LAW AND THE INTERNET. Ed by Lilian Edwards and Charlotte Waelde Oxford: Hart Publishing (www.hartpub.co.uk), 3rd edn, 2009. il + 713 pp. ISBN 9781841138152. £30.
| Published date | 01 September 2010 |
| Pages | 537-539 |
| DOI | 10.3366/elr.2010.0319 |
| Date | 01 September 2010 |
| Author | Andrew Murray |
Reviewing this book is a complicated task. This is the third edition of the book in its current form but in the intervening years between the second edition (2000) and this edition a step-sibling publication appeared, Lilian Edwards (ed),
But bigger does not always mean better. This book has always been seen to be a leader in its field: one which attracts the best and most knowledgeable contributors to discuss their “specialised subject”. Has it retained that air of authority and exclusivity with its growth spurt? I am pleased to say that the answer is mostly yes. Textbooks in this area seem to consist of two forms which also reflect the common form of exam answer familiar to most academics. There is the shotgun approach where a number of authors attempt in an edited text to bring their personal air of authority to their specialised subject and the editors are left with the difficult task of making these individual dishes a complete meal. Then there is the targeted approach where a single author compiles a complete meal, but one in which he or she has to take the more generalist approach as they cannot be master of all aspects of the subject: this is the approach taken by the most likely main competitor to this book, Chris Reed's
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