The development of private law across the common law world is typically portrayed as a series of incremental steps, each one delivered as a result of judges dealing with marginally different factual circumstances presented to them for determination. This is said to be the common law method. According to this process, change might be assumed to be gradual, almost imperceptible. If this were true, however, then even Darwinian-style evolution - which is subject to major change-inducing pressures, such as the death of the dinosaurs - would seem unlikely in the law, and radical and revolutionary paradigms shifts perhaps impossible. And yet the history of the common law is to the contrary. The legal landscape is littered with quite remarkable revolutionary and evolutionary changes in the shape of the common law. The essays in this volume explore some of the highlights in this fascinating revolutionary and evolutionary development of private law. The contributors expose the nature of the changes undergone and their significance for the future direction of travel. They identify the circumstances and the contexts which might have provided an impetus for these significant changes. The essays range across all areas of private law, including contract, tort, unjust enrichment and property. No area has been immune from development. That fact itself is unsurprising, but an extended examination of the particular circumstances and contexts which delivered some of private law's most important developments has its own special significance for what it might indicate about the shape, and the shaping, of private law regimes in the future.

Personal Property law is probably the most important and yet the most neglected and least understood aspect of English law. Historically, Personal Property law was neglected because it was commonly, but misleadingly, regarded as belonging to a number of entirely separate legal categories. The recent growth of specialist literature in this area is indicative of the increasing awareness of the importance of personal property law by practitioners.

Personal Property: Text and Materials addresses the problem of the near invisibility of personal property law within the law curriculum by producing an integrated casebook that covers both the underlying philosophy and concepts of personal property law and the impact of evolving business practices on the development of the law. The book is inspired by a determination to produce a concept orientated approach to the study of personal property law, avoiding the specific-contract approach to the subject that has hitherto impoverished the study of the concepts and philosophy of personal property law in the United Kingdom.

The book is aimed at undergraduate law students in commercial law courses as well as students in integrated property law courses. By considering all the branches of law that touch commercial transactions such as equity, trusts, property law and restitution, Personal Property: Text and Materials, is also ideal for students studying postgraduate commercial law programs who may or may not have qualifying law degrees.

Lord Sumption has been one of the most influential judges of his generation. This book critically reflects on the important and controversial issues raised by his jurisprudence. Using Lord Sumption's judgments and extra-judicial lectures as a starting point, the book contains a selection of essays that consider 'where next' in relation to topics such as: - contract variation, damages and penalties; - economic loss and personal injury in tort law; - knowing receipt and proprietary restitution; - illegality in private law; - agency and attribution; - piercing the corporate veil; - foreign law in the English courts. The book covers a broad range of areas in private law including contract, tort, unjust enrichment, equity, company and commercial law, as well as private international law and civil procedure.

One of the most pressing problems now facing commercial lawyers is to explain the principles which determine when a remedy is proprietary and when it is not. This book provides a broad overview of the subject. It examines representative business transactions which commonly give rise to legal or equitable interests in personal property. Its aim is to distil the fundamental principles understanding the relevant legal analyses. The result is to provide a more theoretically rigorous analytical framework for proprietary interests in personal property. The practical advantages of this are potentially twofold: new commercial transactions can be more effectively structured; in addtion, disputes between contracting parties can be more reliably resolved. Two features of the analysis are significant. The first is the elastic nature of proprietary interests in personal property. Although proprietary interests can be broadly classified as ownership or security interests, these are relative concepts which may be affected significantly by impinging contractual arrangements. The second feature is the necessary and intimate integration of law and equity. Equitable proprietary interests are remarkabldy prevalent; this prevalence is directly related to the apparent ease with which equity is able to convert particular personal obligations into proprietary interests.

This edited collection brings together leading scholars and practitioners from various jurisdictions with essays and commentaries co-ordinated around the theme of alignments and misalignments between commercial law and commercial practice. The purpose of the book is to prompt a more critical and constructive reassessment of current commercial law and its practices, and to instigate a more fruitful dialogue between academics, judges, law reformers and practitioners. request to reflect on specific areas where commercial law fails to match commercial expectations, and areas where it succeeds, and then to provide a provocative analysis of the reasons for this. Notwithstanding the open-ended invitation, certain themes are clearly evident in the end product. The contents page of the book is testament to the breadth and depth of the issues addressed. There are 24 essays in all, 11 with commentaries. Essays by academics receive comment by practitioners, and vice versa. Senior members of the judiciary also participated, providing both essays and commentary. funded by the Society of Legal Scholars, the Modern Law Review, and the LSE Law Department. The end product should prove of interest to all concerned with the study and practice of commercial law, and its continuing evolution.

The law of commercial remedies raises a number of important doctrinal, theoretical and practical controversies which deserve sustained and rigorous examination. This volume explores such controversies and suggests solutions, which is essential to ensure that the law is defensible, clear and just. With contributions from twenty-three leading academic and practitioner experts, this book addresses significant issues in the law which, taken together, range across the entire remedial jurisdiction as it applies to commercial disputes. The book primarily focuses on the resolution of controversies in the English law of commercial remedies, but recent developments elsewhere are also considered, especially in other common law jurisdictions. The result provides remarkably comprehensive coverage of the field which will be of relevance to academics, students, judges and practitioners.

Sealy & Worthington's Text, Cases, & Materials in Company Law clearly explains the fundamental structure of company law and provides a concise exploration of each different aspect of the subject. The materials are carefully selected and well supported by commentary so that the logic of the doctrinal or legal argument is unambiguously shown. Notes and questions appear periodically throughout the text to provoke ongoing analysis and debate and enable students to test their understanding of the issues as the topics unfold. This text covers a wide range of sources and provides intelligent and thought provoking commentary in a succinct format. It will be invaluable to all those looking for expert observations and vital materials on company law. Digital formats and resources The twelfth edition is available for students and institutions to purchase in a variety of formats. The e-book offers a mobile experience and convenient access along with functionality tools and navigation features: www.oxfordtextbooks.co.uk/ebooks

This second edition of Sarah Worthington's Equity maintains the clear ambitions of the first. It sets out the basic principles of equity, and illustrates them by reference to commercial and domestic examples of their operation. The book comprehensively and succinctly describes the role of equity in creating and developing rights and obligations, remedies and procedures that differ in important ways from those provided by the common law itself. Worthington delivers a complete reworking of the material traditionally described as equity. In doing this, she provides a thorough examination of the fundamental principles underpinning equity's most significant incursions into the modern law of property, contract, tort, and unjust enrichment. In addition, she exposes the possibilities, and the need, for coherent substantive integration of common law and equity. Such integration she perceives as crucial to the continuing success of the modern common law legal system. This book provides an accessible and elementary exploration of equity's place in our modern legal system, whilst also tackling the most taxing and controversial questions which our dual system of law and equity raises.

The law of commercial remedies raises a number of important doctrinal, theoretical and practical controversies which deserve sustained and rigorous examination. This volume explores such controversies and suggests solutions, which is essential to ensure that the law is defensible, clear and just. With contributions from twenty-three leading academic and practitioner experts, this book addresses significant issues in the law which, taken together, range across the entire remedial jurisdiction as it applies to commercial disputes. The book primarily focuses on the resolution of controversies in the English law of commercial remedies, but recent developments elsewhere are also considered, especially in other common law jurisdictions. The result provides remarkably comprehensive coverage of the field which will be of relevance to academics, students, judges and practitioners.

This is a landmark and ambitious research project looking at private law through the policy prism undertaken by a team of acknowledged experts in their fields. The majority of existing literature diminishes the impact of policy in the development of legal principles, impeding a deeper understanding of it. Part of a two-part study, this first volume explores tort law, property law and equity. Both studies engage with modern challenges and technical developments that now inform private law, with chapters looking at the Grenfell disaster, compensation of medical injuries post COVID-19, the gig economy and co-ownership. They also explore traditional private law areas through a novel lens, such as psychological injury and the impact of fairness and/or equality obligations. They highlight the similarities and differences across many aspects of private law, allowing for a richer analysis across all the strands of private law.

Lord Sumption has been one of the most influential judges of his generation. This book critically reflects on the important and controversial issues raised by his jurisprudence. Using Lord Sumption's judgments and extra-judicial lectures as a starting point, the book contains a selection of essays that consider 'where next' in relation to topics such as: - contract variation, damages and penalties; - economic loss and personal injury in tort law; - knowing receipt and proprietary restitution; - illegality in private law; - agency and attribution; - piercing the corporate veil; - foreign law in the English courts. The book covers a broad range of areas in private law including contract, tort, unjust enrichment, equity, company and commercial law, as well as private international law and civil procedure.

The development of private law across the common law world is typically portrayed as a series of incremental steps, each one delivered as a result of judges dealing with marginally different factual circumstances presented to them for determination. This is said to be the common law method. According to this process, change might be assumed to be gradual, almost imperceptible. If this were true, however, then even Darwinian-style evolution - which is subject to major change-inducing pressures, such as the death of the dinosaurs - would seem unlikely in the law, and radical and revolutionary paradigms shifts perhaps impossible. And yet the history of the common law is to the contrary. The legal landscape is littered with quite remarkable revolutionary and evolutionary changes in the shape of the common law. The essays in this volume explore some of the highlights in this fascinating revolutionary and evolutionary development of private law. The contributors expose the nature of the changes undergone and their significance for the future direction of travel. They identify the circumstances and the contexts which might have provided an impetus for these significant changes. The essays range across all areas of private law, including contract, tort, unjust enrichment and property. No area has been immune from development. That fact itself is unsurprising, but an extended examination of the particular circumstances and contexts which delivered some of private law's most important developments has its own special significance for what it might indicate about the shape, and the shaping, of private law regimes in the future.