Land Law

Publisher: Sweet & Maxwell

Author: Robert Pearce

Price: £32.95

Edition: 5th Edition (July 2013)

ISBN: 978-0-414-02324-6

Buy from Sweet & Maxwell: Click Here

For many students, land law is a difficult (but extremely important) topic.  Its mixture of statutory principles, common law and historical background mean that many students feel it is both abstract and outdated.  Whilst the Land Registration Act 2002 may have gone some way to resolving these issues, academics always face an uphill battle with students.  Fortunately, Land Law attempts to overcome these numerous issues by providing an accessible account of land law.  To my mind, it achieves this aim with considerable ease.

With sole authorship now passing to Robert Pearce (John Stevens having taken up a second career as Director of the Federation of Independent Evangelical Churches and Nicola Jackson having written her own text on land law: Gateway to Land Law; click here to see our review), Land Law has been thoroughly updated since the last edition was published in 2008.  It is split into three parts: introductory; the ownership of land; and subsidiary interests in land.  These parts cover may of the topics traditionally considered at undergraduate level like freehold ownership of land; leasehold ownership; and mortgages.  It also includes an appendix explaining the historical developments of the law.

Land Law practically tackles what is a complicated topic in a straight-forward and accessible way.  It is extremely well written and provides an engaging and thought-provoking text.  Pearce's substantial experience means that he superbly covers complex issues, particularly the difficult law on adverse possession which has conflicting rules for registered and unregistered law and the law of mortgages.  Like previous editions, Pearce makes excellent use of relevant extracts from leading judgments and statutory material allowing the reader to quickly understand the issues.  The layout is also very clear and the formatting makes it easy to (a) find relevant material and (b) differentiate between text and materials.

For anyone studying land law for the first time, they should look no further than Land Law.  It explains the key principles in a logical and accessible way whilst, at the same time, providing enough detail so satisfy even the most experienced land law lawyer (and certainly more than enough to allow them to undertake their own further research).  Its price also means it is competitively priced compared to other similar texts.  There is no doubt that Land Law will continue to be a favourite of students (and practitioners needing a fairly detailed overview) for years to come.  It is hoped that we do not need to wait another five years between editions for the sixth edition!

Reviewed on 18 May 2014

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