Building Law Encyclopaedia [electronic resource]

Title: Building Law Encyclopaedia
Authors: David Chappell, Michael Cowlin, Michael Dunn.
Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell Pub., 2009.
Pages: 584 p.
ISBN: 9781405187244

Building Law Encyclopaedia Reviews

Review Quotes

“The book has a lot to offer those who may be involved in Building Law, students, professionals drafting building contracts to parties in litigation. The bolstering of a common understanding with fact, and substance, makes this book invaluable to all who possess it.” (The Academy of Experts, Winter 2009)
This item was reviewed in: Reference & Research Book News, February 2010

Main Description

Building Law Encyclopaedia provides a concise and authoritative reference to the words, phrases and terms encountered in, and in connection with, building law. Containing over 1050 entries and numerous cross references, it will be an invaluable reference for architects, quantity surveyors, project managers and contractors. With detailed reference to appropriate case law and legislation, construction lawyers will also find it of considerable value in the course of their work.

Building on the success of the third edition of Building Contract Dictionary, but with completely revised, updated and expanded coverage, it will be an invaluable reference for architects, quantity surveyors, project managers and contractors. With detailed reference to appropriate case law and legislation, construction lawyers will also find it of considerable value in the course of their work.

Bowker Data Service Summary

Building Law Encyclopaedia is a concise and authoritative reference, providing information in reasonable depth on an extensive number of legal terms, principles, phrases and issues that are commonly encountered in the construction industry. Most standard contracts are referred to, including the current suite of JCT Contracts, SBC, IC, ICD, MW, MWD, as well as ACA, PPC 2000, GC/Works/1 and NEC. In addition, some contracts which are theoretically out of date, but which are still in common use, are also covered. With over 1050 entries and numerous cross references, it will be an invaluable reference for architects, quantity surveyors, project managers and contractors. With detailed reference to appropriate case law and legislation, construction lawyers will also find it of considerable value in the course of their work.

Foreword

This encyclopaedia has not been written by academics. The three authors, to my
personal knowledge, have all had many years ’ experience at the cutting edge of
dispute resolution and determination, and the high quality of this work therefore
comes as no surprise to me. It contains a wealth of knowledge of all aspects of
construction law, and of the various standard forms of construction contract; but,
more than that, it refl ects the practical knowledge of its authors. Unlike many legal
reference books it is very readable, and it explains the legal words, phrases and
principles encountered in the construction industry in a comprehensive manner, and
with all the necessary pointers to further reading and law reports.

It will be very useful for lawyers, particularly those not specialising in construction
law; for claims consultants; and for all those involved in even the slightest way with
construction disputes. It will be a ‘ must ’ for the bookshelves of all construction
employers, construction professionals and contracting organisations, large or small.
I have had much experience over the years of the competence, industry and integrity
of the three authors, and it is with great pleasure that I commend them on their
achievement in compiling this work, which I unhesitatingly recommend.

Foreword by Paul Jensen, FRICS FCIArb Barrister

Registered Chartered Arbitrator; lecturer and examiner at the College of Estate
Management; visiting lecturer at Leeds Metropolitan University; sometime director of
courses of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators

Table of Contents

A – Z alphabetical listing of terms
Bibliography
Table of cases

Preface

We offer this book as a useful tool for anyone who works in or deals with construction
contracts in any capacity. Thus it is intended that architects, quantity surveyors, employers, contractors and sub – contractors will fi nd it a useful and practical source of information. We hope as well that lawyers may also fi nd it useful, perhaps as a starting point to research or as information on a standard contract or term that is not familiar.

In order to keep the book to a manageable, and affordable, length we have not included direct references to engineering contracts, but hope that professionals who are involved in the engineering industry, particularly engineers, will also fi nd it helpful.
We have described the book as a Building Law Encyclopaedia: thus it is intended that it should provide information in reasonable depth on a wide and extensive number of legal terms, principles, phrases and issues that are common in the construction industry.

In keeping with an encyclopaedia we have included a broad range of words and phrases (ordered alphabetically by word, not by letter) that we believe will be encountered in all areas of building contracts. They are mostly, although not exclusively, contractual, but we have not, in general, included Latin terms as they are better dealt with in a specialist legal dictionary. We do not suggest that we have covered all the entries that may be possible, or that the entries carry any particular weight. We do hope, however, that the entries will clarify the meanings of terms and – where necessary – provide sufficient information and references for the reader to
investigate a term further.

We hope that this book will be different from the numerous legal dictionaries that are available, in that it deals specifically with legal defi nitions and issues as they relate to building, and it provides references to cases and other authorities that will enable the reader to dig deeper. We have included a few tables and illustrations where it appeared to be helpful, but should stress that the book is not a textbook; there are numerous excellent textbooks available, and we have provided a list of such books.

In all cases the decision to include or leave out any term has been ours, and inevitably there will be words, phrases or terms that ought to have been included, or otherwise. We would welcome any suggestions for inclusions (or deletions) in a future edition. Where words or terms within a text have their own specific entry we have indicated this by including (qv) after the relevant word or term.

We have attempted to include all developments in the law at the time of publication.

Our biggest problem was how to deal with the proposed changes to the Housing Grants, Construction and Regeneration Act 1996, which are going to have an impact on the industry and on many of the terms included. We have decided, after much deliberation, that as the legislation has not yet been enacted, it is proper that we should ignore the proposed changes.

As far as standard contracts are concerned, we have referred to as many as we can, including some that theoretically are out of date but which are still in common use. Those referred to include the current suite of JCT contracts, SBC, IC, ICD, MW, MWD, as well as ACA, PPC 2000, GC/Works/1 and NEC. However, unfortunately Revision 2 to the JCT contracts was published too late for inclusion.

We are of course indebted to all those that have gone before us – the authors of leading textbooks, articles and commentaries. There are also a number of people to whom we owe particular gratitude. We should particularly mention Paul Jensen FRICS FCIArb Barrister, who has kindly written a foreword, and Dr Paul Sayer of Wiley – Blackwell, our publishers and Lionel Browne, who has edited the manuscript.

Jane Oldfi eld and the staff of the RIBA Information Unit have been helpful as ever, and Space Craft Architects have given valuable help. We have also been assisted by numerous colleagues, but of course we assume full responsibility for the text as published.

Extracts from standard contracts are reproduced by permission of the Joint Contracts Tribunal Ltd, the Association of Consulting Architects, Trowers & Hamlins and NEC Contracts, the respective copyright holders. The JCT suite of contracts are published by Sweet & Maxwell. The front page of the Companies Act 2006 is reproduced under the terms of Crown Copyright Policy Guidance issued by HMSO. We are grateful to RIBA Publishing for permission to reproduce the certificate and instruction forms that are part of a suite of contract administration forms published by RIBA Publishing and available from ribabookshops.com .