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GAZETTE
A
PRIL
1990
A Casebook on Irish Business
Law
by Brian Doolan B.L. Published
by Gill and Macmillan.
Paperback, £19.99
Although a number of books have
been written about "Irish Business
Law", it is not clear exactly what
constitutes Irish Business Law.
Some topics occur in all publica-
tions, but equally other topics are
covered only in some.
Mr. Doolan in his Casebook has
confined his 90 cases to four topics
and in doing so has avoided falling
into the trap of trying to cover too
much at too superficial a level. The
topics covered are Agency, Sale of
Goods, Hire Purchase and In-
surance. As such the publication
might have been more appropriate-
ly entitled a Casebook on Irish
Mercantile Law. Presumably the
term "Business" is more attractive
than "Mercantile".
As with his casebook on Irish
Contract Law, Mr. Doolan has un-
covered a number of unreported
judgments as well as reported ones
and set them out in an easily
readable and helpful manner.
Twenty cases are devoted to the
topic of Agency and this is most
welcome as there is a paucity of
published material on this often
ignored but highly important
subject. The question of ostensible
authority might however have been
more adequately dealt with by in-
cluding
Kett -v- Shannon & English
(1987) and
Thomas
Williamson
Limited -v- Bailieborough
Co-
operative Agricultural
Society
Limited
(1986).
Mr. Doolan discusses over 40
cases under the Sale of Goods
heading. The most important of
these are those relating to re-
servation of title. Although the
significant reservation of title
decisions are set out, the
opportunity was missed to put the
decisions into the context where
the reader could understand as to
how a reservation of title clause
could be ineffective for failure to
register
particulars
in the
Companies Registration Office. In
this context it would have been
useful, to have had a note on the
distinction between
Kruppstahi AG
-v- Quitmann Products Ltd.
(1982)
and
Uniacke -v- Cassidy Electrical
Supply Co. Ltd
(1987). The Case-
book discusses the former but not
the latter. Since publication of the
Casebook we now have the benefit
of Mr. Justice Murphy's decision in
Carroll Group Distributors Ltd. -v-
G. and J.F. Bourke Ltd and Bourke
Sales Ltd
(1989).
Mr. Doolan states correctly that
the first requirement for an effect-
ive reservation of title clause is that
the clause must have been incor-
porated into the contract - he
distinguishes
Sugar Distributors Ltd
-v- Monaghan Cash & Carry Ltd
(1982) and
Frigoscandia
(Contract-
ing) Ltd -v- Continental Irish Meat
Ltd
(1982).
Although pointing out, with
supporting cases, that a simple re-
servation of title clause is effective,
the author might have highlighted
the importance of the intention of
the parties, as illustrated by Mr.
Justice Barron in
Uniacke
-v-
Cassidy Electrical Supply Co. Ltd
(1987).
The diminishing importance of
Hire Purchase is reflected in the
fact that of the ten cases discussed
the most recent is the 1980
unreported decision in the case of
Murphy -v- Industrial Credit Co. Ltd.
Nearly 20 Insurance cases are
included, particular attention being
given to the duty of disclosure. In
his introduction on the duty of
disclosure the author points out
that "what is material in each case
is not a matter for the insurer or an
expert but for the courts". This is
fine so far as it goes and has
presumably been taken from Mr.
Justice Kenny's judgment in
Chariot Inns Ltd -v- Assicurazioni
Generali SPA
(1981). But to give a
clearer picture it might have been
worth mentioning from Mr. Justice
Kenny's judgment that what is to
be regarded as material, "is a
matter or circumstance which
would reasonably influence the
judgment of a prudent insurer in
deciding whether he would take
the risk and, if so, in determining
the premium he would demand".
Any person studying the topics
covered by this publication
(Agency, Sale of Goods, Hire
Purchase and Insurance) will find
his or her task much easier by
purchasing a copy of this Case-
book. It will save the reader many
hours in tracking down judgments,
both unreported and reported, and
having to extract the relevant parts
from the judgments. The publica-
tion should prove also to be a useful
addition to a practitioner's library.
WI LL I AM J O H N S T ON
A Casebook on Irish Contract
Law
by Brian Doolan B.L. Published
by Gill and Macmillan.
Paperback, £24.99.
The backcover of this Casebook
states that it is a "comprehensive
Irish contract law casebook . . .
designed for students and practi-
tioners of law . . . the natural com-
panion to the contract textbook".
This work contains summaries of
and extracts from 160 decisions of
the Irish courts involving contract
law. Many of the judgments are
otherwise unreported.
Any person studying Irish con-
tract law, particularly for an ex-
amination, would be well advised
to purchase this very useful
casebook, which sets our not only
the relevant decisions, but also
summarises in a very clear and
simple manner the decisions on
each subject within the law of
contract. This enables the reader to
distinguish without difficulty
between a number of cases dealing
with the same subject matter.
This casebook is ideally suited to
be read in conjunction with Robert
Clark's Contract which gives a
comprehensive outline of the prin-
ciples of the Irish law of contract
without elucidating on case law. As
Clark's Contract is tightly written
(due no doubt to his desire to pack
as much information as possible
into the available space), a student
may obtain a clearer understanding
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