This book is written by three authors with many years' experience in dispute resolution and determination. The reviewer suspects that the authors will have been required to make findings on the meaning and/or the interpretation of certain words or phrases. This book therefore brings together, in a handy and authoritative reference, the meanings of commonly encountered legal terms, principles, phrases and issues in the construction industry.

The encyclopaedia is aimed at architects, quantity surveyors, employers, contractors and sub-contractors. It is not intended to be a 'legal dictionary' (for example by generally not including Latin terms) but that said, the authors have made this encyclopaedia eminently readable and the intended readers should have little trouble finding definitions for terms in common use.

The authors indicate that lawyers may also find it useful. The reviewer, having conducted a quick search on certain terms including good faith, Health and Safety File, competent and dispute, wholeheartedly agrees.

The reviewer finds the depth of definitions were found to be more than reasonable e.g. including Jackson J's approved seven propositions for the existence of a dispute. References are also provided to case law and other texts to help direct the reader to find out more. What is particularly helpful is the cross referencing to other terms defined in the encyclopaedia by use of the abbreviation 'qv'. To that end, this book will be of particular use to lawyers not specialising in construction law who, without the specialist knowledge/experience required of the construction industry, can be more of a hindrance than a help!

This book is therefore highly recommended for the bookshelves of all those involved in even the slightest way with construction disputes and in contract negotiations. The reviewer also considers it will be useful reading for students on construction based courses. This is a very good book.

Wayne Lord

Loughborough University

w.e.lord@lboro.ac.uk