The Gazette 1994

GAZETTE

B O O K

R E V I E W S

JULY 1994

Current Legal Problems 1994

Vol. 47, Part 1, Annual Review,

Edited by Ben Pettet, Oxford

University Press, 1994, xxv + 222pp,

paperback £17.95 stg.

"Mr. Elphinston

talked of a new

book that was much admired, and

asked

Doctor Johnson

if he had

read it through.

Johnson: 'I have looked into it.'

'What! (said Elphinston) Have you

not read it through?'

Johnson offended at being thus

pressed and so obliged to own his

cursory mode of reading, answered

tartly, 'No, Sir; do you read books

through!'"

Doctor Samuel Johnson, Volume

1, Boswell's

Life of Johnson.

Few lawyers read books "through".

After all, who reads the newspapers

"through"? Who reads the

Gazette

"through"? The conveyancer is

interested in conveyancing matters; the

company lawyer is interested in

matters pertaining to company law; the

book reviews, of course, should be

skimmed by all - but the writer of this

note must confess a bias in that regard!

Current Legal Problems

is a book that

will not be read "through" by many

lawyers. Why? Principally because it

deals with an analysis of fundamental

legal developments in six core areas

of the law and many lawyers will

simply pick and choose sections that

interest them most; this is

understandable. However, that is not

to state that the book is unworthy of

being read "through".

This is the third

Annual Review

produced by the Faculty of Laws,

University College London and it

endeavours to provide an analysis of

fundamental legal developments in each

of the six core areas, contract, criminal

law, European Union law, property law,

public law and tort.

In the contract section, the EC

Directive on Unfair Contract Terms,

Directive 93/13 EEC (OJ 1993

L95/29) is considered as a most

significant development in the year

under review, particularly since the

majority of consumer contracts will

fall with its ambit. The cases of

Surrey County Council v Bredero

Homes Ltd.

[1993] 3 All ER 705

which has been in the Court of Appeal

and

Linden Gardens Ltd. v Lenesta

Sludge Disposals Ltd.

[1993] 3 All ER

417 which has been decided in the

House of Lords, raise fundamental

issues about the limits of the

compensation principle in contract

damages and are considered by the

author of the section.

The author of the European Union law

section considers the

Sutherland

Report

and examines some case law of

the European Court of Justice

focussing on

Telemarsicabruzzo

(Joined Cases C3290 - 290 (1993))

and

Marshall No. 2

Case C-271/91.

In the public law section, recent

examples of judicial review of

ministerial discretion and judicial

findings of contempt against a

Minister provide a theme in the early

part of the section. There is also an

analysis of the implications raised by

Pepper v Hart

[1993] 3 WLR 1032

concerning the judicial use of

Hansard which is of interest in this

jurisdiction.

Current Legal Problems 1994

provides a high quality analysis of

fundamental legal developments in

each of the six core areas. We have so

much in common with our

neighbouring island that those readers

of the

Gazette

who have the time and

intellectual interest to read the book

through should feel both enlightened

and stimulated on the completion of

the intellectual endeavour.

Dr. Eamonn G. Hall

•

Doyle Court Repor ters

Principal:

Á i ne O' Far re ll

Court and Con f e r ence Verbatim Reporting - Specialists in Overnight Transcription

Personal Injury Judgemen ts - Mi chae lmas and Trinity Te rms 1 9 93 - Now Re ady

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