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Cawthorne, Nigel "The Strange Laws of Old England" BCA (orig.). N.p. 2004. Hbk, 266pp. Illus. ISBN - none. N.p.

(Original edition pub by Portrait, an imprint of Piatkus: ISBN 0749950366 Price £9.99)

Firstly a word or two about the bibliographical details. The copy I have is from a book club and it simply doesn't have the usual details. I've put the information regarding the original edition for those who find it of interest.

Anyway this a jolly little book. The author has accumulated a variety of odd British laws and arranged them into chapters covering such topics as sex, clothing, diet, witchcraft, and so forth, together with sections covering odd courts and jurisdictions, the royal prerogative, local byelaws and much else besides. The selection of goodies is guaranteed to amuse most readers and is neatly laid out and illustrated by a variety of woodcuts of varying vintage.

A word or two about the title. For some reason it makes it appear that the book only refers to English laws. It doesn't. It covers the entire British Isles, with items specifically from Scotland, Wales, Ireland, the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man. The book also includes an item on the isle of Rockall, over which sovereignty is disputed.

To give you a flavour of the sort of material Cawthorne has assembled here's a couple of items: (from p.6: "It is interesting to note that Henry II also signed a law decreeing the death penalty for anyone found killing, wounding or maiming fairies" and (p.256) "The Outer Space Act, 1986 prohibits ordinary citizens launching a "space object" and that under section 9 (of said act) magistrates are given the power to issue warrants and "use reasonable force" to turn back an alien invasion, provided, of course, that the aliens do not have a licence to invade". All very droll.

However, while the book has great entertainment value, as it lacks the standard apparatus: index, references, bibliography, sources etc, it is practically worthless as a reference work. At best it gives part of the title of an act, or a date but as in the fairy law above, one would have to do the research all over again to track down the exact wording. (This may not be of great importance to many readers, but as a former reference librarian it's something that I found annoying.)

One problem that even legal professionals have is keeping track of exactly what the "law" is at any one time. Parliament has been engaged in a tidy up operation of old laws for many years now, but even so there are laws which were properly passed (and don't mention the interregnum - those laws may be null and void - or may not), which appear to still be current as nobody has got round to repealing them.

Inevitably, since publication some things have changed, thus, for example, the speculation about what legal changes may be needed should Prince Charles marry Camilla Parker-Bowles, are no longer relevant.

So, a work which many will find amusing, but which could have been so much more useful if the author and the publisher had taken the trouble (and expense) of giving readers the information they would require to check the information for themselves.

An entertaining book but of little utility as a reference work.

5/10

Richard Alexander