Reviews
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-2230.1979.tb01554.x |
| Date | 01 September 1979 |
| Published date | 01 September 1979 |
REVIEWS
THE
BAR
ON
TRIAL.
Edited ‘by
R.
HAZELL.
[London: Quartet
Books.
Tms
timely critique
of
the structure and organisation
of
the Bar is eminently
readable and highly informative, It makes
the
plea for change
in
such
a
polite
and moderate tone that it could only have Ibeen written by products of the
system it is indicting.
The
authors
are
“
eight young barristers who are deeply
concerned about the future of the English Bar.” Six are still
in
practice; one
works in the public sector and one is an academic.
After
a
couple
of
descriptive chapters which are well written and full of
useful information, the book turns its attention to the controversial subjects:
pupillage, finding
a
tenancy, clerks, the work of
the
criminal bar, women at the
Bar, and independence and fusion. Those who are familiar with the literature
on
the legal profession and who have been following the evidence submitted
to the Royal Commission on Legal Services will not find much new food for
thought in the book, but it does collect together the arguments for reorganisa-
tion. There
is
much common sense in the
book.
An
example
is
the treatment of
fusion, where, unlike much other comment on this issue, Robert Hazell, to my
mind correctly, notes that opposition to any dismantling
of
the rules that
keep the two branches
of
the profession apart is based more upon worries
about
loss
of privileged status and fear of competition than rational analysis
of
the competing arguments.
I
have already mentioned the moderate tone
of
the book. It
is
described in
tho advertising
“
blurb” on the back cover as essential reading for those
“
vho
want to learn at first hand how the Bar really works.”
I
do not believe
this book “takes the lid
off”
the Bar; after all, if what the authors say at
page
134
about not appearing in the wrong kind of
case
if you want to get
on
is true, then too frank an expos6 of life at the Bar would amount to pro-
fessional suicide. Nor does the book deal with the wider issues raised about
the Bar as a provider
of
legal services which are canvassed in
the
review
note of the
book
at
[1979]
L.A.G.Bull.
36.
Indeed there is an occasional glimpse
that the authors themselves have been affected by the
“
legal socialisation
process” that narrow lawyers’ perceptions of the role of law.
Who,
other
than
a
victim of the process, could say (at
p.
180),
“[tlhere is not much
difficulty in the law concerning children, because
the
courts have a wide
discretion in each individual casc to do what is best for the child
. .
.”?
1978. 221
pp.
(including index). Paperback El.95.1
ROBIN
C.
A.
WHITE.
VIOLENCE
AND
THE
FAMILY.
Edited by
J.
P.
MARTIN.
[Wiley. 1978.
369
pp.
and
index.
€1
1-95]
BOOKS
documenting the fact that the home can be
a
most dangerous place
have become rather common in the last few years. The problem is. of course,
one which concerns social Workers, paediatricians, policemen, family therapists
and coiintless other professions as well as lawyen. The majority
of
books
so
far published have consisted
of
colleotions of essays: most tend
to
have
concentrated on either wife abuse
or
child abuse. Martin’s collection contains
15
essays and most aspects of family violence are covered. There is no essay
specifically on the law but legal problems are treatcd in several parts of the
book. Margaret May’s historical perspective is pitrticularly valuable demon-
strating, as it does, how nineteenth-century interpretations
of
the problom
led
to particular legislative and other responses. The parallels between then and
587
588
THE
MODERN
LAW
REVIEW
[Vol.
42
now in both interpretations and solutions are shown by her to be striking.
May realism that the problem
is
not one rooted only in lower-class customs
but in
a
culture which sanctions the low status of women and children. Not
all
of
Martin’s contributors do.
This points to what
I
regard as
a
weakness in this collection, though others
may deem it
a
merit. The book charts no consistent theoretical line. Thus,
Dr.
Oayford is once more given the opportunity to present his psychopathological
interpretation of wife abuse and, though by implication this is criticised
in
many essays in the book, at no point
is
it subjected directly to criticism. The
impression is created of none
of
the authors being given
a
chance to read the
essays
of
the others.
As with many similar collections the standard is variable.
So
is the style
which ranges from journalistic
.to
scholarly. Lawyers may find Martin’s own
piece
“
Family Violence and Social Policy
”
particularly enlightening.
He
points
out
that family violence is an
“
undeveloped and fragmented area of
social policy” and himself does something to assist its construction. His
attempt at developing criteria against which
to
judge existing provisions is
useful, as is his consideration of some of the reports of inquiries into well-
known cases of child abuse. Among other essays
I
found particularly instructive
were Gelles writing intelligently and persuasively as ever about violence in
the American family and Marsden and McClintock discussing respectively
sociological and criminological aspects of the problem. Jordan and Packman’s
chapter on training social workers to deal with violence is also,
I
think, of
considerable interest. Too often social workers have been blamed for failure to
react to the symptoms of child abuse but, as they point out, panic reactions
can themselves be fraught with danger.
There are now four collections available on family violence. One, that
edited by Eekelaar and Katz
(Family Violence,
Butterworths)
),
grew out
of
a
congress organised by the International Society
of
Family Law. It,
therefore, not surprisingly, caters for lawyers better than does this volume.
Borland’s
Vlofence
in
the
Farnify
(Manchester
U.P.
(1976))
can,
I
think, be
discounted. It does contain
a
legal contribution but it, by Raisbeck,
is
some-
what elementary and the rest
of
the volume is not particularly exciting.
The best collection, though now five years old, is still that put together by
Steinmetz and Straus
(Violence in
the
Family,
Dodd, Mead
(1974))
who are
two of the leading American sociologists in the field.
It
is
a
reader rather
than a collection
of
essays, but as such it is easier to digest.
If
pushed to
recommend just one book to those wishing
to
come to grips with the problem
of
family violence
I
would unhesitatingly recommend Steinmetz and Straus’
reader. Martin’s collection, though, contains much
of
value and should be in
every law library. M.
D.
A.
FREEMAN.
FAMILY
VIOLENCE:
AN
INTBRNATIONAL AND INTERDISCIPLINARY STUDY.
Edited
by
JOHN
M.
EEKELAAR
and
SANFORD
N.
KATZ.
[Butter-
worths,
Canada.
1978.
vii
and
572
pp.
€1
1.00.1
THIS
book collects together
37
essays representing the bulk of the papers
presentcd to the Second World Conference of the International Society
of
Family Law in Montreal, June
1977.
The general theme of violence in the
family was wide enough to cover many different legal and social issues. Thus,
while one would expect
to
find contributions concerning violence between
spouses and violence against children, and these do constitute the major
content of the colleotion, there are also extremely interesting papers concerned
with children’s suicide, incest, sibling violence and juvenile murders. On
a
more general level there are essays dealing with the phenomenon
of
violence
in the family: thus Anthony Storr in his introduction attempts to put violence
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