The Gazette 1973

Book Reviews

Cole (J.S.R.)—Irish Cases on Evidence.

8vo; pp. xii

plus 206.

This volume has been published under the auspices of

the Arthur Cox Foundations, two of whose trustees are

Mr. Justice Kenny and the Society. Dr. Cole has per-

formed an invaluable service to Irish legal practitioners

by listing under their distinctive exacting headings the

more important cases on the Irish law of evidence, and

has added useful notes. The author has also included a

useful unreported judgment such as

People v. Murray

(1971), although it would seem that such unreported

decisions such as

Shan Mohangi

(new trial ordered

because irrelevant evidence admitted, 23 July 1961),

Henry Gleeson

(every Judge is entitled to change the

jury in the manner that seems best to him—conviction

for murder dismissed—7 April 1941), R. V. Christie

(1914) applied,

William Coleman.

Improper imputations

against character of prosecution witnesses—conviction

upheld—14 June 1945.

Francis Cox

(admission of state-

ments valid), 20 December 1949, and

William Hopkins

(epilepsy as form of insanity rejected—conviction up-

held—20 April 1953). In view of the title of the book,

it would seem that, insofar as the same or identical law

was applicable, reported and unreported Northern Ire-

land cases on evidence, some of which are occasionally

mentioned in the notes, might have been included. It

is unfortunate that the Table of Cases does not contain

the full citation of the cases: in the view of this

reviewer, this economy was unnecessary : the sections

of the Irish Statutes since 1922 could also have been

inserted as the 1951 edition of A. Sandes' book on

Criminal Procedure in Eire

which itself was incomplete,

has been out of print for a long time. Dr. Cole has

performed a valuable service in selecting from the

different Irish law cases reported on evidence which

will be of inestimable advantage particularly to practi-

tioners who cannot lay their hands easily on Irish law

reports. If the minor blemishes previously mentioned

were corrected in a subsequent edition, this learned

work would receive the well-justified encomium of Irish

practitioners.

Ryan (Edward F.), ed.—Digest of Cases decided by the

Superior and other Courts in Ireland and Northern

Ireland reported from 1959-1970.

8vo; pp. lxxxviii (88),

columns 744; Dublin, Incorporated Council of Law

Reporting, 1972; £12.50.

Practitioners who possess the previous

Digest of Irish

Cases,

will appreciate how invaluable such a work is,

particularly when it has been extended to cover twelve

years to 1970. We had already been indebted to Professor

Ryan, of University College, Cork, for two most useful

summaries of Irish cases from 1949 to 1968. In view of

the knowledge of Irish cases which the learned author

already possessed, it was a happy choice that he should

edit this

Digest.

In accordance with tradition, the

Digest

first contains an Alphabetical Table of Cases with full

references, a list of cases followed overruled, a detailed

Table of Statutes with appropriate annotated sections,

first of the United Kingdom, then of Ireland since 1922,

then of Northern Ireland since 1921, which have been

judicially interpreted. Finally there is the usual Digest

of Cases in columns by alphabetical subject matter. It

need hardly be said that this volume is an

absolute must

for practitioners who wish to follow the trend of Irish

decisions. Unfortunately in order to defray the high cost

of printing, the Incorporated Council were compelled

to charge the sum of £12.50 for this volume.

Rideout (Roger)—The Practice and Procedure of the

National Industrial Relations Court.

8vo; pp. xvi plus

94; London, Sweet & Maxwell, 1973; £1.75 paper-back.

We are already indebted to Dr. Rideout for a valuable

volume on

Trade Union

Law. Inasmuch as the proce-

dure of the Industrial Relations Court is only being

gradually formulated, the learned author has performed

a most useful task. Unfortunately there is little hope

that a similar Court may ever be established in Ireland

owing to trade union insistence on out of date collective

bargaining procedures. The most valuable sanction of

this Court is the fact that the fines imposed on unions

for breaches of the Act may be executed by means of

sequestration of property. This would be most valuable

if an Industrial Court was ever established.

Copinger (C.W.A.) and Skone (E.P.)—James: The Law

of Copyright and of International Copyright.

11 th edi-

tion; 8vo; pp. xlviii plus 920; London, Sweet & Max-

well, 1971; £13.

The editors of this centenary edition of this learned

work, which first appeared in 1870, had already ex-

panded the ninth edition (1958) to 917 pages, and it

is remarkable that, despite the signing of the Stockholm

English case law, on the subject, they have been able to

confine themselves within this space. The excellence of

this work is well known to practitioners who have prob-

lems in connection with copyright and has been well

maintained, and there are relatively few Irish decisions

on this subject. As the English Act of 1956 and the Irish

Act of 1963 are somewhat similar, the Irish practitioner

will have much to gain from a study of this learned

work particularly in relation to such matters as original

work, assignment and infringement. The author has

divided the work into numbered paragraphs which

facilitate reading. The Common Market regulations

may introduce changes, but these will doubtless not be

implemented for some time. Copyright is a fascinating

study for those who have time to specialise in it.

E. R. Hardy Ivamy (ed.)—Paynes: Carriage of Goods

by Sea.

9th edition; 8vo; pp. xlviii plus 780; London,

Butterworth, 1972; £2.80 paperback.

The first edition of this work was published as long ago

as 1914. The fifth edition, published in 1949 contained

184 pages, and the first edition edited by Professor

Ivamy, the seventh, contained 214 pages. It has thus

been necessary to extend this edition by more than 64

pages to contain the up-to-date material. The English

Carriage of Goods by Sea Act, 1971, has now replaced

the Act of 1924, and contains new limitations propo-