Understanding Common Law Legislation

Name: Understanding Common Law Legislation
Brand: Oxford University Press
SKU: 9780199564101
Price: 706.16 HKD
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Author: F.A.R. Bennion
ISBN: 9780199564101

By F.A.R. Bennion

Oxford University Press May 2009

Specifications

ISBN-13: 9780199564101
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Publication: May 2009
Format: Paperback
Jurisdiction: U.K. ? Countri(es) for reference only

Details

There are many countries that use and apply the common law, which collectively may be called the common law world. A feature of this world is that nowadays it largely operates through statutes enacted by a country's democratic legislature, and that these mainly fall to be construed according to a uniform system of rules, presumptions, principles and canons evolved over centuries by common law judges. The statutes subject to this interpretative regime may be called common law statutes.

They are the main subject of this book, along with the said uniform system. The book distills and updates within a brief compass the author's published writings on statute law and statutory interpretation which span a period of nearly forty years, being contained in half a dozen books and many more articles.

The chief books are Statute Law (Longman, third edition 1990), Halsbury's Laws of England, Title Statutes (Butterworths, 4th edition reissue 1995), and Statutory Interpretation (Butterworths, third edition 1997, supplement 1999). Since its first publication in 1984, the last named work has also been updated each year in the All England Law Reports Annual Review (Butterworths).

Contents:: 1. Basic concepts I: common law statutes; the enactment; legal meaning; factual outline and legal thrust - implied ancillary rules; 2. Basic concepts II: opposing constructions; literal, purposive and developmental interpretations; 3. Grammatical and strained meanings; 4. Consequential and rectifying construtions; 5. Contradictory enactments and updating construction; 6. Drafting techniques and the Interpretation Act; 7. Transitional provisions and the Cohen question; 8. Words in pairs; 9. Rules of interpretation; 10. Legal policy; 11. Interpretative presumptions; 12. Linguistic canons and interpretative technique; 13. The nature of judgment; 14. The nature of discretion; 15. The European Union and the HRA; 16. The jurisprudential basis of the common law method; 17. The common law system in America; 18. Techniques of law management ;

About the Author

F.A.R. Bennion, Research Associate, University of Oxford Centre for Socio-Legal Studies

The author was formerly one of the Parliamentary Counsel, responsible for drafting British legislation. His drafting work includes, among much constitutional and other legislation, the Consumer Credit Act 1974 and the Sex Discrimination Act 1975. As a constitutional lawyer, he has also advised at various times the governments of Pakistan, Ghana, Jamaica, and Gibraltar. He drafted constitutions for Pakistan (1956) and Ghana (1959-1961) on those countries attaining the status of independent republics. He was also formerly law tutor at St Edmund Hall in the University of Oxford, and is currently a Research Associate of the University of Oxford Centre for Socio-Legal Studies.

Reviews

Review(s) from previous edition

"Francis Bennion brings with him years of experience in legislative drafting ... The treatment is uniformly illuminating, and the style is homely. - The Commonwealth Lawyer

"Readers who have come to expect a degree of iconoclasm from Francis Bennion will not be disappointed. he includes the occasional throwaway line which reverberates. All this serves only to increase the pleasure of reading the book: it never affects the careful objectivity which Bennion brings to bear on his subject." - Law Quarterly Review Vol. 118, July 2002

"... fascinating and entertaining ... The text is clear and accessible, enlivened by examples and enhanced by chapter summaries." - New Law Journal, 8 Feb 2002

Review(s) from previous edition

"The book is based on writings which span nearly four decades. It covers not only issues relating to the enactment of common law statutes and the various rules governing their interpretation, but also legal policy, the nature of discretionary powers, the jurisprudential basis of the common law method, and techniques of law management. The treatment is uniformly illuminating and the style is homely. The author's philosophy is best summed up in his observation that, "Up and down the land, statutes are not some out of the way dusty nuisance. They are part of everyday life, and we had better understand them if we can." - Dr Venkat Iyer, The Commonwealth Lawyer vol.11 no.2, August 2002

Review(s) from previous edition

"Bennion is one of Great Britain's leading scholars in the area of statutory construction. This is one of the best books on statutory construction that I have read. - Gary O'Connor, Statutory Construction Zone

Review(s) from previous edition

"[This book] not only makes a good reading on understanding common law legislation but also delves into 'global techniques' of interpretation of statutes. It also offers a blue print of law curriculum on interpretation of statutes. - K. I. Vibhute, Scholastcus, January 2004

Review(s) from previous edition

"This book lays down most lucidly the fundamentals of common law legislation, the drafting techniques and the interpretation principles. In his voluminous treatise on Interpretation, Bennion has seminally carved out new spheres of interpretative jurisprudence and this book could be said to be a prologue to the main treatise. It proved very useful in the course on Interpretation as not many books give the jurisprudential foundations of interpretation principles which it does. - Rishabh Sancheti, National Law University, India, September 2006