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OXFORD QUICK REFERENCE
A Dictionary of
Law
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Great Clarendon Street, Oxford, OX2 6DP, United Kingdom
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Market House Books 1983, 1990, 1994, 1997, 2002, 2006, 2009, 2013, 2015, 2018, 2022
The moral rights of the author have been asserted
First edition 1983 as A Concise Dictionary of Law
Second edition 1990
Third edition 1994
Fourth edition 1997
Fifth edition 2002
Sixth edition 2006
Seventh edition 2009
Seventh edition reissued with new covers and updates 2013
Eighth edition 2015
Ninth edition 2018
Tenth edition 2022
Impression: 1
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British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
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Library of Congress Control Number: 2021951472
ISBN 9780192897497
ebook ISBN 9780192651808
Printed and bound in Great Britain by Clays Ltd, Elcograf S.p.A.
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Contents
centre section
Appendices
List of Entries by Subject
Administrative law (including local government)
Commercial law (including IT)
Company law
Constitutional law (including EU law)
Contract law
Court procedures and evidence
Courts and legal administration
Criminal law
Employment law
Environmental law
Family law
Human rights law
International law
Jurisprudence
Land law
Landlord and tenant
Maritime law
Medical law
Miscellaneous legal terms
Probate
Revenue law
Service law
Tort
Trusts and equity
This dictionary, now in its tenth edition, has been written by a distinguished team of academic and practising lawyers. With its easy-to-use format and emphasis on accessible language, it is designed to meet the needs of four main categories of reader:
legal professionals, who sometimes need a quick, portable, and reliable reference source;
students following law courses at all levels, who require clear explanations of legal concepts and terminology;
professionals in other fields (e.g. business people, local government officers, accountants, and social workers), who require some knowledge of the law in their work;
laypeople who are affected by the law as homebuyers, consumers, motorists, and employees and in various aspects of family life (e.g. divorce, inheritance).
Each article begins with a clear definition of the entry word (or words) which, in most cases, is followed by a more detailed explanation or description of the concepts involved. Legal jargon is avoided wherever possible.
This new edition reflects many recent changes in the law and legal system. If any provisions of new legislation were not in force at the time of publication, the entries to which they apply will indicate the direction of the proposed changes. In particular, the text has been revised to take account of the major changes resulting from the UK leaving the European Union on 31 January 2020; there is also a full account of the legal process by which this was accomplished. At the same time, most of the material on EU laws, treaties, and institutions has been retained for this edition, not least because these topics still feature prominently in British law courses.
References to important new cases, with full citations, have likewise been added wherever this seems particularly relevant. These will be particularly valuable to law students but, owing to the ready availability of case-law materials online, can be followed up quite easily by those who have no access to a law library. An introduction to the legal resources now available on the Internet is another important feature of this edition (see provides detailed advice on how to write and present essays on legal subjects.
An asterisk (*) placed before a word in a definition indicates that additional relevant information will be found under this article. Some entries simply refer the reader to another entry, indicating either that they are synonyms or abbreviations or that they are most conveniently explained in one of the dictionarys longer articles. Finally, the use of the pronoun he (rather than he or she) has been adopted in many entries purely to simplify the construction of sentences that are already unavoidably complex. This approach is in line with the Interpretation Act 1978, which states that in English statutes he is always understood to be a shorter way of saying he or she.
J.L.
2021
Editor of the sixth, seventh, eighth, ninth, and tenth editions
Jonathan Law BA
Editor of the earlier editions
Elizabeth A. Martin MA
Contributors for the tenth edition
Owain Blackwell ba, llm