Book reviews
Possession of Corporeal Moveables
Craig Anderson
PUBLISHER: EDINBURGH LEGAL EDUCATION TRUST
ISBN: 978-0955633270
PRICE: £30
This is Volume 3 in the Studies in Scots Law series.
“Possession” is a commonly used word, but what does it mean in legal terms? To answer this question, the author of this book (which is an amended version of his doctoral thesis) undertakes a detailed analysis of the Scots common law and underlying Roman law, as well as "pre-Stair" Scots law.
The term “possession” is used in various ways in Scots law and in legislation. As the author points out, the English law is markedly different from the Scots law on the subject. In English law, there is no clear distinction between ownership and possession, unlike Scots law and civilian jurisdictions generally. Chapter 2 is a detailed analysis of the historical and comparative approaches to the concept, drawing on a number of other jurisdictions. Unsurprisingly, all the systems require some degree of direct and indirect physical control of the property possessed.
The book is a very detailed treatment. I doubt whether it will be widely read by practising solicitors, but that, with respect, is not the benchmark against which it should be judged. There will be times when a full understanding of this subject will be important and this book will then be an invaluable aid.
In this issue
- Human rights: preparing the UK's report card
- Doping and Rio – the final say?
- Mr v Mrs: the real mediation world?
- GDPR – still coming to the UK
- eDisclosure and Brexit: GDPR come what may?
- Tom Axford, 7 March 1960-12 May 2016
- Reading for pleasure
- Opinion: Billie Kirkham
- Book reviews
- Profile
- President's column
- Pilots chart a course
- People on the move
- Thiepval: what does that mean to you?
- Iraq: a basis in law?
- Big Brother, or benign assistance?
- Activist banking
- Hostility enacted – a view from practitioners
- Bankruptcy reconstructed
- No-blame redress: a blueprint?
- Moorov: bridging the gap
- Ten years of cohabitation claims
- Employment law post-Brexit: what change is likely?
- Mine, and they're private
- Brexit: is parting sweet or sorrow for pensions?
- Scottish Solicitors' Discipline Tribunal
- Brexit? Don't panic...
- Law for heroes
- Law reform roundup
- Vulnerable witnesses: LJC alert
- Power to whose elbow?
- It isn't about the babies!
- Covered by the terms?
- Ask Ash
- The power of culture
- Properly engaged
- Paralegal pointers