It has always been our goal to provide nursing students and practising nurses with an introduction to the legal issues relevant to the provision of health care in Australia, and do so in a practical and readily understandable text with a clear, concise and readable exposition of the law. With the recent changes to regulations for nurses and midwives under National Registration, we have updated the seventh edition of Law for Nurses and Midwives with the aim of reflecting these standards, and as the new title indicates, incorporated legislation relevant to midwifery practice. All chapters have been revised and updated to reflect recent changes in legislation and regulations relating to nursing and midwifery practice, as have references to relevant court decisions. Special attention has been given to areas where legislative provisions apply, such as professional standard of care, occupational health and safety, coroners’ jurisdiction and mental health, to ensure that a nationwide perspective is provided. Chapter 8 Professional regulation of nurses and midwives has undergone a complete rewrite to incorporate the new standards and regulations established by the Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia (NMBA) for National Registration, and includes a specific section on maternity services law to address the new standards and guidelines for eligible midwives. As always, we are extremely grateful for the comments and feedback we have received from readers and professional critics of our text to ensure it remains relevant to those who use it. Again, we thank our own staff who have provided us with assistance in undertaking our task as well as our publishers for their support and patience during the writing of the seventh edition. We trust this most recent edition of our text continues to provide assistance to all who use it and we thank them for their encouragement and interest in the ongoing editions of this text.