Standing to attention

Standing in Private Law: Powers of Enforcement in the Law of Obligations and Trusts

 

Dr Timothy Liau

 

£110, Oxford University Press

 

★★★★✩

Before I read this book, I had never considered the right of a person to bring a claim to be different to their standing in a matter. Timothy Liau sets out to explain this distinction and its importance in actions being brought in private law matters. He focuses on developing, rationalising and progressing existing arguments and concepts. This is not a voluminous book. However, each chapter is packed with in-depth analysis of theories and doctrines. 

Standing in Private Law

For someone who has never considered standing in this way, there is a helpfully extensive and comprehensive introductory explanation of what ‘standing’ is, why a deeper discussion and focus is required in a private law context, and how the author intends to enlighten his readers.

This book might be best placed in an academic setting, but a practitioner might also consider the practical impact the author’s discussions have on their cases.

 

Sangeeta Rabadia is a partner in the private wealth department at Spencer West, London

 

Waste

 

Suzanne Stephenson

 

£7.99, LR Price Publications Ltd

 

Suzanne Stephenson’s Waste is set in an eponymous town somewhere in the north of England. The two principal characters, Steven and Scyathica, are a ‘judges clerk’ and a court reporter, who despite their very different backgrounds, have both determinedly left the capital and are new arrivals in the town.

Waste

 

The Combined Court, with its idiosyncratic local judiciary, features prominently, as do the waste plant and sausage factory. A cast of characters is introduced which includes a press baron, two MPs and various members of the local legal profession. Perhaps inevitably, the two principal characters become close, and as they do so much is learnt about the colourful local life.

 

This is an affectionate portrait of a town and legal life far from the metropolis. The author has clearly enjoyed writing this book and at the conclusion provides us with her recipes for some local delicacies.

 

David Philpott is a partner at Olliers Solicitors, Manchester

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