Avizandum Law Book Shop

If you’re interested in following in Mark Thomas and Michael Moore’s footsteps, I strongly advise you to check out Avizandum.
The only independent bookshop devoted to law, it has weighty tomes on everything to do with the law from practice and policy making to media and trade. It also has specialist books on lots of different areas from homelessness and immigration to Scottish law. As most of the books are academic and published by University of independent presses, prices are pretty steep but to paraphrase Foucault ‘knowledge is power.‘
Not being a budding law student, most of the books in Avizandum are too specialist for me. If I have some spare cash however, I may go back and buy Bonfire of The Liberties; a fascinating book looking at the corrosion of civil liberties and the growth of police power and state surveillance under New Labour.

Avizandum apparently means something like «takes time to consider his judgement», e.g. «It did not take avizandum to write this review».
This law specialist book shop, right in the centre of town and not far from George Sq. Campus, has the largest collection of Scots law books in the country and has a pretty big range of law books in general. It’s the only law specialist book shop in Edinburgh and if you study the subject at the local uni, expect to pay a visit here.
Most university textbooks are expensive, but law books are REALLY expensive, so be prepared to part with your cash. This isn’t anything particularly unique to Avizandum though and you’d pay just as much in Blackwells. Unfortunately the only way around this is really to shop around on the internet.
If you don’t know exactly what you’re looking for, or you do and can’t find it, the staff at Avizandum are quite happy to help you out. If for any reason they don’t have something you need, they can order it in.

I was never smart enough for law at uni. Don’t pull out the violins, jeez! My head is too much in the clouds for this sort of stuff. This was proven to be the case when I wandered into Avizandum thinking it was going to be a quirky bookshop full of ecentric, philosophical collections because its name sounds like a spell out of Harry Potter. To the literary graduate, you understand.
I have now learned that Avizandum is a legal term for when a judge looks at a case privately, which makes the name fitting for such a specialised book store. Boasting the biggest collection of Scottish law collections in Scotland, Avizandum’s owners also offer shipping and seriously know their stuff. They were highly helpful even though I was mighty embarrassed by my faux pas.
Scottish law has a lot of variations from the rest of the UK, and this is a useful place for the uni student, lawyer, policeman or aspiring politician to brush up on their knowledge of the system. There are books in here ranging from the specialised to overviews and introductions. Comprehensive, helpful and offering a lot more than you can retrieve out of Waterstones, Avizandum is on top of its topic. Case closed!