A Practical Guide to Legal Issues for Older People
By Vicki Ammundsen, Hugh Ammundsen, Catherine Atchison, Kathryn Dalziel, Professor Kate Diesfeld, Dr Mark Fisher and Elaine Henderson
Reviewed by Tracey Cormack
This book includes contributions from practitioners with experience in each subject area covered, offering practical advice about key stages in life.
The book is divided into 19 chapters that examine the framework of the law as it deals with some of the important legal issues that people face in getting older. The topics covered include wills, enduring powers of attorney, later-life relationships, retirement villages and residential care. Examples and scenarios are provided in some chapters to clarify issues such as capital gain and loss in relation to retirement villages, managing multi-generational households and the legal implications of family loans.
Many chapters include detailed case analyses and summaries of court decisions. At the end of each chapter there is a reference section where relevant legislation, cases, practice notes, articles, reports and books are listed. A case table and a legislation section finding list are provided before the index.
The book is a tool for older people and their families, legal practitioners, and other professionals who deal with clients as they plan for older age.
Wolters Kluwer, CCH New Zealand Ltd, 978-1-775472-75-9 (book), 978-1-775472-76-6 (eBook), 558 pages, August 2019, $96 (plus GST and postage).
Campbell on Caveats, 3rd edition
By Neil Campbell QC
Reviewed by Geoff Adlam
This is a reprint of chapter 10 of the looseleaf and online Hinde McMorland & Sim Land Law in New Zealand and it retains the numbering. The law is stated as at 9 January 2019 and includes changes made by the Land Transfer Act 2017. The text analyses the six classes of caveats as provided for in the Act, with by far the most attention given to caveats against dealings with land under the Act.
LexisNexis NZ Ltd, 978-1-988546-16-2, paperback, 112 pages, September 2019, $130 (GST included, postage excluded).
Females in the Frame: Women, Art, and Crime
By Penelope Jackson
Reviewed by Louisa Gommans
In Females in the Frame: Women, Art, and Crime, New Zealand art historian Penelope Jackson explores the world of art crimes committed by females. Jackson tells us that “We know women have committed art crimes, just as there were always women artists at work. The problem is that their stories have been underrepresented and silenced by men.” The idea for this book developed when Jackson realised what a small role women played in her last book, Art Thieves, Fakers and Fraudsters: The New Zealand Story, which made her suspicious that there was more to be uncovered. Her goal, she says, was to try to change the way we think about women, art, and crime.
Females in the Frame explores case studies of female art criminals; women who have destroyed art, mothered art criminals, vandals, the con[wo]man, art thieves, forgers, and female white-collar criminals who took advantage of their professional positions. These all paint a fascinating picture of the female art criminal, displacing traditional notions about male art criminals as the ‘gentleman thief’ or the failed artist-turned forger. Jackson also interrogates gendered language and how the female art criminal has been represented.
Along the way Jackson considers some of the hurdles to researching and writing about art crime, including the difficulty of distinguishing fact from fiction, as art crime is often sensationalised, and the fact that a lot of art crimes remain unsolved. She also acknowledges a specific hurdle with female art criminals, many of whom have at their disposal both a maiden and married name, so can conveniently hide behind one or the other, making detection challenging.
This is a captivatingly written book, and Jackson’s wealth of knowledge about art crime is evident. She has most certainly achieved her goal of changing the way we think about women, art, and crime, by opening our eyes to the different ways in which women carry out crimes against art – art crime is not all Nazi-looted works and blockbuster heists, in fact there is a lot more to it and even a uniquely female version.
Palgrave Macmillan, 978-3-030207-65-6 (book), 978-3-030207-66-3 (eBook), 223 pages, 2019, €19.99 book, €15.46 eBook.
Louisa Gommans is a trustee of The New Zealand Art Crime Research.
McMorland on Easements, Covenants and Licences, 4th edition
By DW McMorland
Reviewed by Geoff Adlam
This has been reprinted from chapters 16, 17 and 18 of the looseleaf and online publication Hinde McMorland & Sim Land Law in New Zealand. The law is stated as at 9 January 2019. The Land Transfer Act 2017 came into force on 12 November 2018 and made some major changes to the law relating to easements and covenants, which are covered comprehensively, along with case law developments.
LexisNexis NZ Ltd, 978-1-988546-08-7, paperback, 263 pages, September 2019, $200 (GST included, postage excluded).
Social Security and Welfare Law in Aotearoa New Zealand
By Māmari Stephens
Reviewed by Geoff Adlam
Described as the first text on social security and welfare law, this looks at the governing Social Security Act 2018 and the associated principles and regulatory regime. Victoria University legal academic Māmari Stephens quickly points out that New Zealand’s welfare law can justifiably be called complex. Requiring an extraordinarily large system of administration, it is highly vulnerable to ongoing, piecemeal and politically charged reform. To grapple with the issues, she has divided the book into two parts. The first looks at the primary guiding principles of welfare law in six chapters which cover foundations, Māori and social security, complexity of the system, decision-making and discretion, the search for principle in the 2018 Act, and general obligations. Part 2 looks more specifically at social security law and regulation, with four chapters covering family support, work-related support, incapacity, age-related benefits and supplementary and emergency assistance. The final four chapters cover reciprocal obligations, the review and appeal system, offending, overpayment and debt recovery, and the influence of the Treaty and international law. The book is a groundbreaking resource for anyone involved in working in or advising participants in New Zealand’s social welfare system.
Thomson Reuters NZ Ltd, 978-1-988553-56-6, paperback and e-book, 515 pages, June 2019, $160 (GST and postage not included)
Legal books
This information is compiled from books which publishers have sent to LawTalk or have reviews which been contributed. It does not imply endorsement by the New Zealand Law Society and the objective is to provide information on books which might be of interest to the legal community. Purchase inquiries must be directed to the appropriate publisher.