Book Notices
| Published date | 01 July 1970 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-2230.1970.tb01288.x |
| Date | 01 July 1970 |
476
THE
MODERN LAW REVIEW
VOL.
33
is to provide the Forms, other than pleadings, which may be used during
litigation
in
the Queen’s Bench Division, practitioners should find the
notes
of
great
value. An examination, for instance, of the section dealing with the
prerogative orders, shows how usefully there has been summarised the various
procedural steps. In his preface, Master Jacob observes that the cumulative
effect of recent changes has been enormous, and practitioners should warmly
welcome the fruit of his labours.
F.
O’Doxoo~.
Book
Notices
WORDS
AND
PHRASES
LEGALLY
DEF~D.
Second Edition. Five
Volumes. Edited
by
JOHN
B.
SAUNDERS.
[London: Butter-
worths.
1969 and 1970.
25
10s.
per volume.]
THE
first edition of this work
was
made up exclusively of extracts from
speeches made and judgments given in the superior courts of
the
United
Kingdom, Australia, Canada and New Zealand. The second edition has been
broadened
in
scope by adding
a
selection of textbwk and statutory definitions.
Most
of
the textbook definitions have been taken from Halsburfs
Laws
of
England,
for which
this
work is designed to be
a
companion.
All five volumes are beautifully produced and
are
a
pleasure
to
handle.
All sorts of impressions are gained by browsing through the pages. There
are
the fascinating odd words and phrases defined and also many useless
definitions for general purposes. Thus we
are
offered two choices for
“woman”: either
“a
woman of the age of eighteen years or upwards”
(Employment of Women, Young Persons and Children Act
1920,
s.
4)
or
“a
woman who has attained the sge of eighteen” (Factories Act
1961,
s.
176).
Such statutory definitions are less attractive or useful than judicial attempts
for example to dehe “man”: “No doubt, the word ‘man,’ in
a
scientific
treatise on zoology, or fossil organic remains, would include men, women and
children, as constituting the highest order of vertebrate animals.
It
is
also
used in an abstract and general sense
in
philosophical
or
religious disquisitions.
But,
in
almost every
other
connection,
the
word ‘man’
is
used
in
contra-
distinction to ‘woman.’ Certainly this restricted sense
is
its ordinary and
popular
sense.”
(Chmltm
v.
Lings
(1868),
per
Byles J.)
“
Boys
’’
and
“
girls
”
are
not defined; “minor” unfortunately is defined only by reference
to
the
British Nationality Act
1948,
8.
82,
as
meaning
a
person who has not attained
the
age
of twenty-one years, although three headings
later
(following
Minor
Canon and Minor Tenancy) under the heading of “Minority” there is
a
reference to the Family Law Reform Act
1969,
6.
1,
which in Schedule
1
in
fact expressly reduces
the
age in the British Nationality Act from twenty-one
years to eighteen. Throughout the work, however, the editing
is
remarkably
up
to
date: we have
a
definition
of “mushroom” for the purposes of the
Theft Act
1968;
“hovercraft
”
under the Hovercraft Act
1968;
“
possession
”
includes extracts from
Wamr
v.
Metropolitan
Police
CO&&OM~
(1968).
Although browsing
is
fun, the proper
test
of
a
collection such
as
this
is
whether it provides definitions and quotations of value in
the
course of one’s
work. On this basis, when the work has been consulted it has proved itself
beyond any doubt. We are indebted to the editors for such an interesting
and invaluable work.
THE
COWANY
EXECUTIVE
AND
TIE
LAW.
By
DAVID SPRINGFIELD.
THIS,
as
the Foreword informs
us,
is
a
practical book; not
a
book on company
law but rather one on the legal aspects of company administration, touching
on such subjects as taxation, redundancy and, more surprisingly, defamation.
[London: Heinemann. 1970. 296 pp.
E8
88.1
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