Book review: 'The law of contract' (second edition) by Raymond J. Friel (Round Hall Sweet & Maxwell, 2000)

• Author: Hugh Geoghegan
• Position: Judge of the Supreme Court
• Pages: 147-151

BOOK REVIEW: “THE LAW OF

CONTRACT” (SECOND EDITION)

BY RAYMOND J. FRIEL

(ROUND HALL SWEET & MAXWELL, 2000)

THE HON. MR. JUSTICE HUGH GEOGHEGAN*

Immediately after a Bar final examination in the law

of contract in the early sixties, one of the students (now a

distinguished senior counsel) plaintively approached a rather

crusty examiner (long deceased) and asked him whether his

question concerning “mutual mistake” was based on Anson

or Cheshire and Fifoot. “It is based on the law” was the testy

reply. It was, however, widely believed at the time that “the

law” meant “Anson”, whereas the student had been brought

up in Cheshire and Fifoot. The question had not been a

foolish one in that what Anson called “mutual mistake” was

for the most part described as “common mistake” by

Cheshire and Fifoot, the latter reserving the expression

“mutual mistake” for the situation where the parties were at

cross-purposes rather than under a common misapprehension.

This anecdote is introduced to illustrate that terminology and

classifications are not always uniform as between writers on

the law of contract. It is not, therefore, any criticism of the

second edition of Mr. Raymond J. Friel’s book on the law of

contract to suggest that it should be read in conjunction with

other books on the same subject. His book is at any rate an

excellent overview of the law of contract and the concepts

involved in it which will be particularly helpful to students. I

do not think that it is intended as a book which would give a

ready answer to a practitioner in relation to a specific

147 Judicial Studies Institute Journal [1:1

*Judge of the Supreme Court.