Blackstone's Civil Practice 2010

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Editors: Stuart Sime, Derek French & Sir Maurice Kay

Price: £195.00

Edition: 10th Edition (September 2009)

ISBN: 978-0-19-956902-1

Buy from OUP: Click Here

Blackstone's Civil Practice 2010 is steadily, and deservedly, obtaining a reputation as a key text for any civil or commercial litigator.  It aims to provide one affordable volume so it is the only companion needed by the busy practitioner.  It largely achieves this aim by providing a coherently written and practical guide to civil procedure and commercial disputes.

Unlike similar texts (like The Green Book, The White Book and The Brown Book), Blackstone's Civil Practice 2010 is separated into two main parts: procedure and law.  In the first part, the editors tackle the procedure by dealing with claims in chronological order.  For example, after general issues, it looks at funding followed by beginning the claim and so on.  Each chapter is self-contained meaning if, for example, a reader wishes to consider applying for summary judgment then he or she need only turn to chapter 34.  Similarly, the second part of the text deals with particular commercial disputes including bankruptcy, landlord and tenant matters, sale of goods and consumer credit.  Rather than providing commentary on key sections, it adopts a very welcome textbook approach.

For the main part, Blackstone's Civil Practice 2010 is wonderfully written in an authoritative and clear way.  Unfortunately, however, some parts of the texts are a let-down.  Being a consumer credit lawyer, I was keen to consider the whole chapter devoted to this area of law.  Whilst it was a fair summary of the law, basic and fundamental points were wrongly stated.  For example, the text talks about a £25,000 limit on regulated agreements which will be removed in the future: this change actually happened in 2008 (around a year before publication).  Such basic errors undermine the rest of the text meaning readers may question parts when they need not.  It is hoped the editors quickly tackle these errors.

Blackstone's Civil Practice 2010 is well-structured and, largely, expertly written.  I was disappointed to note that it no longer comes with a CD-ROM (which came with earlier editions) but, fortunately, a supplement remains a key way of updating the text.  Unfortunately, this edition is let down by some fairly basic errors, particularly on the chapter discussing consumer credit.  It is hoped that these issues can be quickly addressed so that the goodwill already generated is not lost.  If they are, Blackstone's Civil Practice 2010 will remain a highly regarded text amongst practitioners.

Reviewed on 1 January 2010

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