Palmer's Company Law: Annotated Guide to the Companies Act 2006

General Editor: Geoffrey Morse

Price: £103.00

Edition: 2nd Edition (November 2009)

ISBN: 978-0-414-04087-8

Buy from Sweet & Maxwell: Click Here

Given that the Companies Act 2006 spans more than 1,000 sections, it is no wonder that both students and practitioners consider this a difficult area of law.  To try and overcome this problem, a number of guides have been published analysing the provisions.  Coming from the Palmer's Company Law team, Sweet & Maxwell's Palmer's Company Law: Annotated Guide to the Companies Act 2006 has a lot to live up to.  Unfortunately, it does not quite reach the expectations that many of us will have.

Palmer's Company Law: Annotated Guide to the Companies Act 2006 adopts a very logical approach by setting out the Act and then providing annotations under each section.  By doing so, the reader can quickly find the relevant commentary.  Whilst this makes answering specific questions on the statutory provisions easier, it does not (unfortunately) easily help to explain how the law works.  For example, if the reader wants to know how the new "squeeze-out" provisions work, she has to read the sections and piece together the commentary from each.

Because Palmer's Company Law: Annotated Guide to the Companies Act 2006 is edited by the team responsible for Palmer's Company Law, the commentary and cross-references are (as expected) well-written and authoritative.  There are, however, a little too academic and often fail to include the practical advice that practitioners crave.  It does, on the other hand, include an excellent summary allowing the reader to cross-reference the old provisions with the new.  This is particularly helpful for readers familiar with the provisions of the Companies Act 1985 (of which there will be many).

Palmer's Company Law: Annotated Guide to the Companies Act 2006 is well-written and authoritative.  As a stand-alone text, it can sometimes be difficult to read or follow.  If, however, the reader combines it with an overview of the Companies Act 2006, or Palmer's Company Law, it comes into its own by providing clear commentary on the new provisions.  If it could be adapted to provide more practical guidance, this would no doubt improve its utility for practitioners and make it more of an indispensible guide.  Until then, it is a very useful, although not essential, guide to the Companies Act 2006.

Reviewed on 6 February 2011

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