Legal Research

Mann on Demand

By Simon Chester

Librarians often debate the prices of law books, wondering why pricing soars beyond normal trade publishing prices. The suspicion is that editorial and marketing costs are not higher than trade costs. Of course one factor is the small size of print runs. Canadian publishers faced with demand for an out of print book (like Bill Estey’s Legal Opinions in Commercial Transactions) will often print just a couple of hundred copies.

Now we’ve actual evidence of a major legal publisher going for print on demand. The costs are, of course, high in relation to page count.

OUP have recently re-issued, as print on demand titles, F A Mann’s classic titles dealing with important aspects of public and private international law, particularly before domestic courts. These titles have not been available, and have been difficult to obtain, for many years. Mann was a wonderful example of the immensely learned comparativists we’ve spoken of before on Slaw.

Oxford University Press has reissued three classic works by F.A. Mann, containing many of his most important contributions to public and private international law. His essential work on the Legal Aspects of Money is of course still being updated.

F. A. Mann is considered to be one of the finest British lawyers of the twentieth century, esteemed as an international jurist and as a practising solicitor. He combined a thriving and prestigious practice with a prolific output of writing and teaching, with much of his work centering on the inter-relationship of international and national law. The three books listed below are re-issued and now available from OUP.

Studies in International Law was first published in 1973; it brings together a selection of F. A. Mann?s essays covering a range of issues that are still relevant today, including the doctrine of jurisdiction, State responsibility, corporations and international law, and arbitration. 1973 | 772 pages | 978-0-19-825316-7 | £75.00

Further Studies in International Law was first published in 1990, and collects seventeen of Mann?s essays. Topics include investment, arbitration, jurisdiction, and recognition of states. 1990 | 428 pages | 978-0-19-825247-4 | £60.00

Foreign Affairs in English Courts describes and analyses the attitudes and techniques which English judges adopt - or ought to adopt - when confronted with problems arising from the conduct of foreign policy by the executive. 1986 | 220 pages | 978-0-19-825564-2 | £60.00

Full post as published by Slaw.ca on December 03, 2008 (boomark / email).