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BOOK REVIEWS
Williams and Mortimer on Executors, Administrators
and Probate
(being the fifteenth edition of Williams on
Executors and the third edition of Mortimer on Pro-
bate) by J. H. G. Sunnucks; special editor (Probate)
R. L. Bayne-Powell; (Property and Conveyancing Lib-
rary No. 10 (London, Stevens & Sons; clxxxviii, 1172
pp. (including index); cloth £18.50.
Irish practitioners must gaze with envy, at times, at the
way their English counterparts are served with modern
textbooks and sources of information, constantly revised
and kept up to date. In the field of administration of
estates, apart from Halsburys "Laws" and Halsburys
"Statutes", they can rely on standard works of such
high reputation as Jarman on Wills and Theobald on
Wills.
Now, in addition, they are presented with this hand-
somely produced volume, No. 10, in this much esteemed
Property and Conveyancing Library. Following the ad-
vice of Megarry J. (as he now is) in an earlier review of
Williams on Executors, the editors have set themselves
the task that their work should be the leading practi-
tioner's book on executors and administrators "full,
accurate and within its proper sphere exhaustive" (78
L.Q.R. 114, 118). The authors are to be congratulated
on achieving this task.
One of the great merits of this work is the successful
incorporation by Mr. Registrar Bayne-Powell of Mor-
timer on Probate, the last edition of which was in 1929.
This resulted from the start of the work on the fifteenth
edition of Williams on Executors coinciding with a
reappraisal of the possibility of re-editng Mortimer on
Probate. It was wisely decided that a special editor
should be appointed to re-edit Mortimer in a form
which could be incorporated in Williams.
In Maine's opinion "few legal agencies are, in fact,
the fruit of more complex historical agencies than that
by which a man's written intentions control the posth-
umous dispositions of his goods" (
Ancient Law,
tenth
edition, p. 174). Maine's opinion is still relevant. Writing
a hundred years and more later, it takes the editors
over a 1,000 pages and ninety-seven chapters to put this
subject in its context. Such a treatment is admittedly
"full, accurate and . .. exhaustive", yet one is left with
the impression that the subject itself still remains far
too complex. Much remains to be done in simplyfying
the system whereby the law administers the deceased's
estate.
The text is divided into ten parts set approximately
in a logical time sequence. The first part of the bcx
deals with matters of definition and appointment, con
tinuing with probate jurisdiction (four parts), questions
of family provision and administration (three parts),
and concluding with distribution and liability (two
parts). There is also a helpful appendix containing the
most important statutory provisions together with a
table of distribution on intestacy.
Inevitably, there are portions of the text which do
not represent the present Irish law on executors and
administrators. This, however, does not detract from
the fact that this new edition is an invaluable addition
to the library of all those interested in this intricate
and important branch of the law.
J. O'Reilly
A Practical Guide to Appeals in Criminal Courts
by-
Peter Morrish and Ian McLean; 8vo; London, Sweet
and Maxwell, 1971; pp. 153; £2.25.
This is essentially a practitioner's book and, despite the
more progressive criminal legislation now in force in
England, it will be of considerable help to the Irish
lawyer. It covers the whole range of criminal appeals
from the magistrates' courts to the House of Lords,
including appeals from statutory tribunals and local
government bodies. There is a particularly clear chapter
on the prerogative orders of
habeas corpus, mandamus,
certiorari,
and prohibition with numerous footnotes on
recent cases.
References to legal aid and the juvenile courts sug-
gested to this reviewer two areas where the Irish criminal
system needs immediate improvement:
(1) Appeals from children's courts here should lie to
a special juvenile appeal court and not as at present to
the Circuit Court where, in criminal appeals, no dis-
tinction is made in the lists between adult and juvenile
cases.
(2) Despite the cost, legal aid should be extended to
all criminal cases where the defendant is of poor means
and such people should be informed of their rights to
legal aid.
GJS.
Tolstoy on Divorce and Matrimonial Causes including
Proceedings in the Magistrates Courts by
D. Tolstoy,
Q.C., and C. Kenworthy, a registrar of the Probate and
Divorce jurisdiction; London, Sweet and Maxwell, 1971 ;
pp. lxvii-f 627 (including index); £3.90.
In England and Wales, the law of divorce and family
law in general has changed radically in the course of
the last four years. This period of transformation has
yet to be completed as the law commissioners have yet
to finish their task in the field of family law. The most
important topic remaining is that of family property.
The last edition of "Tolstoy" was in 1967. The recent
changes above referred to, notably the Divorce Reform
Act, 1969, and the Matrimonial Proceedings and Prop-
erty Act, 1970, have necessitated a seventh edition.
While
Latey on Divorce
and
Rayden on Divorce
will
remain as the specialist practitioners' books of reference,
Tolstoy, since its first edition in 1946, has always re-
tained its own particular position. Written for the law
student preparing for his finals and "the practitioner
requiring concise information on matrimonial matters",
it states in a lucid and intelligent form the present law
J divorce and matrimonial causes as administered in
England and Wales. In this respect, Northern Ireland
and Scotland are not included as they are not within
the jurisdiction of the English Courts. The law of div-
orce and matrimonial causes as administered there is
considerably different from its English counterpart. The
importance family law has attained in England is evid-
enced by Section 1 of the Administration of Justice
Act, 1970, which will transfer jurisdiction in matri-
monial and related causes from the probate, divorce
and admiralty division to a new division of the high
court, the family division. This section will come into
effect on a day to be appointed.
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