Reference books are good if you can quickly locate in them the information you need. As regards ease of use this dictionary is excellent: the disposition of the material is very clear and simple, using only a few symbols and not too many abbreviations, all of which are well explained. The problems which result from the variety of compound words are effectively solved. Coverage is perhaps less admirable. Missing from this dictionary, hefty though it is, are quite a few of the terms which figured in the glossary of a recent introduction to German law in English. The scholar is likelier to find gaps than the businessman and practitioner, though none of them can need to be told that “Freund” means “boy-friend” as well as “friend” and likewise for “Freundin”. Translation of terms is generally good, or as good as possible, given the preference for offering several short equivalents rather than a contextual explanation. Thus “Handlung eines Erfüllungsgehilfen” is rather unhelpfully given as “vicarious act”. All in all, there is much benefit to be gained from this volume and its