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Book reviews: Archbold & Blackstone's 2023

16 June 2023 / John Cooper KC
Issue: 8029 / Categories: Features , Criminal , Procedure & practice
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"Both of these eminent works are needed more than ever before as trusted guides through the untamed jungle of criminal law"

Archbold: Criminal Pleading, Evidence & Practice 2023

  • Editor: Judge Mark Lucraft KC
  • Publisher: Sweet & Maxwell
  • ISBN: 9780414111080
  • RRP: £415

Blackstone’s Criminal Practice 2023

  • Editors: David Ormerod CBE KC (Hon) & David Perry KC
  • Publisher: Oxford University Press
  • ISBN: 9780192870292
  • RRP: £395

What is really illuminating about reading the latest editions of both Archbold and Blackstone’s Criminal Practice is how they illustrate the significant changes made to the criminal law in the last 12 months.

After all, for those who work in the area of law which probably goes through the most dynamic of changes, year in, year out, and with the pure volume of influential routes by which it may be altered—case law, statute and, perhaps most significantly, criminal procedure rules—both of these well-established publications have an onerous duty to keep us up-to-date.

Knee-jerk reactions

One of

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MOVERS & SHAKERS

Boies Schiller Flexner—Tim Smyth

Boies Schiller Flexner—Tim Smyth

Firm promotes London international arbitration specialist to partnership

Katten Muchin Rosenman—James Davison & Victoria Procter

Katten Muchin Rosenman—James Davison & Victoria Procter

Firm bolsters restructuring practice with senior London hires

HFW—Guy Marrison

HFW—Guy Marrison

Global aviation disputes practice boosted by London partner hire

NEWS
Writing in NLJ this week, NLJ columnist Dominic Regan surveys a landscape marked by leapfrog appeals, costs skirmishes and notable retirements. With an appeal in Mazur due to be heard next month, Regan notes that uncertainties remain over who will intervene, and hopes for the involvement of the Lady Chief Justice and the Master of the Rolls in deciding the all-important outcome
After the Southport murders and the misinformation that followed, contempt of court law has come under intense scrutiny. In this week's NLJ, Lawrence McNamara and Lauren Schaefer of the Law Commission unpack proposals aimed at restoring clarity without sacrificing fair trial rights
The latest Home Office figures confirm that stop and search remains both controversial and diminished. Writing in NLJ this week, Neil Parpworth of De Montfort University analyses data showing historically low use of s 1 PACE powers, with drugs searches dominating what remains
Boris Johnson’s 2019 attempt to shut down Parliament remains a constitutional cautionary tale. The move, framed as a routine exercise of the royal prerogative, was in truth an extraordinary effort to sideline Parliament at the height of the Brexit crisis. Writing in NLJ this week, Professor Graham Zellick KC dissects how prorogation was wrongly assumed to be beyond judicial scrutiny, only for the Supreme Court to intervene unanimously
A construction defect claim in the Court of Appeal offers a sharp lesson in pleading discipline. In his latest 'Civil way' column for NLJ, Stephen Gold explains how a catastrophically drafted schedule of loss derailed otherwise viable claims. Across the areas explored in this week's column, the message is consistent: clarity, economy and proper pleading matter more than ever
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