'Private Property and Abuse of Rights in Victorian England' by Michael Taggert: Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2002, xxiv + 235 pp., hbk £45.

When it comes to placing "leading" cases in their legal, social, and cultural context, few can match AWB Simpson. One familiar with Simpson's works will know the feeling Michael Taggart must have felt when he discovered that the case which formed the background of his research - 'Bradford Corporation v Pickles' - had already been discussed by Simpson in a Selden Society Lecture in 1994. Fortunately for all, it was recognised that Simpson's discussion of the case only scratched the surface, and, as editor of the Oxford Studies in Modern Legal History, he encouraged the author to continue his research. The result is an excellent study of a well-known and controversialcase, one that both explains the decision in its various contexts and, at a more general level, makes a valuable contribution to our understanding of what is generically called "the common law method".