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By the mid-1980s, the civil justice system in many common law jurisdictions was reportedly 'in crisis', crippled by excessive delay, cost and complexity in proceedings and out of reach of ordinary people. During the next two decades, law reform commissions and other agencies were charged with identifying problems with the civil justice system and with making recommendations for its improvement. Many agencies identified legal education as a factor contributing to the perceived crisis and made recommendations for change. The rules of professional conduct governing lawyers were also considered to be inadequate to the task of reorienting lawyers towards non-adversarial collaborative ways of professional practice. This paper canvasses reforms made in respect of the civil justice systems in Australia, England (and Wales) and to a lesser extent, the United States. The majority of reforms have been procedural in nature, brought about largely through legislative intervention and judicial activism (in the form of rules of court and practice directions). The paper examines the ways in which legal education has responded to the challenges presented by civil justice reform and also identifies amendments made to relevant professional practice standards. It is argued that, despite the recommendations for reform, changes to legal education have been piecemeal and fragmented and only minor changes have been made to professional standards of conduct. The paper goes on to discuss the various ways in which to regulate the behaviour of lawyers and the reasons why reform brought about by legislation, rules of court and practice directions is not sufficient to effectively change the conduct of members of the legal profession. It highlights the importance of education and codes of conduct for lawyers. In the final analysis, neither more rules, nor changes in legal education, provide a complete solution. The answer lies in a mixed approach-some modification to procedural rules of adversarial engagement, activism on the part of judges, some rules adjustment, and better education. It is argued here that more is required of both law schools and professional associations to support two decades of procedural reform. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper offers a reflection on the work of the Law Commission for England and Wales, specifically on its major housing law reform programme. The paper provides a brief introduction to the Law Commission; gives some background to the decision to review housing law; considers in more detail the housing law reform programme; says something about the procedural and other innovations the housing reform team brought to the Commission's work; and, finally, offers some personal thoughts on what has been achieved and what should now be done with our work. The paper starts by setting the work in its social and policy context, outlining the contribution that the renting of residential accommodation currently makes to the delivery of housing policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyses the legal protection of the journalist–source relationship from both sides and the underlying interests involved. The paper begins by analysing why the relationship deserves protection. The position of journalists at common law is analysed with a discussion of the application of the principle established in Norwich Pharmacal v Customs and Excise to journalists. The development of immunity from contempt in s. 10 of the Contempt of Court Act 1981 is examined to illustrate the ideological clash between the judiciary and journalists. The impact of the Human Rights Act and decisions of the European Court of Human Rights are analysed to assess whether this will lead to a change in attitudes in the UK. Finally, the potential threat to journalists posed by compelled evidentiary disclosure in criminal cases is reviewed, with a particular look at ‘special procedure' material. The US section begins with an analysis of the law at federal level, the decisions of the Supreme Court, including the leading decision of Branzburg v Hayes, as well as the role the legislature has played. The paper then analyses protections provided at state level, with a case study of the California shield law and a review of Californian jurisprudence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Where an owner of a chattel voluntarily seeks to relinquish his rights in that property, there appear to be no clear rules on whether that owner can be said to have abandoned those goods. Although there are no very recent English authorities examining the question of abandonment of chattels, the issue has received the attention of the Commonwealth courts on several occasions. This paper assesses, in light of these cases, whether there is any need for English courts to recognize a general principle of abandonment at common law. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In contrast to England, applications for partition of land are still alive and well in the Caribbean, but for various reasons it can be difficult to obtain legal sources to provide guidance on the proper exercise of the power to partition. This paper assists by identifying principles according to which the jurisdiction could be exercised and assessing their suitability to the Caribbean. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper shows that the traditional equitable doctrine, which protected the rights of a prepaid buyer of future or unascertained goods, was wrongly perceived as being overruled by the judgment of a single Court of Appeal judge. What followed, however, was considerable judicial reluctance by English courts to remedy this error. The article examines various legislative and judicial approaches from major common law jurisdictions around the world that purport to lessen the potential for injustice created by this judicial caution. Yet despite legislative intervention in England to provide limited remedies, there has been a marked reluctance elsewhere to produce the necessary radical reform suggested by the Law Reform Commission of Ontario. The position in Ireland is examined and the authors note that the time may be ripe for a reconsideration of the current statutory provisions in that jurisdiction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper addresses the issue of personal property security law reform. It asks why the reform agenda has been pursued much more vigorously in New Zealand than in England even though the two jurisdictions have had very similar starting points. In addition, the paper looks at the fundamental and difficult policy questions that have to be considered in personal property security law reform and the importance of attention to detail in enacting reform measures. If England is to have successful personal property security law reform, then the paper sug-gests that some of the precedents set in New Zealand may have to be avoided. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In English law, property has been classified, originally by Bracton, as either personal or real by reference to differing remedial consequences. T. Cyprian Williams has concisely explained this to mean that the terms convey the notion of a right to compensation associated with personal property, and a right to specific restitution associated with real property. However, the term property itself has been defined more fundamentally to express the value of a right to exclude, or as expressed in its corollary, immunity from expropriation. This raises the question whether the term personal property, if not an oxymoron, is at least a paradox by denying within its conception an as-of-right entitlement to exclude. This essay explores the extent to which the ancient action of replevin, which provides an as-of-right common law entitlement to the redelivery of a chattel, might address that paradox. In so doing it tracks the origins and evolution of replevin in England, and describes the role of replevin in modern US law. It arrives at a conclusion that replevin has survived into twenty-first century common law, and by so doing makes difficult any absolute claim derived from Bracton about the absence of a common law right to specific restitution for chattel property. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]