Since the publication of the first edition of this book in 2005, the world of financial investment has experienced an unprecedented boom followed by a spectacular bust. Significant changes have been proposed and in some cases implemented in areas such as the structure of regulation, the organisation of markets, supervision of market participants and the protection of consumers. The second edition takes account of these developments, integrating them into an analytical framework that enables the reader to develop a critical overview of the role of general legal rules and specialised systems of regulation in financial investment. The framework focuses on the role of contract, trusts and regulation as the primary legal influences for financial investment. The first part explores the relationship between investment, law and regulation. The second part examines the nature of investments and investors, both professional and private. The third part discusses the central role of corporate finance and corporate governance in linking investors with enterprises that require external capital. The fourth part examines the nature, operation and regulation of markets and the participants that support the functioning of the market. The objective remains to provide a broadly-based and critical account of the role of law in financial investment."MacNeil's eloquent and informative distillation of the regulatory fundamentals of investment law gives his book much international relevancea timely contribution to help readers decipher the seemingly inextricable maze of financial regulationPractitioners and legal policy advisers will..welcome it. They should find enlightening the book's careful scrutiny of the trust and contractual foundations of investment law and practice."Benjamin J. RichardsonJournal of International Banking Law and RegulationVol 22, Issue 1, 2007a fascinating and informative bookthoroughly recommended as a learned but at the same time very readable introduction to the law of financial investmentGerard McCormackBanking and Finance Law Review, Volume 21 no. 2June 2006...very informative tool that introduces in a very friendly and accessible manner the nearly inextricable world of financial investment laws.Fadi MoghaizelInternational Company and Commercial Law Review, Vol. 17, No. 2February 2006

Iain G MacNeil is the Alexander Stone Professor of Commercial Law at the University of Glasgow.