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Lloyd's Maritime and Commercial Law Quarterly

OUR OBLIGATIONS TO THE COMMON LAW

David Campbell *

Of all people, jurists should be best aware of the true state of affairs. Perhaps some now are. Yet they will succumb to their own timorous fiction, that a statement of “the law” is a statement of fact.

INTRODUCTION

The book under review1 is the fourth edition of a successful textbook, the previous editions of which appeared in 1986, 1994 and 2004.2 It is a work of enormous industry and first-rate legal exposition, authoritatively bringing together the case law and statute law of what it would be pedantic to deny is all of the judicial remedies now available in the law of obligations.3 The structure of the book, based on five substantive parts, is a matter to which considerable thought has been given and will be discussed in detail in this review. These five parts are preceded by Pt I, an “Introduction”, which very helpfully sets out the scope and character of what is to follow and briefly discusses some “more theoretical approaches”.4 Any advanced student and all those with a more developed interest in any part of the subject would be foolish not to turn to this book to begin their studies, and they will find that they are not only always presented with the core of the relevant law, but very often with an “analysis and critique of the principles governing judicial remedies”5 that will stimulate their understanding.
The deserved success of Professor Burrows’ new edition is assured not only by its qualities but also because it has no rival in England and Wales. Admittedly, McGregor,6 alone, also covers all the ground of this book; and there is now a number of books, in the appearance of some of which Burrows has played an important part,7 which cover good

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