David Johnston, PRESCRIPTION AND LIMITATION Edinburgh: W Green & Son (www.wgreen.co.uk), Scottish Universities Law Institute, 2nd edn, 2012. liii + 487 pp. ISBN 9780414018389. £155.
| Published date | 01 September 2013 |
| Date | 01 September 2013 |
| Pages | 439-441 |
| DOI | 10.3366/elr.2013.0178 |
| Author | D L Carey Miller |
An established definitive text brought up to date and enhanced by the author's developed insights hardly needs to be reviewed. That said, it is especially true of Scots law that prescription, positive and negative, connects with much in the development of private law. As a certain barometer of legal development and activity the subject has a lot to tell in the thirteen year period since the first edition of this excellent book. That period might have been greater; in the preface David Johnston, acknowledging the contribution of a research assistant (Giles Reid), observes that without assistance identifying where and why updating was needed “this edition would have taken some years longer”.
A feature of the work is its depth in dealing with the diverse areas which the subject engages with. An example can be given from the Schedule 1 list of obligations affected by the five-year prescription under section 6. Observing that the critical issue is whether an obligation can be accommodated within the range of situations provided for in the schedule, the author notes that certain statutory obligations may prescribe as obligations to make reparation (Sch 1, para 1(d) to the 1973 Act). The question whether irritancy is included is discussed in this context, the point having been raised in a case decided after the first edition of
Another section 6 issue illustrates the valuable critical perspective aspect of the work. In the 2012 Inner House decision in
To continue reading
Request your trial