The Gazette 1995

GAZETTE

B O O K

R E V I E W S

EDIWH

ARCH1995

Law Reform Commission,

Fifteenth Annual Report (1993)

1994, Dublin v +18pp, softback, £2

The law is, in general, behind the

times. This, of necessity, is probably

the way it ought to be. But there is a

limit to this principle. Aeschylus in

Seven Against Thebes

467 BC in words

that have gained common coinage

noted: "The laws of a state change with

the changing times." In Ireland, the law

has not changed sufficiently in accord

with the changing times.

The Law Reform Commission has

achieved much since its first programme

published in December 1976. For the

record, the Commissions in office in

1993 were Mr

Justice Anthony J

Hederman,

President, Mr

John Buckley,

Solicitor, Professor

William Duncan

and

Simon O'Leary

BL. Dr

Alpha

Connelly

is Research Counsellor to the

Commission.

In the year under review, the

Commission published Consultation

Papers on sentencing and occupiers'

liability. Meetings with judges of the

Circuit and District Courts were held

with the Commission in relation to the

issue of sentencing. At the time of

writing, the

Occupiers' Liability Bill,

1994 based, to a considerable degree,

on the recommendations of a majority

of the Commission, was being

considered by the Oireachtas.

Work continued during the year of

review on non-fatal offences against

the person, intoxication, private

international law, land law and

conveyancing, family law, contempt of

court, structured settlements, plain

language and the concept of licensing.

The inscription carved over the entrance

to the Yale Law School: "The law is a

living growth, not a changeless code",

should remind us that the Law Reform

Commission will never become re-

dundant. We may not see the end of the

road, but we must set out on the journey

and make the necessary preparations

Dr Eamonn G Hall

European Community Law: A

Practitioner's Guide, Second

Edition

By William Rawlinson and Malachy

Cornwell-Kelly, London, Sweet and

Maxwell, 1994, hardback, lxxii

+310pp, £49.00.

A few years ago, a learned Senior

Counsel (and he was a learned man),

involved in "constitutional" litigation

confessed to his instructing solicitor he

knew nothing whatsoever about

European Community Law. I am

unsure whether the confession

amounted almost to a boast. Senior

Counsel said that at his age he was not

about to embark on a study of European

law. He has since passed away to a

Better Place where knowledge of

European Union law is not required.

It would be unwise of a lawyer to boast

today that he or she knows nothing

about European Law. It is now 21

years since the case of

Bulmer Ltd v

Bollinger SA

[ 1974] 4 Ch 401 at 411,

when Lord Denning wrote in that case

of European Community law as

"like an incoming tide, it flows into

the estuaries and up the rivers. It

cannot be held back".

The authors of this book in their first

edition in 1990 noted that Community

law pervaded and overlapped the

domestic law of the states to the point

at which no lawyer can be said to have

an adequate view of any legal topic

without a knowledge of Community

law relevant to the sector in question.

The authors provide in a concise and

accessible manner a practical step-by-

step approach to European Community

Law. The institutional and

constitutional principles of EC law are

outlined followed by an analysis of EC

legislation in the light of relevant cases.

The text of the second edition takes

into consideration important

developments including the impact of

the new Europe after the European

Union Treaty, the birth of the European

Economic Area and enlargement, and

new cases such as

Francovich and

Bonifaci v Italy

[1991] 1 ECR 5337 on

remedies for failure to implement a

Directive, and

Enderby

Frenchay

Health Authority,

[1994] 1 CMLR 8 on

sex discrimination.

Dr Eamonn G Hall

VAT on Property

By Fergus Gannon; Publisher:

Institute of Taxation, 1994, Second

Edition, 252pp, softback, £12 -

members - £14 - non-members.

VAT on property is a most complex

subject, bedevilled by distinctions

between three categories of lengths of

lease, persons or institutions not

registered or registerable for VAT and

persons registering on a one-off basis.

In addition there is a need to keep track

of what VAT has been reclaimed

originally where there are a series of

exempt transfers on sales of businesses

as a going concern.

Fergus Gannon's book is extremely

helpful in dealing with these and

various other aspects of VAT on

property. Its approach is an extremely

practical one. The second edition will

be of much assistance to those of us

who have been struggling with the

subject for a number of years. Its

approach and layout are extremely user

friendly and the examples given are not

only wide ranging but are also typical

of the factual situations that tend to

arise. This second edition is even more

welcome than the first edition.

The book is one of the series of

handbooks on tax published by the

Institute of Taxation and more than

meets the high standards of that series.

John Buckley