The Gazette 1985

SEPTEMBER 1985

GAZETTE

BOOK REVIEW

INTER COMPANY COMPARISONS

Law Reports of the Commonwealth — Constitutional & Administrative Law Reports 1985. Professional Books Ltd. 1985. 1154pp. Stg.£47.50. This initial volume of a new series of reports aims to provide a selection of cases f r om a wide range of jurisdic- tions within the British Commonwe a l t h. The editors cannot be faulted for narrowness in their choice of juris- disctions. Apart from the major countries there are cases from such small jurisdiction as the Cook Islands, Dominica and Nauru. In their Foreword the editors indicate that their aim is " t o provide a law reporting service to the Commonwe a l th legal service as a whole (and to those in " f r a t e r n a l" jurisdictions such as the United States, Ireland and Pakistan)". Is it to be presumed that South Africa is too unpopular with the majority of Commonwe a l th members to be even mentioned? — though its lawyers might, more than most, have the need to refer to decisions on the questions of individual rights, judicial review of executive action, detention and national security which are the subject of a substantial number of cases contained in the reports. The volume contains over 60 cases culled from jurisdictions many of whose reports would not be readily available for consultation by lawyers outside those jurisdictions. The range of cases included in the volume is wide indeed; the participation of the judiciary in the disciplinary procedures of the New South Wales Bar; Cr own and unity of a Ca n a d i an statutory corporation f r om anti-trust legislation; the constitutional validity of an executive decision of the Government of Papua New Guinea to offer military and police assistance to the newly independent state of Vanuatu; the validity of the disquali- fication of candidates for the Presidency of India are but a few examples. The volume is not merely a compendium of fascinating cases which encourages "dipping in" but a valuable source of case law much of which might be relevant to disputes in this jurisdiction. This reviewer would not agree with the editor's order of arrangement of the cases, deliberately not "by labelled categories" but starting "with large constitutional issues" and working downwards. It may well be that the use of labelled categories would have proved arbitrary and artificial as the authors suggest but surely not, as they feared, unworkable. The order chosen by the authors is inevitably subjective and in spite of the explanation provided not necessarily one immediately understandable to first time readers. This is the sort of project which would encourage readers to suggest that as well as continuing the series into the future that a retrospective series of reports could well be of equal value. • J ohn F. Buckley.

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Raymond Byrne CASES & COMMENT ON Irish Commercial Law AND LEGAL TECHNIQUE This collection of cases on Irish commercial law and aspects of legal technique is designed to provide students taking business studies courses at third level with source material on how legal rules are developed and applied by Irish courts. Areas of law covered include the rules and principles of contract law and agency; the regulation of sales, services and credit; insurance; negotiable instru- ments and banking; restrictions on unfair competition; remedies; the use of precedent; statutory interpretation; and constitutional judical review. Each chapter contains in- troductory comments giving a broad overview on the area of law covered, and the extracts from cases are preceded by a useful summary of the facts and legal issues discus- sed by the court. £9.95 pb., £17.50 hb. 4 October. ISBN 0-947686-07-X hb, ISBN 0-947686-08-8 pb. THE ROUND HALL PRESS KILL LANE BLACKROCK CO. DUBLIN

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