Casebook on Contract Law
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Author: Jill Poole
Price: £27.99
Edition: 9th Edition (July 2008)
ISBN: 978-0-19-923352-6
Buy from OUP: Click Here
The
editor of any casebook faces a difficult task to decide which material to
include, so that the reader quickly understands the important principles,
and which material to leave out. Jill Poole's Casebook on Contract Law
manages this task with considerable ease by striking an excellent balance
between cases and commentary.
Chapter one is unusual for many casebooks because it provides the reader with a guide to reading and analysing case law. This is an excellent idea as undergraduate students can often be quickly drowned in complex and lengthy judgments. The rest of Casebook on Contract Law adopts a very familiar approach by logically looking through topics like agreement, intention to create legal relations, terms and contractual interpretation, discharge for breach of contract, remedies for breach and misrepresentation. Poole's written style and expert selection of material means that whilst this is not a substitute for reading a judgment or article in the library, the reader quickly becomes aware of the fundamental principles.
Other excellent features of Casebook on Contract Law includes its straight-forward layout. For example, chapter nine deals with remedies for breach of contract where Poole considers agreed damages clauses. This is an issue commonly dealt with in practice but often misunderstood. Poole tackles this topic by looking at the relevant cases and combines these with insightful commentary meaning the reader has the best prospect of understanding the principle and its application in practice. Similarly, Poole makes excellent use of coloured backgrounds to highlight the difference between cases and commentary: this is often overlooked in competing texts. Its online resource centre is, however, a little disappointing with, at the time of writing, only a few resources relating to this text.
Poole's Casebook on Contract Law is one of the best contract law casebooks on the market. It is written in an engaging and straight-forward manner allowing the reader to quickly understand the basics and important points. It also encourages the reader to read the full judgment which, for any lawyer, is a basic skill and is often overlooked. Whilst not a replacement for a library, it is an excellent supplement and provides great value for money.
Reviewed on 2 August 2009
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