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Law. Like Professors Brown and Garner, this reviewer
is absolutely convinced of the great superiority of
French Administrative Law as rendered by that elite
body, the Conseil d'Etat. One of the grave defects of
the Irish Constitution is that Article 37 only provides
for temporary administrative tribunals, and that all
other decisions must be made by one of the Courts
established by the Constitution. This in effect means
that no effective permanent administrative tribunal,
save with very limited power can ever be established in
Ireland, and that the ordinary tribunals can never be
manned by specialist lawyers trained in administrative
law and procedure. The resulting administrative de-
cisions given by ordinary Courts in Ireland can only
be unsatisfactory, as they are not given an opportunity
to probe the full facts, but only the facts in files which
the Department concerned wishes to impart to them
and this in the skimpiest way possible. The Courts have
been slow until recently to reject inadequate privilege
claims which the State has endeavoured to sustain on
the slimmest evidence. Without going into detail, one
can but agree with the learned authors that the French
administrative system is infinitely superior to the Irish
one, inasmuch as (1) the judges of the French Court
have an administrative expertise second to none. (2)~
The remedies available are simple and not deliberately
complicated and complex like
certiorari and man-
damus.
(3) All the documents are in writing, and this
permits an intimate dialogue between the court and the
administration; the loose limits of oral evidence are
rejected. (4) The Court can probe with profound
depth into all administrative action; and the narrow
limitations of Irish law do not apply.
With the expert assistance of Madame Questiaux,
who is so helpful to all English speaking visitors of the
Gonseil d'Etat, the learned authors have set out the
procedure of the Conseil d'Etat in such a lucid and
clear manner that the complexities appear simple; it is
only by attending in practice a
séance d'instruction
or
a séance de jugement
that a foreign lawyer can appre-
ciate how such an intricate law is rendered simple by
experts. No useful purpose can be served by going into
the intricacies of the procedure save to state that the
learned authors have mastered it, and have made it
appear easy—further study would soon dispel this idea.
Our Library is the only one in Ireland where such a
study could be undertaken, as it contains a summary
of the more important decisions of the Gonseil d'Etat
in the last few years. We are deeply indebted to Pro-
fessors Brown and Garner for having enlightened us on
a most complex subject. This will remain the essential
introductory book to the study of French Administra-
tive Law in English in the foreseeable future.
Bailey (S. J.)
—The
Law of Wills including Intestacy
and Administration of Assets. Seventh
edition; 8vo; pp.
lxxiii plus 384; London, Pitman, 1973.
The fact that the learned author who is a Professor
of English Law in Cambridge University, has produced
seven editions of his work in forty years speaks for
itself. From the first, the manner in which the material
was presented has appealed to students throughout,
and, the book is well known to our students, as it has
been on the Law Society course for a long time. Apart
from the law of wills the volume contains chapters on
the equitable doctrines of conversion and secret trusts
and election, on conditions precedent and subsequent,
and on the various rules relating to future interests,
such as Whitby v. Mitchell, which are so well covered
in Mr. Justice Megarry's Manual of Real Property. An
interesting modern decision considered is
Edmondson's
Will
Trusts—(
1971)
1 W.L.R.—in which the rule in
Andrews v. Partington
(1791) was applied. In the case
of
Bravda
—(1968)
W.L.R., two daughter beneficiaries,
who attested the will, as well as the attesting witnesses,
got nothing. In
Re Horgan, decd.—(
1970) 2 W.L.R.—
Latey, J., held the following clause in a will valid—
that the firm might act through any of its partners or
their successors in business at the date of my death not
exceeding two in number. These few examples will
demonstrate that the learned author has taken full
cognizance of all recent decisions.
Smith (J.
C.),
and Brian Hogán—Criminal Law,
Third
edition; 8vo; pp. xciii plus 678; London, Butterworth,
1973; £4.60 (paperback).
These learned authors, Professor Smith of Nottingham
and Professor Hogan of Leeds, have published no less
than three editions in sixteen years, and the material
between 1957 and 1973 has increased by 70 pages.
Smith and Hogan has established itself as the leading
modern textbook in criminal law, not merely on account
of the complete accuracy of the material, but also the
illuminating comments made by the learned authors on
various points of criminal law arising from the cases.
For instance at page 159, in referring to
Buckove v.
L.C.E.
—(1971)
1 Ch—where apparently Lord Denn-
ing accepted the view that a driver, stopped by a red
light at a cross roads, and seeing a blazing house 200
yards in front of him would have committed an offence
if he had crossed at the red lights on the ground of
necessity to help but added : "Nevertheless such a man
had he done so, should not be prosecuted. He should
be congratulated". The learned authors remark con-
cisely : "It is odd to see the Master of the Rolls finding
a breach of the criminal law a case for congratulation".
As to differences between the Larceny Act 1916 and
the Theft Act 1968 the learned authors state at page
396 : "In practice the Larceny Act 1916 was construed
on the tacit assumption that there was no intention to
alter the previous law, and the earlier case law lost
little authority. Such an approach to the Theft Act
1968 would be wholly wrong." Practitioners are con-
sequently warned that they should skip the section
dealing with that Act.
However Smith and Hogan has maintained its lead
as the pre-eminent textbook on Criminal Law, and
Irish practitioners who study it will soon master that
difficult subject provided they read references to English
statutes since 1922 with care.
Baxter (J. W.)—World Patent Law and Practice.
Second edition; 8vo; pp. xiv plus 455; London, Sweet
& Maxwell, 1973; £6.80.
The learned author, who is Legal Adviser to the
Patents Section of Imperial Chenical Industries, had
already published a first edition of this work in 1968.
It sets out detailed patent requirements and practices
in all parts of the world, and questions such a s: who
should make the application for a license in Brazil,
when documents are required in New Zealand? how to
oppose an application for a license in France; what is
the conception of novelty in Ireland? the different
time limits set, the rules relating to renewal fees, mem-
bers recognising the International Patent Conventions
of Lisbon in 1958 and of Stockholm in 1967—are
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