The Gazette 1967/71

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 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 181 in English (or Irish) law