Product Description
Questions arising in commercial law require an understanding of legal history, no differently from any other area of law, and, as the High Court observed in Andrews v ANZ [2012] HCA 30 at [14], what is needed is more than a “brief backward glance”. These essays provide a suite of materials to enable a sophisticated and informed understanding of basic questions throughout commercial law. Their range extends to many aspects of commercial practice, often viewed through more than one prism. Thus, there are chapters on money and bills of exchange, and cheques and banking, and on the actions often associated with them (notably debt and conversion), and on Lord Mansfield’s contribution to commercial law. There are chapters on how the basic elements of the law of torts and contract came into existence, from a variety of perspectives. There are valuable analyses of privilege, defamation, assignment and implied terms. There are chapters on corporations, agency and insolvency. The chapter on restitution poses a challenge to thinking which has become orthodox outside Australia, as well as learnedly and deftly exposing the conceptual and practical difficulties accompanying that approach. The collection as a whole is introduced by James Watson, who demonstrates how each essay informs and influences commercial law in Australia in the 21st century.
These essays, once again by distinguished judges, practitioners and academics, complement those in the first volume. They provide insight and a deep understanding for students, practitioners and academics of fundamental issues in commercial law.
Contributors
Sketch of Writs
Editors’ Notes
Selected Legal Texts
Table of Cases
Table of Statutes
Introduction
A Sketch II: Praecipe to Negligence & Contract
J A Watson
A Note on the Curious Incidents of Debt
C J R Duncan & J A Watson
Trespass, The Action on the Case and Tort
M Lunney
Detinue, Trover and Conversion
J Randall & B Edgeworth
The Sources of Defamation Law
D Rolph
Legal Professional Privilege
P Brereton
Milestones in Negligence in the 19th and Early 20th Century
B McDonald
Contract Development Through the Looking-Glass of Implied Terms
E Peden
Why the History of Restitution Matters
I M Jackman
Lord Mansfield
B R Kremer
Money and Bills of Exchange
A McNaughton
The History of Cheques and Banking
A McNaughton
Assignment
G J Tolhurst
Agency
R A Dick
Corporations
M Wibisono
The History of Bankruptcy and Insolvency Law in England and Australia
J L B Allsop & L Dargan
Index
“More importantly, each of its essayists is a person whose contribution is worth reading. … [The volumes] create an important and valuable resource and make accessible to Australian lawyers, students and judges, in a convenient way, an array of materials which would otherwise require resort to a range of disparate texts and law review articles.”
“This book is a rich source of reference … I venture to say it is unique. I certainly hope that it will find its place among legal history courses in more than one law school and in more places than Sydney.”
Chief Justice Robert French launching both volumes, 22 August 2013
“The layout is impressive. As well as a typical contents page, the editors have prepared a detailed table of contents which identifies and references the important components of each contribution by heading and page number, enabling the reader to quickly locate and read about particular subjects within the essay. … The result is that it is easy to dip in and out of the text. I should add that there is a detailed index as well which further refines the search options for the reader.
Academics will be particularly attracted to the historical analysis, and practitioners will find that through the exposition of the histories relevant to the categories covered, there is offered a useful insight into principles, which will assist in the development of argument.
I found this book to be a most interesting read and highly recommend it.”
Gregory Geason, Law Letter, Law Society of Tasmania, Summer 2014
“These volumes are very well produced. The chronology, selected glossary and sketch of writs are good ideas which are well executed. There is a long tradition of legal history teaching in Australian law schools. The subject is too important to be allowed to quietly fade away. It is to be hoped that this work makes a valuable contribution towards arresting the slide.”
Dr Warren Swain, Qld Legal Yearbook, 2013
