Laying Down the Law

Abstract

Such is the rate of change in Australian law and legal education that the authors and their publisher consider it necessary to publish this eighth edition of 'Laying Down the Law', just three years from publication of the seventh edition. Three of the authors of this edition - Catriona Cook, Robin Creyke and Robert Geddes - have been involved in the authorship of the book from its inception as a set of materials for first year students at the Australian National University's School of Law early in the 1980s. Gwen Morris was an author of the first three editions while John Seymour and Ian Holloway each joined the team for later editions. ... Users of the book who are familiar with the previous edition will notice several changes. The authors have striven to produce an introductory law textbook that will appeal to a wide range of tastes. While the book retains its original consistency, it is expected that teachers of introductory law units will choose to teach from those parts of the book that best suit their students' needs. This applies not just to individual sections or chapters, but also to parts of chapters. The research section has also largely been restricted to tools for online searching to reflect the development and general use of computer databases.