Fifth edition“It may look easy, but there is much to learn and many pitfalls,” so wrote Lord Lane, the then Lord Chief Justice in the foreword to the first edition of David Foskett QC’s The Law and Practice of Compromise. This remains as true at the time of the fifth edition in 2002 as it was for the first edition in 1980, perhaps more so after the introduction of the Civil Procedure Rules (CPR) in 1999 and the importance placed on offers to settle and the consequences of rejecting those offers.
As in the previous editions, the initial chapters of Foskett’s book focus on the terms and effects of compromises and the way in which they might subsequently be attacked. While drawing on general contractual principles, these chapters are useful in bringing together, summarising and commenting on the case law in the area and in drawing attention to some of the traps awaiting the unwary.
