Book review: 'The high court:a user's guide' by Kieron Wood (Four courts press, 1998)

• Author: Roderick Murphy
• Position: Judge of the High Court
• Pages: 163-168

BOOK REVIEW: “THE HIGH COURT:A

USER'S GUIDE”

BY KIERON WOOD

(FOUR COURTS PRESS, 1998)

THE HON. MR. JUSTICE RODERICK MURPHY*

The perspective of law depends on where one is

standing. To a child it is somewhat forbidding and remote. To

a teenager imbued with its representation in the media, it is

part of a drama in which some few may want to become

involved and others are, unwittingly, drawn into. To the

student of law, it turns from being mysterious and enigmatic

to being challenging and exciting. The cycle may, indeed,

repeat itself to the practitioner whose early years seek to find

the path, illuminated with a certain knowledge of the law, to

develop the skills to resolve the enigma.

Kieron Wood’s book will be helpful both to students

and practitioners to enable them to move from substantive to

procedural law. It will be particularly helpful to those whose

practice of law is in the commerical, financial, administrative

and educational areas. Both barristers and solicitors acquire

skills in applying the law. Wood's guide is a useful outline of

High Court practice for those whose litigation practice takes

them to that court.

Newly qualified solicitors and barristers depend on

the quality of their masters to learn the skills of practising the

law rather than just learning the law. They have not had the

benefit of a comprehensive guide. Neither the Rules of the

Superior Courts1 nor O’Floinn’s Practice and Procedure in

2001] Book Review: “High Court: A User’s Guide” 163

1 S. I. No. 15 of 1986

*Judge of the High Court.