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The law of succession cuts across traditional
boundaries and
to date, with few exceptions,
the
existing books
in
this
field
cover only
individual aspects of this topic. For example, the
law of Probate has usually been regarded as an
independent topic of little academic importance
and administration of estates (assets) is frequent
ly presented as part of Equity. Dr. Mellows has
adopted a midway course dealing with 'the whole
field in a length which admits of discussion with
out being too bulky.
The text is divided into four parts as follows:
(1) the law of wills, (2) intestacy, (3) probate and
(4) administration of estates. Dr. Mellows is alive
to the role the law of succession plays in modern
society. The opening chapter dealing with
the
law of wills is entitled "The will as an instrument
of wealth planning." His treatment of the law
of succession is consistent throughout. That he
treats his subject thoroughly is amply evidenced
by the thirty chapters this book contains.
The law of succession as present administered
in Ireland is largely contained in the Succession
Act 1965. This must be borne in mind by the Irish
reader when going through the text. However,
many principles of the law of succession still re
main the same both in Ireland and England and
even where the laws depart, this is still of value
from a comparative aspect. It is nice, too, to see
Irish cases cropping up in the text; O v. D. [1916]
I I.R.364 and Lord Donegal's case (1751) 2 Ves.
Sen. 408 provide examples of this.
The book is well written throughout and the
author is to be congratulated on achieving his
aim of making the law of succession "alive and
readable."
James O'Reilly
Administrative Law.
Garner
(J. F.)
Third
edition;
8vo;
pp.
xliv,
473.
(London,
Butterworths, 1970. £3-5-0)
Dr. Garner, who is now Professor of Public
Law in Nottingham, has established himself as
a well-known author in administrative and local
government
law. The first edition of this learned
work, published in 1963, contained 408 pages, the
second edition (1967) 435 pages, while the present
edition extends to 472 pages. Dr. Garner had
originally pointed out that there is no clear dis
tinction
in English
(or
Irish)
law
between
administrative law and private or civil law. While
other works have concentrated on pure
administrative law, the learned author considers
that local government law is so closely woven
with it that he has devoted no less than 6 out
of 16 chapters to it; Irish practitioners would
require to revise these chapters
in accordance
with
the
Irish County Management
system.
Despite talk of it for the last 20 years, as yet
no State Proceedings Act has been passed
in
Ireland; this factor has to be considered in seek
ing redress against the State. Furthermore the
top Irish civil servants will continue to resist
strenuously the establishment of a Council of
Tribunals and of .an Ombudsman on the illusory
pretext that any deputy can easily get in touch
with his constituents. All these matters will have
to be considered by Irish practitioners in reading
Dr. Garner's absorbing and carefully annotated
work. Highly recommended.
C.G.D.
A Casebook on Company Law.
H.
R. Hahlo.
8vo; London, Sweet and Maxwell (paper
back); £3-10-0.
This is an excellent book. While differing sub
stantially in arrangement and content it is mod
elled on Professor Hahlo's earlier work
Company
Law Through Cases
which dealt with South
African law. It will be widely used by those
lecturing by the case-book method and represents
a very considerable advance on the collections of
potted cases published to date.
The cases are divided in accordance with sub
ject matter. In this respect the classical divisions
adopted in most text books are followed. Each
series of cases is prefaced by a text which gives a
clear and accurate summary of the legal prin
ciples involved and is followed by detailed notes
in which the author elaborates and comments on
the issues involved.
Naturally the extracts are mainly from English
cases but the author, an acknowledged expert in
comparative
law,
includes Australian, New
Zealand, Canadian, South African and American
cases where they cast light on points not yet
judicially considered in the United Kingdom or
because
they suggest different approaches and
solutions. A feature of the work is the inclusion
of comparative references to legislation in Com
monwealth countries and quotations from
the
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