The first edition of this book formed part of the Lecture Notes series, which was intended to help students by giving them a clear outline of the material to be covered in the course, so as to enable them to concentrate on the lectures and other reading within a framework which was easy to assimilate and understand. The second edition has been written with the same purpose in view although the Lecture Notes series itself is no more. Apart from bringing the text up to date, there are two more substantial changes. The first is the disappearance of the discussion of consumer credit. If commercial law is about the relations between merchants, then the law of consumer credit, important and complex as it is, is not part of commercial law. This doctrinal consideration is reinforced by the fact that examination shows that nowadays relatively few universities include this material in courses entitled Commercial Law or something similar. I am very grateful indeed to Peter Shears for undertaking this formidable labour in the first edition. At a relatively late stage in preparation of the text, it was decided that a rather fuller treatment of agency was appropriate. My other commitments did not permit me to do this myself within the desired time frame and I am extremely grateful to Professor Richard Stone, who has not only done this, but done it better than I could have done myself. There is a strong case for a general expansion of the whole work so that it could fit in to the Cavendish Principles series. This would present a formidable but exciting challenge but it is one which will have to be postponed until the third edition. Michael Furmston