The Gazette 1993

VOL. 87 NO. 2

JULY/AUGUST 1993

the needs of the professional bodies. The first full-time academic teacher, Dr. Phillips, was appointed in 1934 j and the developments since 1962 when j Dr. V.T.H. Delany took up his 1 appointment as the Regius Professor of Laws followed by Dr. RFV Heuston have been very significant. Important improvements have also taken place during recent tenures. It is not possible in this short book notice to do justice to the contributions in this book. However, the contributions may be mentioned. Ms. Niamh Hyland considers the pregnant woman in the workplace; Professor WN Osborough writes on sport, freedom and the criminal law; Mr. Brian Murray deals with the right | to silence and corporate crime; and Mr. Anthony Whelan's topic relates to the principle of self-determination of peoples. The abortion controversy, divorce and the right to life are considered by Professor William Binchy, Professor William Duncan j and Mr. Gerard Hogan. Access to the courts is the topic considered by Mr. Gerry Whyte and the human rights approach to refugees is considered by Ms. Liz Hefferan. j The Trinity members of the legal academy display exhilarating erudition in Law and Liberty in Ireland but they also illuminate the topical issues under consideration for the general reader. This book has been printed in a handsome manner. Oak Tree Press (Gerard O'Connor and David Givens) the publishers (in association with Trinity There is much to admire in Law and Liberty in Ireland. It is rich in perceptive observations. The analysis is balanced and never hackneyed. The book will be a souvenir for law graduates of Trinity College but other readers will find this tapestry of thought and analysis enormously informative, provocative and eminently readable. j Law School) are developing a reputation for uncompromising quality.

j assumes importance. The words of ! Jeremiah (13.22) in the Old Testament j may be appropriate here: "Can an J Ethiopian change his skin, or a i leopard his spots?" But let us not forget the inscription carved over the entrance to the Yale Law School, 1929-1931: "The law is a living growth, not a changeless code." Law i is a potent agent for change; the legal j , academy and practitioners have a great potential to bring about change in practices by advising of the new law, initiating legal actions, and thus rooting out any unlawful practices through the legal process. As we j write, we may not be able to see the end of the road - but this should not prevent us from setting out on the necessary journey. Philip Lee in his introduction notes that "public procurement law" j probably means little to most lawyers educated in the common law system. ! The public procurement of goods, supplies and services by central ! government, local government and bodies governed by public law like the "semi-state" bodies is extensive. The author argues that public procurement is about fairness: the money spent on public procurement belongs to the citizens of the European Communities. The book considers the relevant ' supplies directive, the public works directives, public procurement in the excluded sectors - the so-called utilities directive, public services directive, regional aspects of public procurement and legal remedies for breaches of Community law. The appendices set out relevant value thresholds and directives. Philip Lee has provided an extensive guide to the intricacies of the law of | public procurement. He has presented J us with a thorough and perceptive I treatment of a subject that has assumed considerable importance in the law of Ireland. The book is recommended for those lawyers who advise companies, firms and j individuals who work for central government, local government and the public utilities, as well as those who manage the public utilities.

Public Procurement

By Philip Lee, Butterworths, 1992, 194 +ccxlvi pp, IR£85.00.

Lord Coleridge, CJ, once observed that it must be remembered that all trade is and must be, in a sense, selfish; the trade of a particular place or district being possibly very limited, "what one man gains, another loses." [Mogul Steamship Co. -v- McGregor Gow & Co. (1988) LR 21 QBD 557.] Lord Coleridge continued by noting that "in the hand-to-hand war of commerce," whether at the bar, in Parliament, in medicine or engineering, men fight on without much thought of others, "except a desire to excel or defeat them." Those who wish to excel in commerce must be admired. Different sentiments apply to those who wish to defeat others, particularly in the context of the description of business as hand-to- hand warfare. One may compete (and do so vigorously), but the public expression of an intention to defeat one's competitors is another matter. No judge or lawyer today would subscribe in public in the manner in which Lord Coleridge expressed his sentiments - particularly in terms of defeating one's competitors. In particular, no one in the public service could do so. Consider the Competition Act, 1991 and Articles 85 to 94 of the Treaty of Rome. Specifically, persons involved in public procurement, for whom Philip Lee's book is intended, could not speak in public of desiring to defeat the competition. Mr. Peter D. Sutherland, in his preface to the book, observes that the subject of public procurement is peculiarly important as a barometer of the success or failure of the economic integration that is fundamental to the development of the union of Member States of the Community. Mr. Sutherland notes that there is a little confidence among economic operators that true competition will develop in this area in the foreseeable future. It is in this context that Philip Lee's book

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Dr. Eamonn G. Hall

Dr. Eamonn G. Hall

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