Recent Book: Necessary?: Police Law Primer
| DOI | 10.1177/0032258X7805100221 |
| Published date | 01 April 1978 |
| Date | 01 April 1978 |
| Subject Matter | Recent Book |
selves (the white police) as the op-
pressed minority rather
than
the
blacks.
Having regard to their strange role
as
just
one of the city's multiplicity of
police forces
and
the way
that
the
State and the city has treated them,
who can blame
them?
A sad story
but
asalutary lesson
worth some of
our
politicians reading.
VICTOR
GRAHAM
SUFFER LITTLE CHILDREN . , .
CLARKE,
HALL
AND
MORRISON:
The Law Relating to
Children and Young Persons.
Ninth
Edition. Butterworth. £30.
The most daunting aspect of writing
or editing any standard legal reference
book must be the prospect of revising
the work in the light of numerous
and
rapid changes in the law. The field of
Family Law has been particularly
susceptible to such changes and, there-
fore, the arrival of this new edition of
Clarke Hall and Morrison five years
after the publication of the eighth
edition is well overdue.
The law relating to Children and
YoungPersons is a particularly difficult
area of the law covered as it is by a
mass of statutes, amendments, statu-
tory instruments, cases
and
circulars,
and coming as it does mid way between
the criminal and the civil law. Some
consolidation
and
reform of the law is
clearly essential, particularly where one
finds the terminology differing from
one Act of Parliament to another, so
that
what may constitute a
"child"
within one statute does not necessarily
accord with the definition of a "child"
in another.
Any book, therefore, which attempts
to cover as
broad
a field as the
"law
relating to children and young persons"
undertakes amighty task. Bynecessity,
the exposition of the law must be
somewhat restricted. However, this
volume does not
purport
to be a
textbook dealing in detail with the
academic aspect of the law.
Rather
it
is a collection of the statutes cases and
relevant documents, with annotations,
which relate to four particular branches
of the law:
1. the child
and
the local authority
2. the juvenile court
3. the child in family proceedings
4. adoption.
The Presidentofthe Family Division,
Sir George Baker mentions in his
foreword
that
this volume is invaluable
for legal practitioners
and
social
workers. He might also have included
police officers, particularly male police
officers who as a result of recent
legislation in
another
field are now
dealing with matters relating to
children which were previously dealt
with by their female colleagues! What-
ever their sex, this
book
will be of
immense use to anyone concerned in
the legal aspect of the care
and
welfare
of youngpeople.
PORTIA
NECESSARY?
INSPECTOR
KENNETH
SLOAN:
Police Law Primer. Butterworths, £3.50.
K.E.G.C.
An excellent publication which can-
not be faulted technically, however, it
is difficult to imagine the use to which
it can be put.
It
is not meant to substitute the
Student Lesson Notes for Police
Constables undergoing Initial Training
and I cannot see
that
it has the depth
necessary to complement
that
training.
However, it is possible
that
some Police
Officers could find it an easy reference
to provide elementary information.
If
this is the case then it is in the wrong
April 1978
format. Apocket sized edition with
more economical use being made of
the space available would be more
appropriate.
The fact
that
the publishers advertise
the Baker
and
Wilkie Promotion text
books on the back cover gives some
indication
that
they regard this Primer
as the
"in
between" book for Police
Officers undergoing training.
Ipersonally
doubt
that
such a book
is necessary.
214
To continue reading
Request your trial