Book Review: Bills of Exchange in Australia
| Author | D. L. Pape |
| DOI | 10.1177/0067205X6500100215 |
| Published date | 01 June 1965 |
| Date | 01 June 1965 |
| Subject Matter | Book Reviews |
BOOK REVIEWS
Bills
of
Exchange
in
Australia, by
B.
B.
RILEY,
Q.C.,
M.A. (Oxon.)
Barrister-at-Law. 2nd ed. (The Law Book Co.
of
Australasia Pty
Ltd,
1964),
pp. i-xx,
1-307.
Price
£3
3s.
In the second edition
of
Riley, Bills
of
Exchange
in
Australia the
alterations to the text are minimal, the book being brought up to date
by reference in the footnotes to some forty-six new cases and recent
literature. The fact that so little change was considered necessary by
the author or in fact required is testimony to the quality
of
the first
edition.
F. P. Donovan when reviewing the first edition1
said'
This remains
essentially alegal practitioner's work
of
reference. There is little
that
is
new or original and it follows fairly closely the lines
of
its predecessor.'
Iendorse this opinion. The unsuitability
of
the book as atextbook
for students
is
one which is imposed by following what is unfortunately
acommon pattern in books dealing with negotiable instruments, that
of
setting out the sections
of
the Act in numerical order followed by a
detailed commentary. So many
of
the sections are inter-related
that
if
this subject is
to
be made comprehensible to the student the book
should be divided into chapters each dealing with aparticular topic
such as
'Capacity',
'Signature',
'The
Holder'.
Excellent examples
of
this approach are Falconbridge, Banking and Bills
of
Exchange2and
Cowen, Law
of
Negotiable Instruments
in
South Africa.3
The commentaries which follow each section are detailed and com-
prehensive and the index is
an
excellent one, it being difficult to think
of
any topic which
is
not adequately dealt with.
References to authority are restricted to Australian and United
Kingdom ones. This parochial approach is to be regretted.
In
con-
trast Cowen frequently quotes Riley and refers to some
of
the leading
Australian cases, such as Durack's case.4That reference could with
profit have been made to South African material appears from the
detailed commentary on the book which follows.
There
is
an introductory chapter dealing, inter alia, with choses in
action and their assignment. The expression
'the
assignee takes
subject to all equities "is explained by aquotation from the judgment
of
Dixon J. in Southern British National Trust
Ltd
v.
Pither5(page 4).
This is an unsuitable choice since the extract from the judgment stating
1(1954) 6Res Judicatae 407, 408.
25th
ed.
1935.
33rd ed.
1955.
Anew and revised edition
is
about to appear.
4Durack
v.
West Australian Trustee Executor &Agency
Co.
Ltd
(1944)
72
C.L.R.
189.
5(1937)
57
C.L.R. 89,
108.
359
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