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GAZETTE
MIWH
NOVEMBER1993
Di c t i ona ry of Law
Fourth Edition by L. B. Curzon,
Pitman Publishing, 1993, xiii + 417pp,
IR£13.99, paperback.
Judge Learned Hand, (1872-1961)
earned acclaim as one of the giants of
the American judiciary. During his more
than half a century on the bench, he
wrote more than than three thousand
judgments: these judgments contained
careful reasoning and were marked by
beautiful prose. Perplexed as we
occasionally all are by words, he wrote
in "Thou Shalt Not Ration Justice",
Brief Case,
(November 4, 1951) words
that perplex the writer of this short
notice:
"Law has always been unintelligible,
and I might say that perhaps it ought to
be ... It ought to be unintelligible
because it ought to be in words - and
words are utterly inadequate to deal with
the fantastically multi-form occasions
which come up in human life ..."
j
We all agree with the judge that words
|
are often inadequate to express many
conditions. But law ought to be as
intelligible as possible and here is where
a dictionary of law helps.
First of all, Curzon's
Dictionary of Law
is presented as a guide to the specialised
vocabulary of English law. The words,
the subject of the dictionary, are taken
from the word stock of the core legal
subjects, contract, torts, criminal law,
constitutional law, land law, trusts and
equity. Other areas are covered such as
statutory definitions, judicial exegesis
and the occasional apophthegm.
In Ireland, the first point-of-reference for
many interested in the definition of a
word will be Henry Murdoch's A
Dictionary of Irish Law
(Dublin, 1988).
However, Curzon's earlier editions will
be found in many offices. Lawyers who
boast of a decent legal library might also
possess Mozley and Whitely,
Law
Dictionary
, 11th edition, (Butterworths,
1993), and indeed
Stroud's Judicial
Dictionary
, fifth edition, five volumes,
(Sweet and Maxwell). Curzon's
Dictionary of Law
can be recommended,
subject to the usual caveat that readers
should be conscious of the differences
between Irish and English law.
EGH
Bl acks t one 's S t a t u t es on
Ev i dence
Second Edition, Edited by Phil
Huxley and Michael O'Connell,
Blackstone Press, 1993, vi + 260pp
£8.95 sterling, paperback.
The editors in their preface quote
Charles Dickens in Great Expectations,
Chapter XV:
"Take nothing on its looks: take
everything on evidence, There's no
better rule."
Virtually every lawyer depends on the
laws of evidence for his or her exist-
ence. In criminal law and civil litigation,
the use of the laws of evidence is
obvious to all. In conveyancing, the
deeds and declarations represent the
evidence of property transactions and
associated matters. In probate, the grant
of probate of letters of administration
are accepted as evidence of certain
"happenings": accordingly, lawyers do
not need to witness physically the exit
of persons from this world! In
commercial and advisory law, the laws
of evidence often play a prominent role.
Blackstone's Statutes on Evidence have
been designed specifically to provide
United Kingdom students with a
collection of UK statutes for use
throughout their courses; they are not
annotated. Prominence has been given
to statutes on criminal evidence. This
book will be of relevance in Ireland only
to those who are interested in
comparative law.
EGH
•
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