Scottish Company Law, Professor Nicholas Bourne and Brian Pillans, Cavendish Publishing £17.95

This is a book of great value to in-house practitioners, company secretaries and students of company law. It begins with a useful review of the advantages and disadvantages of incorporation as a business medium and ends with a review of the Cadbury Report and a discussion of future changes in company law.

It covers all areas of company law and each topic is covered in a separate chapter with a summary of the salient points. The chapters are clearly written and provide a commentary on the historical legal background, the current applicable statutory and common law, and a review of the Scottish and English authorities on each topic.

One of the authors' aims is to look at company law from a Scottish perspective and this is clearly achieved.

The law is stated as at January 1996 so this is one of the few texts to take in to account the Alternative Investment Market and the radical changes made by the Public Offers of Securities Regulations 1995 in connection with the issue of shares to the public.

Overall, the authors take a practical approach to each topic and this is one of the reasons why the book is so useful. For example, they discuss the complicated area of financial assistance clearly and concisely, and the chapter on constituting and conducting company meetings contains a useful guide to the issues which may be raised at such meetings.

In conclusion, the book is an invaluable guide for students of Scottish company law due to its practical approach and the clear demarcation of the development of law in Scotland and England. It is also a handy, practical and inexpensive work of reference for practitioners.