My first contact with George Gerapetritis was many years ago, when I supervised
his doctoral thesis at Oxford, which was a comparative study of proportionality. He
came highly recommended by friends and colleagues from Greece, and their
expectation of him was fully borne out by his performance at Oxford over the
following 3 years. He produced an insightful comparative analysis of proportionality,
which was subsequently published in book form as Proportionality in
Administrative Law (Sakkoulas 1997).
The doctoral thesis and subsequent book demonstrated his qualities as a lawyer
and legal scholar. He was adept at analysis of primary legal materials, being equally
at ease with case law and statutory material alike, able rapidly to discern salient
similarities and differences. George was equally adept at standing back from the
primary material and addressing the policy and normative issues that underpinned
the subject of study.
These features of his scholarship inform this book on Affirmative Action Policies
and Judicial Review Worldwide. It is a work of considerable scholarship and
insight, which tackles an area on which there has been significant writing and in
relation to which commentators hold strong views. George Gerapetritis steers the
reader confidently through this complex area, making clear the distinctive views in
existing scholarship, while at the same time expressing his own considered judgment
of the relevant material, whether in the form of primary law or secondary
comment.