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Tax Planning
by Phillip Lawton; fifth edition; London,
days in June and July 1952. Otherwise the present
Oyez Publications, 1971; 8vo; £ 1.75.
edition is well up to the standard of its predecessors.
This is the fifth edition of a work whose aim is to pro-
vide a short readable booklet on tax planning. This
work falls easily into the framework of the Oyez series
which is familiar to so many lawyers and students. In
141 pages the author travails the whole list of areas of
tax planning from catering for "film star companies"
(a chapter entitled "companies formed for special pur-
poses", which includes a review of the value of "service
companies" to large firms of solicitors), to catering for
"the family unit". The style of the writing is at once
engaging and adapted to the probable reader, namely,
the student and the accountant. On page 74 one finds
the process whereby an unlimited company switches to
limited liability sardonically compared to a change of
sex. On page 101 one finds a reference to a changeable
gain being "rolled over". The reference to decided cases
is kept to a bare minimum. Taken overall, this work
may be recommended as a comprehensive survey of a
complicated area of law. To a thorough treatment of
the revenue law is wedded a readable and practical
summary of the workings of the arrangements in the
many areas in which they are desirable.
B. P. Dempsey
The Law of Patents by Thomas Terrell; twelfth edition
by Douglas Falconer, William Aldous and David Young;
London, Sweet & Maxwell, 1971; 8vo; pp. xlviii plus
706; £12.00.
Terrell has been the leading textbook on the law of
patents since its first publication in 1884, and, in view
of the developments taking place, it is not surprising
that there have been no less than three editions in ten
years. The tenth edition containing 660 pages had
been published in 1961 by the late Mr. Shelley. He had
already emphasised the importance of extensive quota-
tions from older cases to endeavour to solve some of
the difficulties. The editors of the eleventh edition,
which contained 698 pages in 1965, rightly stressed
that the aim of this
magnum opus
has always been to
set out reliably and accurately what is the current
English law of patents. The present editors have admir-
ably succeeded in thss aim, and have wisely decided to
ignore the Banks Committee Report 1971 until legis-
lation ensues. In the modern edition, this book has
been divided into fifteen chapters, and each chapter
contains useful paragraph numbers with appropriate
title in respect of each new title; each paragraph is
duly listed in the Index for easy reference. It is a moot
point whether it is necessary to reprint in a new edition
in detail all the cases mentioned in a former edition.
It would seem that, unless the previous edition were
out of print, much material could have been saved by
bringing out a supplement containing the new matter
only at a reasonable cost. It seems amazing that no
consideration appears to have been given to Mr. Jus-
tice Budd's famous judgment in
Solon v Bord na Mona
about a patent relating to a device in a turf winning
machine, and fully reported in pages 5 to 40 of vol. 90
(1956) of the Irish Law Times Reports; it will be re-
called that this ca:e had been at hearing for eighteen
Employers' Liability at Common Law by John Munk-
man; seventh edition; London, Butterworth, 1971; 8vo;
pp. lxxi plus 636; £4.80.
This volume has undergone seven editions since its first
publication in 1949 which proves how useful it has been
to practitioners. Broadly speaking, if the present edi-
tion is compared to the second edition (1952), which
contained 478 pages, the chapter headings have not
changed vitally. There is first an account of the lia-
bility at common law, followed by a statement of the
employer's general duty to take care for the safety of
his servants in the course of their employment. The
intriguing question of breach of statutory duty together
with the possible defence of contributory negligence is
fully explored. The learned author points out that, as
things stand, the law of negligence controls most of the
field of activity for personal injury; and capricious and
vague though it is, we have to make the best of it. Its
recent prominence was essentially due to nineteenth
century ethical writers who supposed that the law of
tort was a code of conduct with damages as a sanction
for doing something blameworthy. In fact the law of
tort is about the duty to compensate. Blameworthy con-
duct consists in refusing to pay for damage sustained.
We agree with the author in considering some argu-
ments as to foreseeability as unrealistic, and in eschew-
ing to discuss purely political concepts like "social jus-
tice" or "social engineering". The author also rightly
emphasises how important it is not to use the law of
negligence to expand liability for indirect consequences
beyond all reason. In many American States, the rule
of strict liability applies to the manufacturer of a defec-
tive article. Mr. Munkman has considered all the impor-
tant English and Scottish case law upon various topics
—factory law, fencing, building contracts, etc. This
volume has well maintained the standard of previous
editions, and is essential for the practitioner who is
faced with a ny intricate problems of employe's
liability.
Manual of
the
Law of Evidence
by S. L. Phipson;
tenth edition by D. W. Elliott; London, Sweet & Max-
well, 1972; 8vo; pp. xxxvi plus 338; hardback £3.50,
paperback £2.75.
Professor Elliott succeeded the author and Sir Roland
Burrows as editor of this well-known manual since the
eighth edition (1959). Due to up to date case law and
the English Civil Evidence Act, 1968, the learned edi-
tor has unavoidably extended his text (less Index) from
260 pages in the eighth edition to 329 pages in the cur-
rent edition. The chapter on similar facts and character
now contains thirty pages (formerly seventeen); and
estoppel and burden of proof have been expanded.
There is a new chapter as to statement admissible
under the 1968 Act. Students who have used previous
editions are already aware of the clarity and precision
which mark this work, which is strongly recommended
to practitioners who wish to consult a preliminary point
on the law of evidence, and be led to Phipson's and
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