<p>Shortly before we brought out the last edition of this work the Government announced in a Briefing Paper released with the Queen&rsquo;s Speech before the referendum on whether the UK should leave the EU that it intended to bring forward proposals to respond to the recommendations in the Law Commission&rsquo;s 2011 Report.1 That aspiration, needless to say, did not survive Brexit and seems even more remote in the time of Covid-19. Historically the legislature has turned its attention to this corner of the law only once every century and there is no knowing when the twenty-first century will make its contribution. It would, however, be a great shame if the admirable work of the Law Commission (discussion of which is retained in this edition) were never to bear fruit.Shortly before we brought out the last edition of this work the Government announced in a Briefing Paper released with the Queen&rsquo;s Speech before the referendum on whether the UK should leave the EU that it intended to bring forward proposals to respond to the recommendations in the Law Commission&rsquo;s 2011 Report.1 That aspiration, needless to say, did not survive Brexit and seems even more remote in the time of Covid-19. Historically the legislature has turned its attention to this corner of the law only once every century and there is no knowing when the twenty-first century will make its contribution. It would, however, be a great shame if the admirable work of the Law Commission (discussion of which is retained in this edition) were never to bear fruit.</p>
