The Gazette 1991

g a z e t t e

april

1991

ranging from lost property in street serviced vehicles to tachographs, has been omitted. The chapter topics are as logically ordered as t hey are comp r ehens i ve and Mr. Pierse has limited himself strictly to road traffic law and has not been tempted to meander into the wider issues, such as those relating to the initiation of proceedings and the validity of summonses or charge sheets. The c ommen t a ry is largely factual rather than discursive and the author seldom attempts to distinguish court decisions in any great detail. It is clear that both Mr. Pierse and the publishers see the book as primarily a reference work. Indeed the author declares " I t is hoped that the busy lawyer, administrator or Garda searching for a reference may be helped by this one". It is unfortunate then that in this area the undoubted hard work of the author is let down by the quality of the referencing. It is perhaps not surprising in an extensive work that mi s t akes shou ld arise. It is nevertheless frustrating for the busy practitioner to discover that references are not dependable. Several mistakes were found by this reviewer within the index. Discussion w i th colleagues has revealed that some of the case r e f e r ences have also been incorrect. No doubt a second edition will allow the author and publishers the time necessary to check and eliminate these errors. In keeping w i th the author's object to produce a practical and consolidated guide, a most useful 20 page g l ossa ry of wo r ds and phrases, which have been defined either legislatively or judicially, is provided at the end of the text. There is no doubt t hat a practitioner will find in this book a most useful digest of source material even while we await a more thoroughly proofed second edition. DAIRE MURPHY

The author states in his preface that he seeks to increase our delight in words, especially those in dis- cussing public affairs. Wore/gloss (a dictionary of words concepts and ideas) consists of words drawn from a number of sub-sets. One such sub-set is of key political concepts such as democracy. Another consists of key insti- tutions, such as the Constitution, the President, the Taoiseach, the Cabinet, the Dáil and the Seanad. Another consists of legal terms such as law, Act, crime, injunction, jury, and statute. There are also sub - se ts of ph i l osoph i ca l, economic, social and historical terms. A sub-set of Latin ex- pressions such as in camera, de facto, and ultra vires, are also explained. Jonathan Sw i ft (1667-1745) wrote that lawyers were "a society of men bred from their youth in the art of proving by words multiplied for the purpose that white is black and black is white according as they are paid". The reader should comfort himself or herself with the knowledge that lawyers are more honest today in their use of language. Jim O'Donnell has given us a rich treasury. Wordgloss contains a treasure house of words arranged according to ideas and meaning. Wordgloss cannot fail to improve our knowledge of English. Eamonn G. Hall ROAD TRAFFIC LAW IN THE REPUBLIC OF IRELAND By Robert R. Pierse. [Butterworth (Ireland) Ltd, 1989 Ivl + 403 pp £29.50, hardback.] In the words of the author " t h is book a t t emp ts w i t h in narrow confines to state and outline the present law on Road Traffic in the Republic of Ireland." As Mr. Justice Johnson says in his Foreward " a great deal of well ordered industry has gone into the production of this book". There are 387 pages of text dealing methodically w i th the myriad of legislation, including statutory instruments and bye laws, governing this topic. It must be said that so far as this reviewer could establish no topic,

Legal

H i s t o ry

Soc i e t y / I r i sh

Academic Press 1990. This first major publication of the Irish Legal History Society is a fascinating compendium of articles on a wide range of topics ranging from "Lawyers in Early Ireland" through "Conversions among the Legal Profession in Ireland in the 18th Century" and "Vacancies for their Friends Judicial Appointments in Ireland 1866/1867" to " The Lawyers of the Irish Novels of Anthony Trollope". Truly there is something in this book for every- one. It is eminently suited to "dipping in". Even though the level of all of the articles is of high academic standing fortunately this does not mean that they are unreadable. The Irish Legal History Society is to be commended on publishing this work. Membership of the Society is available at subscription rates of £30 for individual members and £15 for student members. Mem- bers are entitled to copies of each of the Society's publications as part of t he ir subs c r i p t i on. Subscriptions may be made to the Secretary of the Irish Legal History Society, School of Law, Trinity College, Dublin 2. • JOHN BUCKLEY

THE INCORPORATED LAW SOCIETY OF IRELAND

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