Book reviews

David Flint

PUBLISHER: W Green

ISBN: 0 414 01575 4

PRICE: £62

First published in 1987 following the enactment of the Insolvency Act 1986, David Flint’s book was updated in 1990 and this third edition follows the changes to insolvency law brought about by, amongst other things, the Enterprise Act 2002 and the Council Regulation (EC) 1346/2000.

The text is described as a “handbook” and should be approached with that in mind. It is not marketed as nor intended to be a detailed analytical text in the same mould as St Clair and Drummond Young’s work on The Law of Corporate Insolvency in Scotland. It should also be noted, as the title makes clear, that the book deals only with liquidation and not any of the other formal insolvency procedures.

The early part of the work adopts the strategy of following the structure of the 1986 Act and is logically broken down into short chapters that essentially follow the time line that would be encountered in a liquidation process. The text largely repeats the terms of the statutory provisions, embellished by the author’s own views and helpful citations of relevant authorities to expand on the bare terms of the legal framework. As a starting point for readers to follow a liquidation process from its genesis to conclusion, it is a helpful guide and certainly a useful companion to a well thumbed copy of Butterworth’s Insolvency Law Handbook, which collects the various statues and statutory instruments in one handy compendium. As a litigator practising in this area, I found it particularly helpful that sections were included on wrongful and fraudulent trading, diligence and directors’ disqualification.

There is, however, one surprising omission, and that is the failure to deal with the impact of the Human Rights Act 1998 in the sphere of liquidation. Given the quasi-public nature of the process, it is disappointing that the human rights dimension has not been tackled.

Additionally, the work is less successful where it has been expanded to include sections on employment, pensions, data protection and taxation. While the author’s ambition has to be commended, and some portions of the text may be useful aides-memoire for practitioners, the question arises as to whether such vast and complex subjects are not better left to the detailed texts already in circulation. In an age of increasing specialisation among lawyers, this wide ranging approach jars somewhat.

Where the work does succeed very well is in the scope and diversity of the styles reproduced, which make up around half of the actual content of the book. For litigators, it is often a case of having to innovate when making applications in a liquidation process and it is gratifying that such diverse issues as reduction of extortionate credit transactions and leave to be a director of a company with a prohibited name are dealt with, to name but two.

Notwithstanding the limitations identified here, the handbook is a success when it focuses on its core subject – the procedural side of a liquidation with useful case citations and styles. The attempt to expand the scope of the book is admirable, but a nagging doubt remains as to the merits of the brief treatments of the vast topics the author has sought to address.

Gary Moffat, Burness LLP