this procedure the proposal is negatived. The procedure is generally regarded as suitable only for Bills which are not measures involving large questions of policy nor likely to give rise to differences on party lines. The Reports of the debates of such Committees are included in the Official Report of debates in the House and are thus available to members when the report of the Committee is being considered. Bills may also be referred for consideration on Report to Standing

Committees subject to restrictions similar to those appli- cable to Second Reading Committees. The chapter on delegated legislation is of general interest as it reflects the appreciation of the problem presented by the continuing growth of this form of legis- lation and the need for its control by Parliament. The functions of the Statutory Instruments Committee of the Seanad are similar to those of the British Committee and its periodical reports enable the House and the public to be kept up to date on its investigations. The chapter on representation in European Assem- blies, particularly in relation to the Council of Europe, of which we also are members, sets out clearly and concisely the relationship between the home Parliament and these bodies as well as the structure and functions of the latter. The third part of the book on Private Bills is of particular interest to the legal profession for in passing private bills the proceedings of Parliament partake of a judicial character as well as being a legislative function. The promoters and opponents are represented by Parlia- mentary agents i.e. solicitors or firms of solicitors who promote or oppose pivate bills as agents and conduct proceedings on petitions against the bill. Counsel are usually employed to draft the Bills and at the Committee Stage to represent the promoters or opponents as the case may be. The incidence of private bills in this country has been rather sporadic; four were passed in the period 1965-70 and of these only one, The Hugu- eqot Cemetery Dublin (Peter Street) Act, 1966, was opposd. As we lack both a corpus of case law and legal expertise in dealing with private legislation, May is invaluable to the Parliamentary agent and official alike as our rules and procedures derive from those of Westminster. This edition of May must igve the lie to those who think of a Parliamentary institution as being necessarily hidebound by tradition and out of date rules. The changes in the seven years since 1964 have been quite remarkable and the editor, Sir Barnett Cocks, Clerk of the House of Commons, and his collaborators must be congratulated on their success in assimilating the new with the old and in maintaining so well the standards readers have associated for a considerable number of years with successive editions of this invaluable work of reference. John Mc. G. Smyth, B.L. (Clerk of the Seanad) Mr. Lowe, a member of the Board of Management of the College of Law in London, has published another edition of his famous work on Commercial Law. The enconiums which the learned author received in respect of his previous editions are more than justified in this edition. The first edition published in 1964, contained 550 pages, while the second edition, published in 1967. contained as many pages as the current edition, yet the author has managed to incorporate more than a dozen additional English statutes, and more than one hundred new cases since 1967. The chapters on Agency, Sale of Goods, Hire-Purchase, and Negotiable Instru- ments are as usual outstanding by their clarity of expo- sition. Law students are fortunate in having such a master to guide them through an intricate subject. CGD 97 Commercial Law by Robert Lowe; third edition; 8vo; pp. xxxix + 575; London, Sweet and Maxwell, 1970: paperback; £2.50.