Book Review: Conflict of Laws in Australia
| Published date | 01 June 1977 |
| DOI | 10.1177/0067205X7700800210 |
| Date | 01 June 1977 |
| Subject Matter | Book Reviews |
258 Federal Law
Review
[VOLUME
-S
should provide the substantive law as well as the technical registration
law.
On
registration,
not
unnaturally, he takes as his centre-piece the
Kenyan
Act
which has been in operation for more
than
adozen years.
He
subjects it to apenetrating commentary, although, like Oliver
Twist, Icould have asked for more.
The
second last chapter deals with
adjudication
of
land which usually involves transition from some kind
of
'customary
tenure to individual
tenure-a
process which often
accompanies the transformation
of
the use of land from
that
in a
subsistence to
that
in acommercial society.
In
the final chapter, he
deals with the vexed problem of the control
of
land transfer where
there
is
development going on in asociety; what level of protection
should be built into the system for unsophisticated peoples dealing with
their lands.
For
both of these chapters the Malawi statutes 'are the
prototypes used for discussion.
Ihave often said
that
we lawyers
can
supply agoldplated
(but
not
yet solid gold) system of registration of title to land, but such asystem
is
no use unless the community to which we supply it asks for, and
needs, such asystem. Rowton Simpson's Book 2shows
at
least one set
of legislation which can be used as aguide.
Ienjoyed reading this book.
But
it
is
not everyone who
can
get a
good read from abook
on
land law and registration of title!
It
is
more
than
aworthy successor to Dowson and Sheppard.
It
is
not only awork
of
scholarship, but it
can
be used in avery practical way.
One
of
the
sadnesses
is
that, although it will be amost useful handbook for land
administrators
-in
developing countries, it has had to be priced
at
£30
per
copy. Incidentally, others share my view
of
the scholarliness of the
book; it has earned for Rowton Simpson aPh.D. degree from the
University of Cambridge.
It
is
not
unusual for good books to
earn
their
authors doctoral degrees,
but
what
is
delightful in this case
is
that
Dr
Simpson takes his Ph.D.
51
years
after
taking his B.A.
DoUGLASJ.
VVHALAN*
Conflict
of
Laws
in Australia by P. E.
NYGH,
LL.M. (Syd.),
S.J.D.
(Mich.);
Professor of Law, Macquarie University. (Butterworths,
1976,
3rd
Edition),
pp. i-xlviii, 1-530. Cloth, recommended retail
price $25.00 (ISBN: 0409 43752
2);
Paperback, recommended retail
price $20.00 (ISBN: 0409 43753
0).
The
previous editions of this work have been reviewed in
(1969)
3
P.L. Rev. 307 and
(1973)
5P.L. Rev. 316
and
it might be thought to
be otiose to review the third edition. Professor Nygh has made a
*LL.M. (N.Z.), Ph.D. (Otago); Professor of Law and Dean of the Faculty of
Law, Australian National University.
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