Book reviews and notes

TRUSTS AND TRUSTEES: CASES AND MATERIALS. By R. H. Maudsley and E. H. Burn. [Butterworths. 1972. 660 pp. (inc. index). £6.60 (cased); £4.60 (limp).]

LABOUR AND THE LAW. By O. Kahn‐Freund. [Stevens. 1972. xii + 270 pp. £1.80.]

PRINCIPLES OF LABOUR LAW. By R. W. Rideout. [Sweet & Maxwell. 1972. xxxii+422 pp. £5.25 (hardback); £3.50 (paperback).]

BRITISH GOVERNMENT TODAY. By B. Jones. [Sweet & Maxwell. 1972. xv and 236 pp. £2.00 (hardback); £1.00 (paperback).]

THE LAW OF THEFT. By J. C. Smith. Second edition. [Butterworths. 1972. xxvii and 241 pp. (inc. index). £5.50 (hardback); £3.00 (limp).]

THE LAW OF TORTS. By John G. Fleming. Fourth edition. [Law Book Co. 1971. xlviii and 670 pp. (inc. index). £7.25 (bound); £4.75 (paperback).]

STREET ON TORTS. Fifth edition. [Butterworths. 1972. lxxxvii and 524 pp. (inc. index). £3.20 (paperback).]

TORT. By C. D. Baker. [Sweet & Maxwell. 1972. xxii and 295 pp. (inc. index). £2.50 (hardback); £1.60 (paperback).]

SELECTED STATUTES FOR BAR EXAMINATIONS: I. [Butterworths. 1972. vii and 360 pp. £2.00.]

LEGAL PROBLEMS OF AN ENLARGED EUROPEAN COMMUNITY. Edited by M. E. Bathurst and others. [Stevens & Sons. 1972. xix and 369 pp. (inc. index). £6.75.

VAT—A CONCISE GUIDE. By H. H. Mainprice. [VAT Planning & Publications Ltd., Crusader House, 14 Pall Mall, London. 1972. vii and 67 pp. 45p.]

CLARKE HALL AND MORRISON'S LAW RELATING TO CHILDREN AND YOUNG PERSONS. By L. Goodman. Eighth edition. [Butterworths. 1972. xlix and 1366 pp. (inc. index). £12.00 (£9.00 for members of B.A.S.W. and N.A.P.O.).]

INTRODUCTION TO ADMINISTRATIVE LAW. By David Foulkes. Third edition. [Butterworths. 1972. xx and 290 pp. (inc. index). £4.20 (hardback) ; £2.80 (paperback).]

INTRODUCTION TO ENGLISH LAW. By Philip S. James. Eighth edition. [Butterworths. 1972. xxxv and 482 pp. (inc. index). £3.00 (hardback); £1.20 (paperback).]

INTRODUCTION TO JURISPRUDENCE. By Lord Lloyd of Hampstead. Third edition. [Stevens. 1972. xxxix and 873 pp. (inc. index). £5.00 (paperback).]

THE MAKING OF BUSINESS CONTRACTS. By A. Harding Boulton. Second edition. [Sweet & Maxwell. 1972. xiv and 220 pp. (inc. index). £3.50 (hardbound) ; £1.95 (paperback).]

INTRODUCTION TO CRIMINAL LAW. By Rupert Cross and Philip Asterley Jones. Seventh edition. [Butterworths. 1972. xlix and 430 pp. £4.20 (cased) ; £2.60 (limp).]

ESSAYS ON CRIMINAL LAW IN NEW ZEALAND. Edited by R. S. Clark. [Sweet & Maxwell. 1971. 224 pp. £3.50 (hardback); £2.50 (paperback).]

EXECUTORSHIP LAW AND ACCOUNTS. By J. N. R. Taylor. [Macdonald & Evans. 1972. xv and 159 pp. (inc. index). 55p.]

PHIPSON'S MANUAL OF THE LAW OF EVIDENCE. By D. W. Elliot. Tenth edition. [Sweet & Maxwell. 1972. xxxvi and 338 pp. (inc. index). £3.50 (hardbound); £2.75 (paperback).]

STROUD'S JUDICIAL DICTIONARY. VOLUME 2, D.‐H. By John S. James. Fourth edition. [Sweet & Maxwell. 1972. xvi and 601 pp. £10.50.]

A HISTORY OF ENGLISH LAW. By Sir William Holdsworth. Volume XVII: General Index. By John Burke. [Methuen /Sweet & Maxwell. 1972. 551 pp. £8.00.]

CLERK AND LINDSELL ON TORTS: THIRD CUMULATIVE SUPPLEMENT TO THE THIRTEENTH EDITION. [Sweet & Maxwell. 1972. £1.75.]

WHILLAN'S TAX TABLES AND TAX RECKONER 1972–73. By George Whillans. Twenty‐fifth edition. [Butterworths. 1972. 23 pp. 70p.]

CASEBOOK ON COMPANY LAW. By R. S. Sim. Third Edition. [Butterworths. 1971. 382 pp. £1.60.]

THE CRIMINAL JURISDICTION OF MAGISTRATES. By Brian Harris. [Justice of the Peace Ltd. 1969. xlviii and 365 pp. (inc. index). 1970 Supplement, x and 38 pp. £6.]

BUTTERWORTHS’ MATRIMONIAL LAW STATUTES. [Butterworths. 1971. 547 and (index) 20 pp. £4.20 (casebound); £2.20 (limp).]

DIVORCE AND FAMILY LAW WITH TEST QUESTIONS IN A NUTSHELL. By L. McGuiness and G. O'Connor. [Sweet & Maxwell. 1971. xiii and 103 pp. 75p.]

THE COMPANY DIRECTOR. By Alfred Read. Fourth Edition. [Jordan & Sons Ltd. 1971. xxxi and 232 pp. £2.10.]

JURISPRUDENCE IN A NUTSHELL. By Charles Conway. [Sweet & Maxwell. 1971. vii and 69 pp. 60p.]

CONVEYANCING WITH TEST QUESTIONS IN A NUTSHELL. By Peter Kleiner. [Sweet & Maxwell. 1971. xiii and 134 pp. 80p.]

LAW AS FACT. By Karl Olivecrona. Second Edition. [Stevens & Sons. 1971. vii and 320 pp. £3.75.]

HANBURY'S MODERN EQUITY: SUPPLEMENT TO THE NINTH EDITION. By R. H. Maudsley. [Stevens & Sons. 1971. 14 pp. 25p.]

A PRACTICAL GUIDE TO APPEALS IN CRIMINAL COURTS. By Peter Morrish and Ian McLean. [Sweet & Maxwell. 1971. xxxv and 153 pp. (inc. index and appendices) £2.25.]

BUILDING AND CIVIL ENGINEERING STANDARD FORMS: FIRST SUPPLEMENT. By I. N. Duncan Wallace. [Sweet & Maxwell. 1970. 39 pp. 50p.]

EVIDENCE. By Richard Clayton. [Sweet & Maxwell. 1970. xii and 72 pp. 60p.]     

Backing Away From Equality

Abstract

In his early work in political philosophy, Amartya Sen advanced an interesting and provocative thesis – the egalitarian thesis. This is the claim that every conception of social justice that has received support in recent times is egalitarian. This paper argues that Sen's account of capabilities and his more recent critique of transcendental justice have implications for the truth of the egalitarian thesis. It also discusses how the rejection of the egalitarian thesis bears on the larger, and more general, issue of the overall plausibility of egalitarian conceptions of social justice.     

AFFECT,EMOTIONS AND SEX OFFENDING

The role of emotional and other affective states as causes and consequences of sexual offending is emerging as an important area for theoretical analysis and for empirical research. In this paper we focus on whether affective and emotional states serve as causal antecedents for sexual offending. Firstly, we identify five sources of evidence relating to whether emotion is causal. We conclude that the evidence broadly supports the notion that a causal relationship exists, at least for some offenders. We then address attempts to identify mechanisms to explain how such effects are mediated. Finally we discuss the implications of this work for therapeutic interventions with sex offenders.     

Crime is Part of the Problem: Contexts of Lethal Violence in Finland and the USA

According to Zimring & Hawkins, the exceptionally high level of homicide in the USA is unrelated to the nation's overall crime problem. In contrast to this statement, a critical review of their evidence suggests that criminal activity may explain a significant share of the excess levels of lethal violence in the USA. As a first step towards testing this hypothesis, we have created a uniform victim-level data file of information on the method and the situational context of homicide cases in Finland and the USA. In support of the hypothesis, we find that homicides that occur in the context of another crime are much more prevalent in the USA than in Finland. This difference accounts for 35% of the overall gap in the homicide rate between these two nations. Moreover, our research indicates that the effect of the criminal context cannot be reduced to the 'instrument effect', i.e. the fact that handguns are much more prevalent in the USA. In light of these findings, it would be premature, in terms both of theory and of public policy, to treat lethal violence as a problem entirely independent of other crime.     

Characteristics of Forensic Imaging Performance—An Analysis of Forensic Imaging Bottlenecks

Disk imaging involves copying all of the data from a source disk drive to a target. Typically, the target for the copy is another disk drive. Forensic processes developed years ago do not appear to be adequate for current storage technology. For example, with disk drive capacities now exceeding 1 Terabyte, a typical disk imaging can take over 8 hours at typical rates. With disk drive capacities increasing, forensic copying is expected to take even longer. Along with increase in disk capacity, the industry has also seen an increase in data transfer rates. In many cases, forensic imaging is taking longer than necessary. To identify the bottlenecks, an examination of different methods used to transfer data from a source disk was performed. Factors considered were differing disk access technologies. One finding is that the USB disk access technology (version 2.0 and earlier) is a significant bottleneck for data transfer rates, especially when the USB device is a write‐blocker. Other factors that contribute to the efficiency of a forensic copy are the file system used to write a forensic image and the data transfer size used when reading from a disk drive. Optimal parameters for performing a forensic acquisition from a disk drive are identified.     

Electoral Competition,the State,and Communal Violence: A Reply

In a review of my 2004 book Votes and Violence,Ashutosh Varshney and Joshua Gubler criticize various aspects of the book and its electoral incentives theory. The implication is that Varshney's own local civic engagement theory provides a superior explanation for communal violence. This article responds to the specific criticisms of my arguments about the role of electoral incentives and state action, or inaction, in leading to communal violence, showing why these are wrong or unimportant. I cite three important recent studies, by scholars working independently of me, who come to the same conclusions I do about the key role of electoral incentives and the importance of the state. I also cite the work of other scholars, based on careful fieldwork, who have questioned Varshney's characterization of the causes of conflict and peace in the cities he discusses in his own 2002 book Ethnic Conflict and Civic Life.     

Human resource management: The missing link

The complexity of the personnel performance appraisal process prompts the authors to label it the “missing link” in human resource management. Three major purposes or uses of appraisals are identified--motivation, information and development. In addition, four key factors are examined which influence the success of appraisals: (1) the timing of them; (2) the selection of the evaluator; ( 3 ) the variables used for evaluation; and (4) the appraisal technique used. Seven techniques are analyzed and shown to be different in their optimum uses. Addit- ional pitfalls are identified, based upon a thorough literature search, which are categorized into three separate categories: instrumental, evaluator and environmental pitfalls. The problems with the processes and techniques of employee performance appraisals are then examined in the light of the implications they raise for basic societal values such as the merit system, productivity and bureaucratic responsibility. Without drastic revision, the utility of appraisals is subject to challenge. Thus, this important technique of personnel administration threatens to remain the “missing link” in human resource management.