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BOWSTEAD & REYNOLDS ON AGENCY

(18^TH EDITION)

Edited by 

Professor Francis Reynolds

With the assistance of Michele Graziadei

THOMSON SWEET & MAXWELL 

ISBN: 0 421 85800 1 

Price: £265

SECRETS OF AGENCY LAW FOR STUDENTS

Useful tips for the very diligent LL.B learner

Book review by Phillip Taylor MBE

The original book consisted simply of Articles and Illustrations and was essentially a basic structure with much detail concerning case law.  At a later stage comments were added in a vein similar to those found in “Dicey, Morris and Collins”.  The book at the beginning was entitled ‘A Digest of the Law of Agency’.  The first edition was very much a Victorian book and contained nearly all the cases on agency which were relevant at that time.

Practitioners are very lucky, today, to have the nine Sweet and Maxwell publications in the Commercial Series of books which forms part of its overall Common Law Library. “Bowstead & Reynolds on Agency” has required innumerable and often comparatively small changes which Reynolds has now undertaken for this eighteenth edition for the twenty-first century.  

The law of agency has been developed by major judgments of the 20th century, and by statute, so the book has been heavily amended. It is a success because Professor Reynolds has been able to reformulate the law as it continues to move forward.  However, Reynolds does admit that “there are still discrete parts of the book, often slightly miscellaneous propositions, which although they indeed relate to agents probably still need assimilating by stages to other parts of the law.” 

AREAS OF CHANGE 

Main editorial changes include: 

·                    Ratification: with the significant decisions in Smith v Henniker-Major & Co., The Borvigilant; and AMB Generali Holding AG v SEB Trygg Liv Holding Aktiebolag which also covers apparent authority (always a difficult matter for proof) and warranty of authority; 

·                    Fiduciary duties: Item Software (UK) Ltd v Fassihi and Murad v Al-Saraj;

·                    The difference between “void” and “voidable” over lack of authority (again difficult to prove): Criterion Properties Plc v Stratford Properties LLC and Hopkins v T.L. Dallas Group Ltd; 

·                    Apparent authority and illegible signatures (aren’t they always!): Pacific Carriers Ltd v BNP Paribas (High Court of Australia); 

·                    Notice through agents; and 

·                    Irrevocable authority; an area where Dr Mark McGaw has done much historical research impacting on agency in general. 

COMMERCIAL AGENTS 

Reynolds acknowledges that the specialised topic of commercial agents in chapter 11, with much new case law (mostly at first instance), has been completely re-written and deals, in particular, with the case in early 2006 of Lonsdale v Howard & Hallam Ltd in the Court of Appeal.   

What is to be commended throughout the work is the view of the editor that nothing has been removed from the publication that might still be of use to the practitioner unless Reynolds was sure that it was obsolete, or that treatment within a different area of law was clearly more appropriate. It is particularly useful to realise that, at all times, the editor, recognises how new and distinct areas of law are being created, and where the line is drawn between the law concerning agency and other substantive law issues which are coming into existence as the law is regularly reformed and modified for contemporary business needs.  This is certainly a role which the Common Law Library now relishes and I am very thankful for it.  

THE INTERNATIONAL PERSPECTIVE 

As a renowned author and respected authority on the law of agency, Professor Reynolds provides an international perspective, covers Commonwealth decisions, and regularly uses parallels from other common law jurisdictions, especially Australia, New Zealand and Canada to encompass new cases and their implications.

“Bowstead & Reynolds” is frequently cited in court and I find the use of illustrations to explain difficult concepts, for example, the ratification of policies of insurance after loss so well covered at paragraph 2-092, an excellent practical device for the practitioner confronted with, in many cases, novel problems which need firm thought to resolve.  It will help the law student as well when answering detailed problem questions set by examiners (who have probably read this work). 

As with all the Common Law Library series, Sweet & Maxwell have, as always, a useful mini-contents list at the beginning of each chapter.  This makes navigation of the work very helpful as a reference tool, and a statement of the general principles of agency law all the more easier to understand for the practitioner who may have had only an academic background to the subject prior to a much-needed encounter with the new edition of ‘Bowstead & Reynolds’.
 

January 2008

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