Preface to the second edition
| Author | Julian Bailey |
| Pages | 63-65 |
lxiii
PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION
3 e rst edition covered the laws of England and Wales, and for brevity of expression reference was made to “the
laws of England” and “English law”, instead of “the laws of England and Wales” and “English and Welsh law”.
Such shorthand measures were hopefully justied, on the basis of there being no distinction between the laws of
those two countries, at least in relation to matters of “construction law”. at abbreviation may still be justied
in this edition, save that it may be noted that the Welsh Assembly has acquired powers since December 2011 to
make regulations for Wales, although to date the Welsh regulations essentially mirror those applicable in England:
see, eg, Scheme for Construction Contracts (England and Wales) Regulations 1998 (Amendment) (Wales) Reg-
ulations 2011 (SI 2011/1715); Building Regulations &c. (Amendment) (Wales) Regulations 2013 (SI 2013/747).
Overview of the second edition
e objective of the second edition of this book is the same as the rst edition, namely
to provide a general textbook on construction law that will hopefully be of practical use
to persons interested in construction law issues.
e greatest dierence between the rst edition of this book and this one lies in its
jurisdictional coverage. e rst edition sought to provide a comprehensive overview of
“construction law” in England3 and Australia, as well as providing sprinklings of con-
struction law cases, statutes and commentary from around the world. is edition shares
that objective, but also expands the jurisdictional coverage of the book to include Hong
Kong and Singapore. ere were several reasons for expanding the book in this way. e
principal one is that both Hong Kong and Singapore are jurisdictions, with a shared
common law heritage that have vibrant construction industries, and as a consequence
they have generated a rich body of laws that should be of great interest to practitioners
in those jurisdictions and elsewhere.
Other dierences between the rst and second editions are more expected.
First, there have been numerous legislative changes in England and Australia, which
are reected in the book. is year alone has brought important legislative changes in
England, including the enactment of the Consumer Rights Act 2015, the Public Con-
tracts Regulations 2015 and the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations
2015. Other important legislative reforms are in the pipeline. Australia has also seen a
number of changes in consumer laws (discussed in chapter 19) over the last few years,
although it is unclear whether the substance and eectiveness of those laws will be
improved.
Secondly, the construction and commercial courts, and their appellate overseers, have
further augmented the body of case law which may either be considered as “pure” con-
struction law, or law of a more general nature. In 2015, the UK Supreme Court decided
its rst construction case, in Aspect Contracts (Asbestos) Ltd v Higgins Construction Plc
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