Book Review: An Index-Digest with Table of Reported Cases in the Commonwealth

Date01 June 1977
DOI10.1177/0067205X7700800208
Published date01 June 1977
Subject MatterBook Reviews
BOOK REVIEWS
An
Index-Digest with Table
0/
Reported Cases in the'Commonwealth
Law Reports Volumes 1-127 (1903-1972) by P. H.
LANE,
B'.A.,
LL.M.,
LL.D. (Syd.),
S.J.D.
(Harvard);
Barrister-at-Law; Professor in Consti-
tutional Law, University
of
Sydney.
(The
Law Book Co. Ltd, 1976),
pp. i-clxx, 1-652. Recommended retail price $47.50 (ISBN:-
o455 19303
7).
Practitioners and others who make use of the Commonwealth
Law
Reports are familiar with the index-digest covering volumes 1-100
(1-111 with supplement) compiled by Professor P. H. Lane. Professor
Lane
has now produced areplacement volume, taking in all the cases
decided by the High
Court
of Australia contained in the 127 volumes
of the C.L.R.'s
up
to 1972.
The
new volume continues to provide
an
accurate index
of
the cases
and
aclassification of them under
appropriate headings.
Nevertheless, users
of
the volume will be astonished by the author's
prefatory statement, which the publishers have reproduced in the
advertising material.
It
reads:
The
content of the work consists
of
the material facts and ratio
of each case, principles enunciated, theories and doctrines
expounded, any historical excursus
or
legal rule discussed.
It
would be miraculous if the entire work of the High
Court
over the
traditional life span
of
man
could be so comprehensively and con-
clusively presented in asingle volume, but Professor Lane does
not
reveal in this book
that
he stands above the rest
of
us as aworker
of
miracles.
The
volume
is
as its title
suggests-an
index-digest-and
as such will be as valuable as its predecessor.
In
the opinion of this
reviewer, as aworking tool, it is one of the author's best contributions
to law. J. E. RICHARDSON*
Land Law and Registration by
S.
ROWTON
SIMPSON
C.B.E.,
M.A.
(Cantab.)
of
the
Inner
Temple, Barrister-at-Law. (Cambridge University
Press, 1976), pp. i-xlix, 1-726. Recommended retail price U.K. £30.00;
Recommended retail price Aust. $71.30 (ISBN: 0521 20628
6).
On
acomparative basis Rowton Simpson knows more about systems
of registration
of
titles to lands
than
anyone
else writing today.
Not
only does he know
and
understand the theory,
but
he also knows
what
makes such systems tick. Even more importantly, he knows what stops
*Commonwealth Ombudsman; formerly Robert Garran Professor of Law,
Australian National University.
255

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