E LAW - MURDOCH UNIVERSITY ELECTRONIC JOURNAL OF LAW
ISSN 1321-8247
Volume 5 Number 3 (September, 1998)
Copyright E Law and/or authors
File: gibson53.txt
ftp://cleo.murdoch.edu.au/pub/elaw/issues/v5n3/gibson53.txt
http://www.murdoch.edu.au/elaw/issues/v5n3/gibson53.html
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Book Review
Butterworths' Student Companions: Equity*

Tim Gibson
Murdoch University Law Student


  1. Student companions are something which I have always viewed with
     suspicion. My opinion being that they are either, strictly for the
     diligent or solely for the bone lazy. Considering myself not to fit
     into either category I have not ever used one.

  2. The Student Companion For Equity is relatively straightforward. Cases
     are set out in alphabetical order with a concise summary of the facts
     and the principle/s from the case. This format makes finding cases
     very easy. At the back of the companion is a subject index where cases
     are traced to areas of Equity. I found the subject index a very useful
     map for areas when the book covered multiple cases from the same area.


  3. For the student of Equity the companion is a useful supplementary text
     to Evans' Outline of Equity and Trusts text book. The companion
     addresses matters which the text book fails to, thus covering cases
     which are not found in the latter.

  4. The actual description of the principles from each case is concise and
     explains to the reader that which was established in the judgements.
     The case summaries also include, where relevant, the essence of the
     different judges' decisions. For example in Waltons Stores
     (Interstate) Ltd v Maher[1] all of the conflicting judgements are
     covered. Likewise, in The Hospital Products Case,[2] where the judges
     arrived at similar conclusions, an analysis is made of their different
     reasonings.

  5. In total I found the Student Companion for Equity a useful  further
     reference book. It came in handy during the exam when I needed to
     quickly revise several cases. In my opinion a combination of the
     Outline of Equity and Trusts text and the student companion were more
     useful than your generic Equity and Trusts text.

Notes

* Evans M. Butterworths' Student Companions : Equity. 3rd Ed, Butterworths,
Perth 1998

[1] (1988) 164 CLR 387

[2] Hospital Products Ltd v United States Surgical Corporation (1984 ) 156
CLR 41

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