The title of this import work by Professor Patchett understates its scope. In the first place, the book deals not only with the recognition of commercial judgments and awards in the Commonwealth (a matter that, as a rule, concerns a defendant who invokes the judgment as a defence) but also with the much more frequent problem of the enforcement of such judgments and awards, normally by a successful plaintiff. (A successful defendant can only enforce an order for costs; insofar as his counterclaim succeeds, he is, of course, a plaintiff.) However this may be, the subject is incredibly and, one is tempted to say, probably unnecessarily complicated, mainly by reason of the interplay of the scheme adopted by the Administration of Justice Act 1920 and the Foreign Judgments (Reciprocal Enforcement) Act 1933 and their respective counterparts in the Commonwealth; the former scheme still prevails in numerous countries, particularly the United Kingdom, but the scheme of 1933, primarily designed to deal with judgments rendered in “foreign countries”, is also applicable in many countries of the Commonwealth, sometimes side by side with the 1920 scheme, as appears from a list provided by the author in Annex 1 on p. 70. Secondly, the title fails to make it clear that the book contains much that is of great interest for non-Commonwealth countries. This applies not only to the interpretation of the Act of 1933, but also to the enforcement of foreign awards under the largely obsolete Geneva scheme and under the New York Convention.

These few words will be sufficient to give an idea of the heavy task which Professor Patchett has undertaken and, it should be emphasized, within the limits set by himself, splendidly discharged.

The book is divided into two parts. The first part deals with commercial judgments and, after an historical survey (Chapter 1), discusses the enforcement schemes in the Commonwealth (Chapter 2) and the Commonwealth Money Judgment Schemes (Chapter 3) as well as the recognition of such judgments (Chapter 4). The analysis of the 1933 Act begins on p. 101 and will be particularly welcome to international practitioners. On pp. 184–188 the author has “little doubt” that the decision of the majority in Black-Clawson International Ltd. v. PWA [1975] A.C. 591, was correct in law; this will come as a surprise to many who regard the decision as singularly parochial, but the point is now purely academic, since fortunately the effect of the decision was set aside by s. 3 of the Foreign Limitation Periods Act 1984, so that after a delay of some 10 years English law in this field has been restored to health.

As regards the second part, many will consider Chapter 8 dealing with the New York Convention as most important. At the same time it is perhaps the least satisfactory one, for the learned author refrains from discussing many of the very difficult problems of law which the Convention raises and which are reflected both in academic literature and numerous foreign decisions which have been rendered abroad and are published in