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Civil Procedure Commentary and Materials by S. Colbran et al (Book Review) [1998] JSPL 7; (1998) 2 Journal of South Pacific Law

BOOK REVIEW

BY JENNIFER CORRIN CARE

SENIOR LECTURER
SCHOOL OF LAW
UNIVERSITY OF THE SOUTH PACIFIC

Title: Civil Procedure Commentary and Materials

Author: Colbran, S., Reinhardt, G., Spender, P., Jackson, S. and Douglas, R.

Published by Butterworths: Australia (1998)

ISBN: 0 409 31094 8

pp: 989

The stated aim of this book is to provide students, lecturers and practitioners with a comprehensive analysis of the practical and theoretical issues encountered in the study and practice of Australian civil procedure. It is also stated to be an attempt to ‘create a standard national approach to the teaching of this subject’. Presumably this is a reference to approach to syllabus content rather than teaching method.

Although there are significant differences between the rules of the state and territory courts, there is a basic common pattern to proceedings both at state and federal level. This allows for the discussion of general principles in this and other texts on Australian civil procedure. The book describes and compares civil procedure in the superior courts of all Australian jurisdictions. It also draws comparisons with other counties such as United Kingdom, Germany, France and Canada.

The book’s 962 pages contain both primary and secondary materials. The primary materials include extracts from court rules, practice directions, legislation, and extracts from decided cases. Secondary materials include extracts from articles, books, Law Reform Commission papers, lectures and conference papers.

The index is not always helpful. For example, the only reference under the heading ‘Security for costs’ is [17.6.26] which deals with security for the costs of appeal. Sections on security for costs in the chapters on interlocutory applications and costs are not mentioned. Tables of statutes, statutory rules and practice directions are included and subdivided by jurisdiction. There is also a table of cases. Unfortunately, although the letter ‘C’ appears after a case name in the table to indicate reference to an extract, no distinction is made between cases that form the substance of an extract and those which are only mentioned in it. Full citations of cases are not contained in the table. The book would have benefited from a table of extracts, allowing the reader to find out whether particular material is included and to browse for things of particular interest.

The nineteen chapters of the book cover the following topics:

Court Adjudication under an Adversarial System

This is an introductory chapter, which looks at the definition and sources of procedure. It compares the adversarial and inquisitorial models of litigation and looks at aspects of case management. The chapter contains a useful section on inherent jurisdiction. A very brief description of the court hierarchies in Australia is given without any references for those who wish to pursue this topic.

Jurisdiction