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Description
The transition from the sixth to the seventh edition has been much less painful than that from the fifth to the sixth. In particular, there was on this occasion no brief radically to reduce the size of the work. The project has therefore been confined to the interpolation of new material and the checking and re-structuring of existing entries.
Stroud being now well over one hundred years old, and having passed through a number of different hands, it is inevitable that infelicities of structure and occasional inaccuracies will have crept in. The last edition was the occasion for removing a considerable amount of material that was no longer likely to be of significant assistance for modern research, while preserving a certain amount of historical material that would be of occasional use and would be found nowhere else if not in Stroud. This edition has afforded an opportunity to examine a number of old entries, particularly those which have grown to an unwieldy length and which lack a helpful structure, to confirm their accuracy and to re-organise them in such a way as to facilitate logical and efficient research.
As to the overall editorial policy, that remains as I stated it when I first became responsible for the annual supplements in 1996. The aim is for Stroud to be -
an authoritative guide to the present construction of words and phrases occurring in legislation and other legal documents (by reference both to decided cases and to express legislative definitions in various contexts),
a source of ideas useful in framing definitions of particular concepts in the drafting of contracts and other legal documents, and
generally, a useful tool for legal practitioners of all kinds and for members of related professions.
As a general rule, Stroud does not now include -
words and phrases likely to be of interest only to specialist practitioners, who will have their own sources of reference, or
material of purely historical interest (although it does include old cases and statutes of continuing importance or potential use).
References to statutory definitions are included to show what can be and has been done by way of definition: they do not imply that the provisions cited are in force.
My policy of including an increasing volume of material from European, Parliamentary and other sources has continued.
I greatly welcome comments on this edition as on the last, and am deeply indebted to correspondents from around the world, particularly where they expose errors or infelicities. Comments can be sent to the publishers, to whom I am as always grateful.
This edition includes material up to the end of 2005, and later where possible.
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Author Details
Daniel Greenberg, Barrister of Lincon’s Inn; and of the Office of the Parliamentary Counsel
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