Land Law - Core Text Series

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Authors: Kevin Gray & Susan Gray

Price: £23.99

Edition: 6th Edition (July 2009)

ISBN: 978-0-19-956565-8

Buy from OUP: Click Here

Real property law, to give land law its proper title, is often feared by undergraduates, and many practitioners, because of its perceived complexity and inaccessibility.  There are therefore many textbooks on the market which try to tackle this issue: some aimed at a higher level and others aimed at providing an introductory account of the law and some of the key issues.  Land Law, part of Oxford University Press' Core Text Series, falls into this latter category of texts.

Written by two extremely experienced property lawyers with a mix of academic and practical experience, Land Law is separated into eleven chapters: fundamental concepts; possession and title; freehold ownership; leasehold ownership; easements and profits à pendre; security interests in land; beneficial ownership; dealings and their effect; other modes of acquisition; privacy, access and exclusion; and public regulation of land.  This is an extremely comprehensive list of topics which appears, at first blush, somewhat ambitious for an introductory text.

My previous experience with earlier editions of Kevin and Susan Gray's Land Law has been, to some extent, patchy.  During my days as an undergraduate, I recall leafing through the pages finding its layout and style frustrating.  It was often difficult to find the relevant part and the material often failed to answer my question.  Now in its sixth edition, my experience is completely different.  Written in a coherent style, it is logically arranged with the invaluable summaries at the start of each chapter.  The substantive text is also largely excellent with the authors referring the reader, where appropriate, to relevant statutes, cases and other parts of the text: this saves considerable time.

Land Law is, in the main, an excellent guide to real property law.  I only have two rather minor criticisms.  Firstly, it can be (at times) a little wordy and this is most evident in the preface which runs to a mammoth six pages!  Secondly, whilst it admirably looks at some of the social issues of property law, those issues are (in my view) better served in more substantive texts.  The aim of a Core Text should be to provide the key issues a student needs to tackle property law: there is enough law to learn without social issues on top!  That said, these are two minor issues in an otherwise vital text for students or, indeed, practitioners who delve into the murky world of real property law.

Reviewed on 6 April 2010

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