Includes index.

Contents: Legislation: The Preparation of legislation -- The Drafting process -- Criticism of the quality of drafting of English statutes -- Proposals for improving the quality of the statute book -- Response to the criticisms and proposals -- The Impact of bills of the parliamentary process -- When does a statute come into force? -- Delegated legislation -- Statutory interpretation: Interpretation is an inevitable aspect of communication -- The Three basic rule of statutory interpretation -- The Three basic rules considered -- Understanding the context-statutes and judicial decisions -- Understanding the context-evidence beyond statutes and judicial decisions -- Views of the law commission -- Presumptions and subordinate principles of interpretation as an aid to construction -- Are the rules, principles, presumptions and other guides to interpretation binding on the courts? -- Would legislation to state the rules of statutory interpretation help? -- Would a statement of general principle assist? -- Lord scarman's interpretation of legislation bill -- What is the court's proper function in interpreting a statute? -- Binding precedent- the doctrine of stare decisis: The Hierarchy courts and the doctrine of binding precedent -- A comparison with some other countries -- Law reporting: The history of law reporting -- Criticisms of the present system -- Computer retrieval system -- The Impact of computer retrieval on the citation of unreported decisions -- How precedent works: Professional techniques for using precedents -- Preparation and delivery of judgments -- Are Precedents law or only evidence of the law? -- The Values promoted by the system of precedent -- Flexibility and stability in the common law system -- The Nature of the judicial role in law-making: The Personal element in judicial law-making -- Should the judges be activists or passive? -- What the law is and what it ought to be -- Subsidiary sources of law: Textbooks -- Custom -- European law -- Quasi-legislation, codes of practice, circulars, etc. -- The Process of law reform: Historical -- The law commissions -- The law commission and some problems of law reform -- Implementation of law-reform proposals -- The Law commission and codificaton -- Can more be done to involve the community in the process of law reform?