Anthony Berryman s Magistrates Court Guide 2010

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BOOK REVIEW

Anthony & Berryman’s MAGISTATES’ COURT GUIDE 2010

Editor: F.G. Davies

ISBN: 978-1-4057-4226-9

Butterworths LexisNexis

http://www.lexisnexis.org.uk/legal/handbooks/p/147/

THE MAGISTRATES’ COURT LAWCARDS FOR PROFESSIONALS

An appreciation by Phillip Taylor MBE with Elizabeth Taylor of Richmond Green Chambers

This is it – the latest Mags Court Guide bang up to date. It is the essential reference in one volume for practice and procedure linked a “lawcard” style system which I rather like for ease of use, with a concise commentary I need without going to “Stones” for the heavy case detail which I would use if the matter was complex and hard.

So, if you’re a practitioner in the Magistrates’ Court, or you are associated professionally to the court in any way, you’ll need this new guide on your shelf. All recent case law and legislation relevant to the Magistrates’ Court is set out, including revised Sentencing Guidelines Council (SGC) sentencing guidelines covering burglary, theft and breach of ASBOs which will be great assistance to duty solicitors and the defence. Also published are the new SGC guidelines for statutory offences of fraud published on 13 October 2009 so it’s as up to date as possible for 2010.

There are comprehensive Tables of Cases, Statutes and Statutory Instruments and an extremely useful index at the back in a handy format similar to the cards the justices have o the Bench. And there are sections on bail and indexes for crime, road traffic, family proceedings and sentencing.

Practitioners agree that this succinct, logically structured work of reference provides guidance on key cases and practice developments and there is a wealth of new material and legislative changes you’ll find summarized in the preface, notably such changes as the new Youth Rehabilitation Order (YRO); Drinking Banning Orders (DBOs) and the Road Safety Act 2006 which became law in August 2008.

Also note recent developments in, for example, the enforcement of contact orders resulting from the Children and Adoption Act 2006 and the revised sentencing guidelines introduced in 2009 for theft, burglary and breach of an ASBO emanating from the continuing work of the Sentencing Guidelines Council.

The law is stated in the 2010 edition as at 1st October 2009. I often wondered who Ernest Anthony and John Dennis Berryman were when they began their long collaboration from the late 1960s, covering licensing, and the first edition of this complete I remember seeing was around 1971 when I started the LL.B and attended court for the first time- the title has just grown with the volume of offences over the years as the common law has been supplanted and consolidated by statute.

But I’m glad the excellent and masterful F G Davies has kept the title as I still find the format of most assistance in that terribly short and pressured time when the justices are sitting, and I need the information instantly…and that’s exactly what I’m getting again this year with the 2010 ‘Anthony & Berryman’.

ISBN: 978-1-4057-4226-9