The Gazette 1985

BOOK REVIEW

The definition of Protector of the settlement in said Section 11 as "the person (if any) in possession under a prior freehold estate" is incomplete without the proviso that such freehold estate be created by the same settlement as the fee tail. This proviso would logically provoke the question "what if the prior estate were not so created?", which in turn must elicit the answer that the tenant in tail though not in possession can bar the entail without anyone's consent (provided of course there is no special protector). The net result of this socratic exercise must then lead to a qualification of the statement in Section 11 that "if the tenant in tail is not in possession the consent of the protector of the settlement must be obtained". Section 11 should be expanded to take account of these addenda. The treatment of Future Interests in Chapter 8 should help towards an understanding of the underlying concepts which are sometimes difficult not only to detect but also to apply in specific limitations. Despite the merits of Chapter 8 the validity of the second sentence in Section 2 must be queried. It purports to attribute to the generic term "vested interest" requisites which are those of the particular type of vested interest — interest vested in interest. These requisites are reproduced later in the Section and quite rightly so in defining interest vested in interest in contradistinction to interest vested in possession which is also defined. The aforesaid first sentence is inaccurate and could puzzle novice readers. It should therefore be deleted. The conveyancing content in Chapters 10 and 11 in a short book on Land Law should be a pleasant surprise. The specimen Conveyance, Lease and Transfers and the procedure for a sale from Contract to closing stages cannot but prove both enlivening and enlightening.

Land Law by Robert A. Pearce. Sweet and Maxwell. 245pp.; 1985. £15.75 Sterling. Until the publication of "Land Law" the only comprehensive book on the subject was "Irish Land Law" by J.C.W. Wylie, published in 1975. However, the very sight of such a voluminous tome with its mass of detail and array of case references presents a daunting picture even for the most zealous student. "Land Law" will therefore be hailed as filling the gap between the student and Wylie! In 237 pages it purports to abstract and deal with the basic concepts to the intent that once these have been mastered a more confident progression to Irish Land Law is assured. Part I comprising three short chapters covers clearly and simply the term "property" and its classifications, interests in land and their categories, the development of equity and the doctrine of notice. Under the heading Doctrine of Notice in Chapter 3, pursuant to the author's avowed intention of "relating theory to practice", it would not be out of place to mention appropriate searches as one type of enquiry a Purchaser should make, and the fact that he would be fixed with notice of any adverse act which might appear whether or not he or his Solicitor made such searches. The Statute of Uses, which is fundamental to so many areas of Land Law and to most title deeds, needs a closer analysis than that accorded to it in Chapter 3 to make its effects comprehensible. In particular, diagrams (which the author uses so aptly) would be most effective to illustrate the interests created by different limitations, e.g., where the feoffe to uses is a freeholder and the cestui que use a leaseholder, where the feoffee to uses is a leaseholder and the cestui que use a freeholder, where the feoffee to uses is a corporation and cestui que use a natural person and vice versa and where the feoffee to uses holds a greater or lesser freehold interest than the cestui que use. Perhaps this elaboration might be incorporated into the 2nd edition of this book. Part 2 under the heading "Ownership and its Limits" comprises 6 chapters with such interesting titles as "Fragmentation of Ownership through tenure" and "the Division of Ownership over time". The chapters on Ownership, Limits to Ownership and the brief history of the feudal system make interesting reading even for a non- legal aspirant. I query the necessity (in a short book) of devoting two separate sections — one in Chapter 7 and one in Chapter 8 — to expounding the terms "reversion" and "remainder" which are two relatively simple concepts. It would, however, be more precise to state (1) in Section 6 Chapter 7 that the fee simple is a remainder if disposed of "by the same instrument" rather than "at the same time" as the limited interest and (2) in Section 5 Chapter 8 that a reversion is what is left over of a larger estate "until" or "pending" the expiry of the lesser estate rather than "after" the expiry of the lesser estate. In Section 11 on Page 47 it is pointed out that two conditions must be satisfied to bar the entail. The first condition — the consent of the Protector is given, but the second — enrolment of the deed is not. This omission should be rectified.

INCORPORATED LAW SOCIETY OF IRELAND

Solicitors^ Technology Exhibition

4-5 OCTOBER, 1985

Blackhall Place, Dublin 7

237