The English legal system has undergone extensive change since the last edition of this book. As with previous editions of the text, the new edition presents the law in a clear style and also, where appropriate, puts the law in social, economic, political and historical contexts. The new edition includes the following: The 1999 Civil Justice Reforms - the new Civil Procedure Rules and Practice Directions (effective from April 1999), the detail of how they change civil process and the significance of these changes for the public and for lawyers; The Access to Justice Act 1999 - the replacement of the legal aid system, the Legal Services Commission, the Criminal Defence Service, changes to the conditional fee arrangements, changes to the magistrates' court system, and the appeals system, and changes to rights of audience; The Crime and Disorder Act 1998 - youth crime and parenting orders, abolition of doli incapax rule, the Youth Justice Board, the abolition of committal proceedings for indictable offences only, and bail provisions; The Human Rights Act 1998 - what effect it has had, and will be having in the future; The House of Lords' decisions concerning In Re Pinochet (1999); recent developments in Alternative Dispute Resolution; and the 1997 Treaty of Amsterdam and its effect on the Treaty of Rome.