The Gazette 1996

GAZETTE JANUARY/FEBRUARY 1996

B OOK

R E V I E W S

GAZETTE

an original work not unworthy of its distinguished predecessors.

topics. Not only Property Law but the other two works were consulted and their treatment of these topics compared. On leases for lives renewable for ever, as might be expected, Coughlan was rudimentary. He was, however, excellent on sales by mortgagees in pursuance of their statutory powers. It was only when his treatment of the implied release of easements was examined that the real value of his book, even for those who possess Wylie and Lyall, came to be appreciated. Both of the latter seem uncertain and perhaps even contradictory on the question whether mere non-user extinguishes an easement. Property Law, however, In Benn v. Hardinge\ where the right had not been used for 175 years, the English Court of Appeal rejected the argument that non- user for twenty years raised a presumption of abandonment. Even when indecision is academically justified, students and practitioners prefer their authors to decisively cut the Gordian knot! On the question whether the extinguishment of an easement can arise where the dominant tenement is altered in such a way as to vary unilaterally the extent of the benefit derived from it, Coughlan alone, mentions the important case of Graham v. Philcox 2 in which the English Court of Appeal held that where an excessive burden is placed on the servient tenement the easement remains in existence but the servient owner may have the excessive user injuncted. The impression left on this reviewer is that Property Law is no mere summary of a subject covered more authoritatively by Wylie and Lyall but unhesitatingly, summarises the position in a graphic sentence:-

Property Law

Prof. J.M.G.

Sweeney

By Paul Coughlan, LL.M., B.L., published by Gill &Macmillan; paperback; 477pp; £35. When this reviewer was a student, the only book on the law of property which catered to any degree for ( the Irish lawyer's special needs (though it devoted scarcely more than twenty pages to Irish peculiarities), was Strahan and Baxter's Law of Property. In view of the extraordinary expansion in the publication of books on Irish law now taking place, we need not be unduly surprised that we now have a third work devoted exclusively to the Irish law of real property. But whether or not this comes as a surprise, the question arises: is there room for a third work where the subject's readership is already well served by the volumes of Prof. Wylie and Dr. Lyall? In terms of the number of cases mentioned, Property Law cites about half as many cases as Lyall's Land Law in Ireland and about a quarter as many as Wylie's Irish Land Law. One of the reasons for this is that Coughlan does not venture as far beyond the heartland of real property as the others do. Unlike Wylie, he has no chapters on trusts, powers or merger and, unlike Lyall, there are no chapters on ownership above and below the ground, the Irish Land Purchase Acts, housing or planning but, like Lyall and unlike Wylie, there is a chapter on family law. Despite these drawbacks, this reviewer recommends Property Law, not merely as a substitute to those for whom the vastness of Wylie and Lyall is somewhat forbidding, but as a desirable third work for practitioners. Whilst this review was being prepared, it was necessary for the reviewer to look up the law on several

Reference: 1. [1992] MLJ 1534. 2. [1984] QB 747.

Copinger and Skone James on Copyright

First supplement to the Thirteenth Edition. By K. Garnett, Sir J. Mummery, J.R. James, London; Sweet & Maxwell; 1994 xlvii + 474pp £45.00; paperback. This piece is intended as a short notice to those practitioners who have an interest in copyright law and who may already possess Copinger and Skone James on Copyright. Edmund Skone James died on June 23, 1992 scarcely six months after the thirteenth edition of Copinger and Skone James on Copyright was published. For over thirty years and through five editions he edited the book first with his father, then on his own, and of late at the head of an editorial team. He had an Copinger and Skone James on Copyright has been described as a definitive work and indispensable book for the practitioner involved in the increasingly important area of copyright law. The thirteenth edition was described as unrivalled in its scope and authority. Of course, the book deals with English law. But as many practitioners in Ireland are aware, this book on copyright will be found on the libraries of those practitioners who are interested in copyright law. There has been a rapid development in the law of copyright encyclopedic knowledge of the subject and devoted painstaking attention to detail.