The Gazette 1983

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GAZETTE N O V E M B E R 1983
BOOK REVIEW
Osborn's Concise Law Dictionary, 7th edition, by Roger
Bird, Sweet and Maxwell. 389 pages. £4.50 (Stg.)
When I was first asked to review a dictionary I felt that
it would be as useful an exercise as writing an index for
one. Thankfully this book is a lot more than a dictionary.
It is a mini-encyclopaedia of legal words and phrases. The
major portion of the bo ok is taken up with an A-Z of legal
words and phrases which are not merely defined, but
explained in a very concise and comprehensive fashion.
Where appropriate, case references and statutory
references are given. While these references are to the
relevant British Law, they are, nonetheless an excellent
source for Irish practitioners.
With our system o f legal education geared towards the
examination system, the study of law does not always
allow the luxury of a wider study of legal terminology and
maxima. This book contains a great number of Latin
phrases and for those wishing to impress their colleagues
or friends this book is a must. For the practitioner the
book is a very useful reference work and for the student of
law an excellent source of concise and simple definitions.
For the practitioner who is consulted for the first time in a
dispute over foldage, a quick search in Osborn will reveal
that foldage is the right of the Lord of the Manor of
having his tenants' sheep to feed on his fields so as to
manure the land in return for which the Lord provides a
fold for the sheep. The law has changed considerably
since Percy George Osborn brought out the first edition
of this bo ok in 1927 and Mr. Bird has made an excellent
j ob of up-dating the definitions. The definition of
injunction contains a reference to a Mareva injunction.
The An t on Piller Order is also defined although curiously
classified under Piller Anton. The An t on Piller Order is
also cross-referenced in the definition of discovery of
documents.
I was somewhat disappointed in the definition of Eire
which states "Southern Ireland". The definition goes on
to state that the Ireland Act, 1949, recognised and
declared the independence of the Republic of Ireland and
that Eire ceased to be part of H.M. dominions "but it is
not a foreign country". I tried to follow up the benefits or
drawbacks o f not being a foreign country, but I am afraid
the definition of foreign merely says "outside the
jurisdiction".
The book finishes with a detailed list of Law Reports
and their abbreviations and a list of English Sovereigns
and their Regnal years. The list of Reports is certainly
very useful. The list contains the abbreviations of most
Irish Law Reports, but omits the Irish Law Reports
Monthly. This list is comprehensive enough to contain
Watermeyers Supreme Court Reports Cape of G o od
Ho p e, but unfortunately does not contain any references
to American Law Reports, which 1 feel is a surprising
omission due to the increase in recent times of the use of
American Case law, particularly in the U.K. I would
strongly r e c ommend this bo ok, either as a source of
information or as a source of g o od spelling and at £4.50
Stg. it is excellent value. •
Gary Byrne
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