The Gazette 1981

SEPTEMBER 1981

GAZETTE

BOOK REVIEWS

relation to overseas sales, in particular, the editor refers to over a hundred cases, which have necessitated many changes since the previous edition). Much of the volume relates primarily to commercial transactions (as does much of the case law on the sale of goods) but a chapter on Consumer Protection has been extensively re-written although the authors do not claim to provide anything more than an introduction to this particular area. As might be expected from a volume in the Common Law Library series, the text, layout and annotations of the present edition are excellent. With over 1,500 pages, including index and table of cases, Benjamin's Sale of Goods is not something to be purchased on impulse but for the practitioner in this area of law, it would seem to be indispensible. James M. Murray Principles of Irish Law, Brian Doolan, (Gill & Macmillan), 300 pp, 1981. Price: £7.24 (inc. VAT). The publishers of this book make a number of claims which caused this reviewer to approach his task with some misgivings. It did not seem possible to produce a small book of less than 300 pages of text which would fill the perceived need for "a comprehensive statement of Irish legal principles in clear and positive language". It is true that the work is also described as an introduction to the most important areas of Irish Law, so that the intending reader is put on notice that it is merely an introduction and that it does not purport to cover all areas, even in an introductory fashion. The areas selected are the Irish Legal System (in which the author deals with the history of Irish Law and the constitutional and legislative framework of the legal system) and in the eight parts following, the major areas of substantive law (Contract, Criminal Law, Torts, Equity and Trusts, Land Law, Family Law arid Succession, Commercial Law and Employment Law). Few would dispute that these are the most important areas, or, indeed, that they encompass practically the whole of Irish Law. An attempt to give a comprehensive statement of the legal principles of all of these branches of Irish Law in less than 300 pages would appear to be faredoomed to failure, and this book indeed fails in this respect. Mr. Doolan has not failed to achieve what one assumes was his real objective. This book is a statement, in clear and positive language, of many of the substantive rules of Irish Law in various areas. It presents a simple and useful account of the machinery of the legal system and the major divisions of the substantive law. It is a model of clarity — both language and organisation. The publishers are also to be congratulated on the attractive lay-out and general quality of the work. It is, for example, rare nowadays to find any published work, which is as relatively free of misprints as this is and, in one of the few lapses, (O'Laigheis, p. 27), the error is at least consistently maintained both in the text and in the Table of Cases. The authorities cited throughout are not supported by footnotes, but full citations are given in the Tables of Cases and Statutes. As the book is not intended for practitioners or more advanced scholars, its lack of comprehensiveness and discussion of controversial issues is understandable. It is

Benjamin's Sale of Goods, 2nd Edition. General Editor, A. C. Guest. Published by Sweet and Maxwell 1981, cxl, 1401pp. £65.00 (sterling). In a previous issue of the Gazette a short book on the Sale of Goods was recommended for the "busy practitioner who wants to keep up with developments in this area of the law and who does not have a new Benjamin at his elbow." In that extract, the reviewer rightly paid tribute to the usefulness and authority of Benjamin's Sale of Goods, the second edition of which has just been published. The second edition, like the first, is the successor in title, so to speak, to a volume first published in 1868 and then entitled "Benjamin's Treatise on the Law of Sale of Personal Property with References to the French Code and Civil Law." The new edition of course relates to U.K. Law (as at 1st June, 1980) but, for the Irish practitioner, its publication is timely because of the enactment of the Sale of Goods and Supply of Services Act, 1980. The present edition therefore should be particularly useful in considering the implications of the 1980 Act although, at the risk of stating the obvious, it must always be remembered that the Irish Act does not necessarily follow its U.K. counterparts in every detail and, furthermore, that an English authority can at best be persuasive rather than binding in Irish courts. That said, the volume under review contains much useful material for considering the concept of "dealing as consumer", the test of what is "fair and reasonable" in relation to certain contractual terms, misrepresentation, and the general terms implied by the 1980 Act in contracts for the sale of goods. The volume is less useful in considering the provisions of the 1980 Act in relation to services (and perhaps hire-purchase), partly because the Irish provisions on these subjects tend to differ from their English counterparts. The commercial lawyer will derive considerable enlightenment, but perhaps little certainty, from the extended treatment of retention of title clauses. The full implications of such clauses will only become clearer over time. The same may be said of such a familiar concept as "merchantable quality". It is no criticism of the learned authors to say that their treatment of the subject reflects the general uncertainty as to the precise meaning of the concept, even following its definition by Statute. The Irish Act of 1980 follows the English definition, but with the important addition of the concept of durability. I believe the Irish addition is useful, particularly for the consumer, but it carries with it the difficulty that any breach of the "condition" as to durability is something that, of its nature, may often be discovered only after a considerable period has elapsed following purchase. The previous edition of Benjamin was published in 1974 and the editor sets out in the Preface an account of the more significant developments since then which have led to the new edition. These include the Sale of Goods Act, 1979, the Consumer Credit Act, 1974, and the Unfair Contract Terms Act, 1977, (all of course U.K. Acts) as well as the relevant case law of recent years. (In

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