As the publishers observe in a prefatory note to this work, the late Professor Hill was renowned for his erudition in the field of international transport law. This latest contribution to the literature on the CMR bears eloquent testimony to that erudition. Sadly, Professor Hill died before completing the work, and parts of his original manuscript were overtaken by developments. In Mr A. D. Messent, the publishers have clearly found a successor who is admirably equipped to continue the excellent tradition of legal writing with which Professor Hill’s name was for so long associated. The result is a book of positive distinction.

Several difficulties confront the English commercial lawyer who wishes to master this subject. Legislation founded on international convention is significantly different, in style, background and the necessary techniques of interpretation, from purely “domestic” statutes. For several years after its coming into force, the Carriage of Goods by Road Act 1965 enjoyed something of a limbo existence, with no English judicial authority to amplify its provisions beyond, in limited cases, comparative decisions drawn from the carriage of goods by sea and by air. Even today, much of the practical effect of the statute remains the subject of informed speculation, and there are few decisions beyond the level of the Commercial Court. One result has been an unusually close reliance upon Continental authority, not only by commentators but by judges themselves. Whereas these Continental decisions have occasionally disclosed divergences among the various jurisdictions in which the CMR applies, the characteristic reference to them by English courts has been unquestionably beneficial to our national jurisprudence and has contributed much to that uniformity and predictability of result commended by Megaw, L.J., in the Ulster-Swift decision [1977] 1 W.L.R. 625. It is satisfactory to observe that the authors of this work give full attention to the copious European case-law and use it efficiently in putting both actual and prospective English interpretations of the CMR into perspective. Equally pleasing is the willingness of the authors to refer, in debatable cases, to the original text of the Convention, and to offer interpretations drawn from other conventions of more established character which address aspects of international transportation.

Leaving aside the distinctive breadth and detail of its coverage, Hill & Messent has three particular virtues. The first is its clear and economical style: it is as lucid, methodical and readable a book as the reviewer has encountered in recent years. The authors’ confidence in their handling of the subject-matter adds much to the attractiveness of the book as a work of textual analysis, and means that it can be comfortably read from start to finish, rather than merely referred to on specific points. Secondly, the authors are prepared to commit themselves on points of potential dispute, and show a well-judged sense of criticism and conjecture when dealing with those provisions which have not been decisively tested by litigation. This readiness to tackle questions in advance of judicial authority and to offer something more than a mere narrative of received ideas is well illustrated in a number of passages, for example