Book reviews

Delictual Liability

Joe Thomson
PUBLISHER: TOTTEL
ISBN: 9781847663160
PRICE: £50

In this age of increasing specialisation and with what is now the factory process of personal injury claim processing, the requirements to turn to fundamentals of law are not as common as they once were or indeed should be. Equally, practitioners bandy around terms such as foreseeability, causation, duty of care and proximity, rarely stopping to think whether they are using them in a technically correct fashion.

However, there are times when all civil litigators have to revert to fundamentals, and that is when this textbook comes into its own. It is ideal for those practitioners who, perhaps through overuse, or conversely because it’s not their specialist area, are faced with a problem that throws up a basic conceptual issue. Professor Thomson’s book provides an exceptionally clear analysis of the general principles which underpin the law of delict in Scotland. Half an hour spent on the relevant section will bring the concepts flooding back, almost certainly with greater clarity than when first assimilated.

Unusually for a textbook of this sort, it contains diagrams, which again are very helpful. These make clear, in one simple illustration, what it would have taken many words to say.

The “star turn” in the book is the section on Donoghue v Stevenson. Everyone knows that the case is the basis for much of the current law, without perhaps knowing exactly why. Professor Thomson’s explanation is a model of clarity, the diagrams being again very useful.

From a practitioner’s point of view, the chapter on pure economic loss is very helpful in placing this whole rather difficult subject in context. However, I find it slightly odd that Professor Thomson spends so much time on Junior Books v Veitchi and Henderson v Merrett Syndicates, without dealing with the case lawyers find most difficult to interpret, South Australia Asset Management v York Montague. This case is of particular current interest because of the prospect of a high number of negligence claims against surveyors arising since the last property bubble.

The structure of the book is logical and consistent, although I suspect that Part 1, on intentional delicts, will be of less interest than the remainder. Equally, Part 3, dealing with specific types of delictual claims, will be of great assistance to the general practitioner but perhaps of less value to the specialist.

Overall, this book should be on the shelf of all court practitioners, as a ready source to turn to when they need to be reminded of the general principles which underlie the law of delictual liability.

Compulsory Purchase and Compensation: The Law in Scotland 3rd Edition

Jeremy Rowan-Robinson
PUBLISHER: W GREEN
ISBN: 9780414017528
PRICE: £89

As a practitioner with a particular interest in compulsory purchase, I regard Rowan-Robinson’s text as an essential tool. I have never regarded this particular text as a practitioner’s manual. It’s not really designed for that purpose. Nonetheless, if you know where to look, all the required answers are there. It is, however, a book best read by someone with pre-existing knowledge of compulsory purchase rather than a novice.

As with earlier editions, the text is thorough, the historical context is provided, and references are in abundance. The in-depth, encyclopaedic knowledge displayed is still not replicated elsewhere. In the preface it is suggested that given the absence of reform, a third edition might be thought an indulgence, but the text covers key legislative change in some detail and also important developments in case law, including Spirerose, which are helpfully discussed at some length, and I found the new edition a comfort rather than an indulgence. Additionally, the new content on private bills and transport and works orders is wholly necessary in order to bring the text fully up to date.

If I have a grumble, and it’s not a big one, it’s that the language used in the text perhaps limits its effectiveness when an answer is required quickly. Undoubtedly, Rowan-Robinson’s reporting of case law is very accurate, as are his references to statute and underlying policy, historical and more recent, but the book is not an easy read throughout. On occasion, the inclusion of historical context gets in the way of a quick appraisal of the current state of the law. Having said that, at a time when the Scottish Government has turned its attention to the appropriate use of compulsory purchase in the context of the regeneration of Scotland’s towns and cities, Rowan-Robinson’s attention to historical detail serves a very useful purpose. When contemplating reform, it is best to have a thorough understanding of what is already there and the reasons for it.

And in any event, having to wrestle with the text won’t put off too many CPO practitioners from reaching for “Jeremy” as the principal Scottish CPO text.