Book Review: The Theft Acts

DOI10.1177/0032258X9606900116
Date01 January 1996
Published date01 January 1996
Subject MatterBook Review
THE
THEFT
ACTS,
7th
edn,
by
Edward
Griew. Sweet &Maxwell.
Softback £21.95.
In inimitable fashion, the author tackles boldly those important issues
which have arisen since the 1990 edition, not the least of which was the
decision of the House of Lords inthe Gomezcase (1993) which established
new principles with regard to the term 'appropriation', a change, in fact,
which has caused him to rewrite much of chapter 2 of the book. Account
has also been taken of the Aggravated Vehicle-Taking Act 1992, and
amendments to the jurisdiction of the Theft Act and other fraud offences
(Part I Criminal Justice Act 1993) on which he has written a new chapter.
In our review of the 6th edition, it was said that all those who need to
have a sound working knowledge of the law relating to theft need 'Griew'.
They now need to have the 7th edition! R.W.S.
BLACKSTONE'S
CRIMINAL
PRACTICE
1995,
Editor-in
Chief
Peter
Murphy.
Blackstone Press.
Hardback
£99.
As the owner of the 1992 edition I was very pleased to receive the 1995
edition ofthisdesirable leading test. Unlike the reviewer for Justice
of
the
Peace and Local GovernmentLaw, my copy hasnot beenstolen from my
desk and, unless a burglar visits and wishes to arm himself with a very
weighty book, it will remain safe.
I cannot envisage every police officer buying such a text, however, all
police libraries should by now have discovered the value of it.
Important new statutes and cases are included, as is the Criminal Justice
and Public Order Act 1994.
Of
interest to police officers will be the fact
that some material has been rewritten and this includes the sections on
identification cases and drink driving offences. The latter drink driving
part is written by Richard McMahon who is the author of APractical
Approach to RoadTraffic Law also published by Blackstone at £22.95.
If
you can afford it, get it. (Offers on a postcard for the 1992 edition.)
A
PRACTICAL
APPROACH
TO
ROAD
TRAFFIC
LAW,
by
Richard
McMahon. Blackstone Press.
Softback
£22.95.
The author states that the seeds of such a book were shown when all too
often he found that he did not know the finer details of Road Traffic Law
when faced with a long list of such matters. Sounds familiar! He would
plough through the court's copy of Wilkinson at the last minutes. Perhaps
court officials are more generous towards advocates since no clerk ever
allowed your reviewer to view his personal text.
Traffic is still bread and butterfor police officers, for whom such a book
at £22.95 is attractive (and worth it for a subject that occupies more court
time than almost any other single field of law). Appendix 3contains the
Magistrates' Association suggestions for road traffic penalties.
If
you wonder what they should get you can compare it with what they
do get - always allowing of course that it is not a tariffand a plea of guilty
may give rise to a third discount, the rest of us having generally to be
satisfied with 10
per
cent if we are lucky. If, like your reviewer, your
92 The Police Journal January 1996

To continue reading

Request your trial

VLEX uses login cookies to provide you with a better browsing experience. If you click on 'Accept' or continue browsing this site we consider that you accept our cookie policy. ACCEPT