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

AuthorHugh Geoghegan
PositionJudge of the Supreme Court
Pages147-151
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.

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