Book Review

• Citation: (2012) 24 SAcLJ 584
• Date: 01 December 2012
• Author: CHAN Leng Sun SC LLB (Hons) (University of Malaya), LLM (Cambridge); Advocate and Solicitor (Malaya), Advocate and Solicitor (Singapore), Solicitor (England and Wales).
• Published date: 01 December 2012

1 Tómas Kennedy-Grant QC is based in New Zealand, for which jurisdiction this book is written. He has multi-jurisdictional capabilities, being a distinguished member of the English and New Zealand Bars, as well as an arbitrator with offices within and outside New Zealand, such as Singapore.

2 The first edition of this book was written in 1999.1 The recently published second edition was encouraged by favourable reception beyond the borders of New Zealand. Despite being primarily a text on construction law in New Zealand, it reflects Kennedy-Grant's global outlook in drawing upon a wide range of materials, primarily case law from other common law jurisdictions such as England (of course), Singapore, Canada, Australia and Hong Kong.

3 Construction law is a subject that demands legal competence and industry knowledge in equal parts. This is manifested in the structure of the book, which is well-organised and fluidly blends legal analyses with summaries of the processes of the industry.

4 A chapter each is devoted to the law of contract and the law of torts, with focus on aspects that are frequently encountered in construction disputes. There are handy discussions on implied terms regarding time, which almost always feature in construction disputes. Acknowledging also the significance of the tort of negligence in construction, the author sets aside a chapter to discuss the potential duties of care owed by different players to each other and to third parties, for example, by the professional service provider (such as the architect) to the employer or by the contractor to a neighbouring shopkeeper.

5 This is a textbook on construction law as it is applied in New Zealand, so as one would expect, there are chapters on local laws controlling the use of land and the construction process.

6 Having laid the legal foundations, the book discusses in turn the particular types of contracts that make up the construction sector: the traditional and design-build contracts that are the primary construction contracts, and ancillary contracts such as those for professional services, subcontracts and supply contracts. Common law and statutory treatments of essential issues like payment, extent of work, standard of work, liquidated damages and other remedies for breach are summarised and accompanied by a survey of how these issues are addressed in standard conditions. Most of these conditions are used in New Zealand but readers everywhere will find useful the...